LG Community participation in Pakistan

							Community participation in Pakistan
In Pakistan, community driven development based on local democracy has been made a
fundamental principle of the new local governance arrangements. To convert the policies and
plans into reality and to ensure community participation Citizen Community Boards (CCBs)
were introduced. The Provincial Local Government Ordinances (2001) provide a formal
mechanism for the non-elected citizens to participate in the development process through
Citizen Community Boards. Every local government is required to reserve 25 % of their
development budget for use exclusively through the CCBs.This has created the enabling
environment for community participation by requiring local governments to involve CCBs in
their development projects, planning and expenditure. Under the CCB mechanism the
communities are given responsibility for the identification, execution, monitoring and
operation of approved projects. The result is that communities have been empowered,
through financial support from the government, to solve their local problems themselves.

Communities have shown keen interest in development of their areas through CCB schemes.
Communities are interested in investing in projects related to agriculture, street paving, water
supply, drainage, education, women’s development, education and health.The number of
CCBs registered since December 2003 has grown exponentially, so that the 24,828 CCBs
involve approximately 620,700 non-elected citizens.They are implementing community level
schemes to improve the quality of life locally. There is, however, evidence that the take up of
the CCBs varies across the provinces and furthermore the number and value of projects varies
enormously.

To address this, a capacity building and awareness campaign has been launched to support
community participation, which will consolidate the local government system and improve
the service delivery. To facilitate the process of mobilising CCBs and to ensure the utilisation
of development funds reserved for the CCBs the local governments are being supported by a
number of institutions, including the Devolution Trust for Community Empowerment
(DTCE) established by the Government of Pakistan in collaboration with the international
donors, the National Commission for Human Development (NCHD), another Government
institution, and the National Rural Support Program (NRSP) a development organisation
working with communities throughout Pakistan. Other NGOs are also actively promoting the
formation of CCBs to access the development funds reserved for CCBs, while local
governments have established offices for community development.

The CCB programme has enabled village communities and leaders to get to know local
government officials and how to interact powerfully with local government, providing a
framework for the active involvement of communities in the activities of the local
governments on a sustainable basis. However, a real challenge that remains is to encourage
women to form CCBs, as they remain a small number.

Source: National Reconstruction Bureau 2006