Citizen participation and community empowerment: system recognised as crucial for poverty alleviation-I

Pakistan has a poor track record of democracy as for more than half of its years of existence after independence, it has been ruled by the military. While the military governments always found faults with the politicians, it was always them who created the local government systems.
Pakistan has experimented with two systems of local government before the present devolution plan. These were in 1959 under General Ayub Khan and then under General Zia-ul-Haq in 1979, both during military regimes. The present devolution plan is also a brainchild of military government.
History of local governments in Pakistan is characterised by two factors; Firstly, the local governments have never been autonomously functional in the presence of democratic governments. Secondly, every time a new system of local government was created, it was totally from a scratch with no linkages to the previous system.
Under the previous system of local government, there were four levels of municipal government in the urban areas: town committees, municipal committees, municipal corporations and metropolitan corporations. Members of the council elected the senior officers of these councils and the controlling authority was the elected house.
There was a three-tier system of local government in operation in Pakistan in the rural areas, where Union Councils, Tehsil or Taluka Councils and District Councils were supposed to exist. However, provincial governments in practice usually abolished the middle-tier, the Tehsil/Taluka level. As a result mainly Union Councils and District Councils existed, which were elected on the basis of adult franchise.
The elected members then elected the Chairmen of these councils themselves. Municipal status was primarily a function of population. Two types of functions were allocated to local governments-compulsory and optional. Compulsory functions for urban local councils included sanitation and garbage disposal, water supply, drainage, education (primary), fire fighting, public streets, street lighting, and social welfare. Whereas major functions of rural councils included provision, maintenance and improvement of public roads, water supply, drainage, primary schools, medical and veterinary services.
In practice, however, the councils were just performing some of the functions. It has been argued that the allocation of functions to the councils was very liberal. However, the availability of resources and institutional capacity for undertaking development work has been the operative constraints.
Since local governments were not a central part of the Constitution and were delegated powers by the provincial governments, local governments actually owed their existence and powers to the provincial governments. Provincial governments could dismiss local governments by themselves or on the advice of the federal government.
This was a subjective and dominating, relationship; local governments did not operate independently from the provincial government and could hardly exercise any influence. From senior appointments to requests for more resources or the permission to increase taxes and rates, local governments were dependent upon their provinces. It would not be unfair to say that provinces controlled local governments. Besides, the budgets of local councils had to be approved by the provincial government, who were entitled to make amendments and suggestions.
Pakistan has a federal administrative structure guided by the Constitution of Pakistan of 1973 with amendments. Parliament consists of the National Assembly and the Senate. National Assembly members are directly elected on adult franchise basis and have a term of 5 years in office.
The National Assembly determines the major policy issues and passes annual budget and legislation. It elects the Prime Minister from among its members. The Prime Minister forms the cabinet from among members of the National Assembly and the senate. Provinces have their own elected legislative assemblies and Chief Ministers. Majority of the members of the Senate are elected by the Provincial Assemblies on the basis of proportional representation.
The allocation of functions of the federal government and the provincial governments is specified by the Constitution with the former having the authority to make laws with respect to any matter in the Federal Legislative List and the later in the Concurrent Legislative List. However in case of a dispute between the two, the writ of federal government shall prevail, hence providing for the root of centralisation in Pakistan.
Until the introduction of current legal changes 8, the Constitution of Pakistan did not fully recognise local governments as separate tier of government with their own powers and functions. They were essentially viewed as extensions of the provincial governments, having been created by the provincial legislation, through which some functions were delegated to them.
The purpose of giving an overview of the old system was to prepare a ground for comparison with what the new plan promises to offer by way of addressing the issues identified. Pakistan began implementing a major devolution plan in 2000, which has produced a new breed of local leadership under the military-led government of General Pervez Musharraf, who also holds the civilian office of the President of Pakistan. Some studies have viewed the current devolution exercise in Pakistan as a success; others have seen it as the military's attempt to prolong its rule in Pakistan.
The National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB) developed the Local Government Plan in 2000, and the provincial governments promulgated the Local Government Ordinance in 2001. The aims were to extend democracy to the local level, to create a proactive citizenry that directly solves problems through community organisation and projects, to strengthen local legislative bodies, to improve respect for citizen's rights and improve service delivery, and to reduce high levels of corruption.
These aims have measurable endpoints. Their achievement will depend on the level of Governments and civil society effort, the measurement of any progress and, based on reliable local evidence, midstream adjustments to reinforce changes through positive feedback. The objective of the study is to evaluate the performance and effectiveness of CCBs (Citizen Community Boards) in income generating field in Sukkur, Larkana and Nawabshah district, furthermore, to evaluate the participation of local people in CCBs projects in Sukkur, Larkana and Nawabshah districts.
THE CITIZEN COMMUNITY BOARDS (CCB): The development at the level of all tiers of local government is governed by the Citizen Community Boards (CCB). The CCB are designated agents of change and catalysts for activity. This institution has been created to organise and enable proactive elements of the society to participate in community work and undertake development-related activities in both rural and urban areas following a bottom-up and participation based approaches.
In the previous system, administrative control as well as development planning was carried out through a centralised system. It was essentially a top-down approach in which the people, for whose alleged benefit the development was being done, were conspicuous by their absence in the entire decision-making process. By creating an enabling environment, the people are themselves involved in arranging and managing various kinds of social and developmental projects.
In a local area, a group of non-elected citizens may set up a voluntary organisation with the name of CCB. The creation of CCBs is formalised through registration.
Unlike NGOs, which are registered under various laws; the CCBs are registered with the Community Development Office of the respective District under the Local Government Ordinance. The CCB has a general body, comprising all its members, which elects a Chairman, Executive Committee and a Secretary of the Board for carrying out its functions. A CCB may raise funds through voluntary contributions, gifts, donations, grants and endowments for its declared objectives, ie establishing a needed welfare or development project for the community. It may also receive project-based cost-sharing support from any local government in accordance with the provisions of the Local Government Ordinance.
The law lays down that at least 25 percent of the District development funds will be reserved for projects that will be identified, planned and sponsored by the CCBs. The Boards will submit the details of their development projects along with the proof that they have collected at least 20 percent of the estimated cost specifically for that project.
The Union Council and the Union Administration will then take up the project either with the Zila Council or the Tehsil Municipal Administration for approval and grant of the matching funds at the Union and/or Tehsil and/or District levels.
Depending on the socio-economic characteristics of the Union, the District Government or the Tehsil Municipal Administration may grant funds up to 80 per cent of the total estimated cost. Since development funds are available at all three levels, the Boards may seek funding from any level. Following the selection and approval of the project proposal by the Council, an agreement will be signed between the authorised official of the Local Government and the CCB.
A major problem has been the non-establishment/registration of CCBs. It is taking a lot of time for people to grasp the idea of the concept. This is also affecting the utilisation of allocated funds for development projects to be implemented through the CCBs.
OPERATIONAL ISSUES: In situations where CCBs have been established and registered, capacity of these entities and those of its members has found to be very weak. They have not been able to formulate projects to benefit from funding allocated by the local governments. Some CCBs are finding it difficult to arrange for 25% contribution to initiate projects.
Non-cooperation of the bureaucracy and elected councillors are also cited as some of the operational constraints. In many cases the required personnel of department for community development have not been posted. The new system tends to isolate the existing local organisations as it puts additional demand on them to fulfil various procedural requirements. It is also contended that in the plans proposed by CCBs are crowded by those put forward by the district development Committees.
CITIZEN PARTICIPATION THROUGH CCBS: The active promotion of CCBs amongst the most vulnerable citizens could help ensure that they do not miss the opportunity for citizen participation and community empowerment, elements now internationally recognised as crucial for poverty alleviation.
The 2004-05 social audit provides evidence that citizen participation is increasing; both generally, for example in increased membership of voluntary groups, and specifically in increased awareness and willingness to participate in CCBs. All the indicators point in the same direction, and there is synergy so that people who are interested in joining a CCB are also those more positive about their community and the way people work together in the community. Again, it will be necessary to keep monitoring the situation for equity of participation.
At present, the vulnerable (poor), women and the uneducated are less likely to participate than others. It will require additional efforts to draw in the more disadvantaged members of society. The willingness to participate is there: people from vulnerable households were as willing to join a CCB as people from less vulnerable households. But they face practical difficulties and special arrangements might be needed to ensure they can participate fully.
CCB promotion could actively target these groups to ensure equitable presence of the most vulnerable in the CCB movement. Women's participation remains a challenge and there is clear evidence of women's continuing exclusion from many aspects even of household functioning. For example, female respondents' under-reported household contacts with councillors, with the police, and with courts. Women councillors described some of the difficulties they faced in their role.
And women were less aware of, and expressed less willingness to join CCBs, undoubtedly because of the practical problems involved. On the other hand, women in the community focus group discussions showed their clear awareness of what was going on in their communities and had ideas about what needed to be done to improve matters. For the first time in the 2004-05 social audit we added some specific questions about social capital, which will serve as a baseline for following this important indicator over time. If devolution works as intended, social capital ought to increase.
To achieve the objectives under district governments, institutional arrangement was done. Formation of Citizen Community Boards (CCB's) is one of the institutions which are unique in nature in the history of local government. People at the grass-root level have been managed to form Citizen Community Boards (CCB's) to develop an environment of self help in collaboration with the government. As a result thousands of CCB's have been established so far throughout Pakistan. Through CCB's local development is being carried on.
In fact, CCB's can recommend projects to be financed by the development budget on an 80:20 principle11, where the community bears 20% of the proposed budget. Some communities have taken advantage of the opportunity by proposing projects to improve water supply and sanitation. Other communities have spent funds on projects that were not urgent in nature.
For instance, one community in Lodhran District used the funds to build a wall around a graveyard. Detractors of the devolution plan point out its financial shortcomings. For instance, the plan has transferred responsibility of municipal service delivery such as water supply, sanitation, primary education, and basic health to the local governments. However, the devolution plan falls short of building institutional, financial, and technical capacity of local governments.
How far these CCB's are successful in coping with the development challenges is not very clear till this date. Therefore, the undertaken study will evaluate the effectiveness and role of CCB's in social development projects (income generation sector) in Sindh province (Sukkur, Larkana and Nawabshah districts).
(To be concluded)