Closing the Loop: empowering communities to get better services
Example: Walk us through a specific example(s) of how this solution makes a difference; include its primary activities.
Impact: What is the impact of the work to date? Also describe the projected future impact for the coming years.
Financial Sustainability Plan: What is this solution’s plan to ensure financial sustainability?
Marketplace: Who else is addressing the problem outlined here? How does the proposed project differ from these approaches?
Founding Story
Joy
Saunders
@Act4Integrity
Integrity Action
, Shar-e- naw, Kabul
The information you provide here will be used to fill in any parts of your profile that have been left blank, such as interests, organization information, and website. No contact information will be made public. Please uncheck here if you do not want this to happen..
Scale our approach nationally, across Afghanistan and then further into the Asian region. Institutionalising integrity building through government policy and practice.
External security risk. We overcome this by operating in relatively secure areas; strengthening relations with different stakeholders through collaborative governance. Integrity Action and our partners do not name and shame but build skills, trust and incentives to open governance, fulfil human rights and bring real improvements to the lives of the most disadvantaged.
Spoilers (opponents) who actively work to ‘spoil’ our work. Context analysis and sensitivity are critical to understanding spoilers and constructive engagement is key to counteracting them.
We facilitate the Network for Integrity in Reconstruction (NIR) - a network of civil society organisations in 11 countries and
the Integrity Education Network - the world’s largest integrity education network of over 450 academic institutions in 26 countries. In Afghanistan, President Karzai called for the publication of all government contracts (Presidential Decree 45) and asked our country partner to monitor all government projects.
Demonstrate how closed feedback loops can make a difference in people’s lives.
We facilitate meetings to enable communities to voice their concerns and find solutions. During these meetings, members will elect community monitors that will be trained by us. These monitors then collect data on the transparency, participation and effectiveness of development projects. Evidence will be shared and validated with stakeholders through community meeting and DevelopmentCheck, our online tool for community feedback on projects. If they uncover problems, the monitors will work with contractors, local government and the community to fix these problems, thereby closing the loop.
English, French.
At Integrity Action we want to change the negative impact that corruption, fraud and mismanagement can have on development projects, thereby affecting vital development outcomes such as to education, water, healthcare, roads and social services. We want to guarantee that citizens have better services but are
also empowered to ensure that policies are appropriate, information can be trusted, and that fewer public funds are wasted. We do this through our Community Integrity Building (CIB) approach which involves community monitors collecting data on the transparency, participation and effectiveness of development projects in their communities. This information is subsequently shared with a Joint Working Group (JWG). JWG are a collaborative forum bringing together community representatives, local authorities and potentially other stakeholders such as contractors to jointly learn, review findings and develop practical solutions to problems initially identified by the local communities. Using this approach we ensure that that the feedback provided is integrated into a process and triggers an informed, appropriate
response to resolve an identified problem.
Improve quality of programs
Protecting public programmes from corruption,fraud and mismanagement
SMS, Paper, Phone or voice, Website, Physical gathering, Other.
DevelopmentCheck.org - our groundbreaking online community monitoring tool
Once the community has identified priority projects, the trained community monitors then make information requests, collect data on development projects through site visits, where they take photos, assess the project against the contract and/ or plans (if available), conduct beneficiary surveys, share their results with stakeholders and work with them to address any problems found. Our partners use DevelopmentCheck.org, our online community monitoring tool, to share their findings on development projects and engage authorities to resolve problems and therefore better meet communities’ needs. They enter data through the online questionnaire, upload photos, videos and project documents. Once verified, this information is publicly available and shared in community forums and by community radio. Project data and case studies are also shared through social media, including Facebook and YouTube. We are further exploring ways to link DevelopmentCheck.org with e-government tools, such as data portals, online budget monitoring, and e-procurement sites. Finally, we have developed a smartphone application to allow real-time reporting on these projects. This data provides evidence to generate pressure for improved services and projects.
Other
The collaborative nature and engagement of all stakeholders reduces retribution risks
Other
The opportunity to 'fix' the problems that matter the most to them, meeting the needs and expectations of their communities.
Other
We have a multi-stakeholder approach and actively target and engage poor and marginalised community members.
Other
The evidence collected is, in most cases, enough to create the leverage for change.
Meetings discussing results with providers
The feedback is discussed in Joint Working Groups where all stakeholders are given an opportunity to provide feedback.
On a website
Case Study: Kyrgyzstan
Larisa Kuznetsova and Sulaimanova Suimkan were both trained as community monitors as part of Integrity Action’s work in Kyrgyzstan. They have since been using their training to address inadequacies in the provision of services for people with disabilities in Osh. In 2012, along with other monitors they analysed the way the city served people with disabilities. Sulaimanova Suimkan said, “We identified many cases where people didn’t know about their right to benefits. For instance the parents of a disabled child should receive benefits if their child has had a disability for over a year, but many parents don’t know about this.” They shared their findings with the local Joint Working Group (JWG) that was established under Integrity Action in Kyrgyzstan to bring together local government workers, elected members, government suppliers, CBOs and active members of civil society including youth committees. The JWG held three meetings in the latter part of 2012 to agree an action plan to address the issues and hold local government accountable for the lack of provision for people with special needs.The JWG created a booklet providing important information about the different benefits disabled
people were entitled to. The booklet also featured the addresses of all organisations and institutions that offer services in Osh. Before this booklet was produced, people with disabilities could not easily find out their entitlements and many were forced to pay bribes to receive benefits. Now they know where to access documentation and which institutions to contact about services. As a result the number of people who pay bribes for access to services has reduced. Larisa has also used what she learned to successfully apply for a $25,000 grant to establish a health and fitness centre for people with disabilities. The centre opened in July 2013 and provides users of the centre access to specialist treatment. Staff at the centre also provide advice on benefits and services that people with disabilities can access.
Case Study: Kenya
A 30-year wait for access to clean water has finally been resolved in rural Kenya. Integrity Action worked with local partners to establish a Joint Working Group (JWG) of residents and local government workers who were mobilised to urge their area MP to secure funding for local boreholes.
Basic training on legal and Constitutional rights by local Integrity Action partner, the International Committee of Jurists (ICJ), was key.
‘ICJ gave us tools so we knew how best to demand better services from our officials,’ says community monitoring chairman Stephen Chaka. ‘Before, we were afraid to approach the government ministers, but because we learnt about our rights, we were able to start getting results.’
Six boreholes have been drilled and four solar-powered pumps and two hand pumps have been installed. The women and children’s arduous 10km trip for water is now a thing of the past
Institutionalisation of our Community Integrity Building approach. We would like to see adoption of our approach at national level. We have had some success with this in Palestine, Indonesia and Afghanistan but being able to mainstream the approach in more countries, and at policy and national level would dramatically increase the impact of our approach, thereby improving the lives of millions of people in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
Ensuring the quality of the data provided
No, but I can see myself using it as a resource
Communication, inform some of our own tools & resources, and sharing it with our partners.
n/a
All data/feedback is verified and published by us and we work with country partners to engage local, national and international authorities to ensure the identified problems are resolved to the community’s satisfaction and a fix can be achieved. Achieving a 'fix' is in fact the resolution of a problem to the satisfaction of the main stakeholders, in our case, the providers of the data/feedback. This feedback is used in Joint Working Groups where feedback providers are present. So they see how that information is used and brings positive change. Ultimately, this means that citizens have better services but are also empowered to ensure that policies are appropriate, information can be trusted, and fewer public funds are wasted.
Comments
It's good to hear that there are initiatives that enable the voices of citizens to be heard. I can see how a tool like this is good at ensuring a good quality of service. I would like to understand more about how the tool actually prevents corruption.
I'm not entirely clear on how Closing the Loop is different from DevelopmentCheck. The latter is impressive in what it has done to rectify failures in implementation, but the paragraphs describing the solution aren't anywhere as specific as what's described later as DevelopmentCheck. I like the careful selection of monitors etc and the orchestration of group dynamics but wonder if that may make scalability harder to achieve.
Congrats for winning the Ashoka Changemakers. I have seen the similar project in East Timor too. The biggest challenge of this model is on how to encourage real participation from regular community instead from the cadres that have been trained by the project. Great if you could share your strategic model and lesson on success/ failure of the model. Again, congrats !
I wouldn't exclude it to developing or war-torn countries...We could seriously use that in Italy, as the Aquila Earthquake and now Expo2015 scandals prove...
Perhaps getting on board w/Western economies would provide more finances for training in other places.
I am unclear how the monitors are let in and how they stop the corruption, esp if govt forces are the problem.
Dear Lisa,
We primarily work in developing and fragile states but our approach can be applied in developed countries as well. Our Community Integrity Building (CIB) approach is context sensitive. It is interesting that you ask as we had requests from Washington DC to see if the approach could be applied in a local context there. As for the monitors, we train community monitors. To date we have trained more than 2500 who have monitored more than 850 projects. They make information requests, collect data on development projects through site visits, where they take photos, assess the project against contract and /or plans (if available), conduct beneficiary surveys share their results with stakeholders and work with them to address any problem found. They have resolved problems in more than 50% of projects where problems were identified. Thanks to their efforts hundreds of thousands of people in these countries have better public services and are also empowered to ensure that policies are appropriate, that information can be trusted and the fewer public funds are wasted. You can find out more about how our approach works here:
http://www.integrityaction.org/sites/www.integrityaction.org/files/docum...
Dear Mari, Thank you for your comment. Our overall approach is called Community Integrity Building (CIB). This approach has five phases: 1. Context sensitivity 2. Joint learning 3. Evidence Base 4. Constructive Engagement and 5. Closing the Loop. Within each of the phases there are a number of steps to follow and tools to use. DevelopmentCheck comes into play during step 3 (Evidence Base) and is our innovative online reporting platform for citizens feedback on development projects. Closing the Loop (step 5 within our CIB approach) is when solutions put forward by the Joint Working Groups (JWG) are actually implemented. Activities that support the closing of the loop step include: putting forward smart, locally sensitive policy recommendations, engaging potential spoilers or pre-empting the actions they can take where possible, making clear that fixes are a joint achievement and not the credit of civil society, or an NGO, but a genuine collaboration between public officials and local citizens, close working ties to key public institutions, sharing and disseminating best practices and public hearings inviting all stakeholders to present the main successes, challenges and lessons learnt.
To conclude and in response to the last part of your comment, we believe that CIB offers a constructive, sustainable approach to identify, monitor and improve development projects and services. The approach as proven to be cost effective e.g. in Palestine in 2013 the Teacher Creativity Centre (TCC) supported 1,280 monitors in 40 schools to gather data on 40 projects with more than 200,000 beneficiaries. In terms of scaling, TCC is working with the Ministry of Education to integrate social audits in the curriculum, thereby institutionalising our CIB approach. There is no doubt that our approach faces challenges. Civll society mobilisers require resources to develop communities, capacities to provide the evidence base to inform and improve policy and practice, and constructively close the loop. The key lies in strengthening partnerships across government, civil society and business. This means connecting affected communities with local, national and international policy-making and practice, ensuring bottom-up feedback and user-orientated solutions. You can find out more about CIB’s practical application here: http://www.integrityaction.org/sites/www.integrityaction.org/files/docum...
Giới thiệu game chơi bài
Game chơi bài bằng những bộ bài tây 52 lá đều là các trò chơi có từ thời xa xưa do con người sáng tạo ra để giải trí và chơi với nhau với mục đích vui chơi có thưởng. Các trò chơi này ngày nay lại càng được nhiều người chơi hưởng ứng họ chơi bằng mọi cách như chơi offline hay chơi online trên điện thoại.
Chơi game bài miễn phí trên điện thoại android
Trò chơi đánh bài mà các bạn đã từng chơi offline với nhau từ thời còn trẻ thì ngày nay đã được chuyển thể sang những bản chơi online trên điện thoại. Đặc biệt là điện thoại android thì rất thích hợp với các trò đánh bài giải trí này, không những thế khi chơi trên dt android
mua hang my voi gia hop ly
Chúng tôi chuyên bán buôn giày da nam, bán buôn giày nam ,bán buôn giày da các sản phẩm giày da cao cấp,giá thành và chính sách tốt. 01228466888 , giay99.vn
We should discuss your experience this far and how we may support one another. Please check out the STEAM Punks project.
obat penghancur lemak| cara mengobati kista|cara mengecilkan perut
Maka dari itu bagi anda yang ingin terlihat langsing dan terhindar dari lemak berlebih di perut anda, ikutilah tips cara menghilangkan lemak di perut yang kami mobicrumbz.com
mobicrumbz
www.mobicrumbz.com
Sampai disini sebenarnya kita sudah berhasil Membuat Blog di Blogger. ace maxs untuk kolesterol Namun belum maksimal, karena kita belum menyentuh XML atau Template dari Blog yang baru saja kita buat, jadi jika Blog yang baru saja kita buat dibuka, maka Tampilannya akan masih sederhana.
Untuk cara mendekorasi blog dan segala macamnya, akan saya bahas di Artikel selanjutnya ya, khasiat kulit manggis karena mengingat judul yang saya buat hanyalah untuk membahas Cara Membuat Blog, bukan cara Mendekorasi Blog. Hehe, jadi tunggu saja Trik lainnya yang akan diberikan oleh Blog Berguru SEO ini. www.siherbal.com
I have just visited your fantastic & useful post with required data which has carried a lot of required information foressay-writer-online.blogspot.com. People like your new post as it has great and important points that can be used for writing an essay.
Thank you so much for the information, very useful
Apotik Herbal Online
Atasi infeksi saluran kemih amda dengan mengkonsumsi Obat Tradisional Infeksi Saluran Kemih dari ace maxs yang ampuh dalam mengatasi dan membunuh bakteri dengan cara yang aman, Tanpa efek samping.
Obat Tradisional Infeksi Saluran Kemih
kami adalah pusat penjual obat herbal ace maxs terbesar di seluruh indonesia yang melayani pemesanan via SMS dan memberlakukan SISTEM KIRIM BARANG DAHULU, SETELAH SAMPAI BARU TRANSFER PEMBAYARANNYA.
Ace Maxs .
I saw a lot of website but I believe this one has something special in it. "The better work men do is always done under stress and at great personal cost." by William Carlos Williams.
http://hotlocalwomen.net
http://need-sex-now.com
http://woman-seeking.com
http://seeking-a-man.net