Strengthening Civil Society to Improve Accountability

Strengthening Civil Society to Improve Accountability

Donor: National Endowment for Democracy (NED)

With the support of National Endowment for Democracy (NED), Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI) is implementing a project on “Strengthening Civil Society to Improve Accountability” since February 2006. Initially, the project was implemented only in the Rawalpindi district but, later, its scope was expanded to district Jhang in 2008-09 and district Khushab in 2009-10. Main objective of the project is ‘to promote democratization by establishing and strengthening mechanisms of enhanced public participation in monitoring and accountability of use of public funds by public authorities in the districts and members of provincial/national assemblies.

Objectives of the proposed projects are:

1. To analyze budgets of the provincial government as well as of selected districts; and share the reports with partners and stakeholders for debate and policy influence;
2. To provide facilitation and technical support to the ‘Awami Budget Monitoring Networks’ in Rawalpindi, Khushab and Jhang so that these can continue to efficiently monitor the use of public funds and take initiatives to make the relevant public authorities and members of national and provincial assemblies accountable by using the recognized legal and political methods;
3. To build and improve the capacity of activists identified from communities and civil society organizations, especially of members of the Networks and partners from selected districts, in monitoring the use of public funds, establishing mechanisms and forums for public accountability, and making demands for transparency in governance;
4. To inform and sensitize key officials of district and provincial governments and members of national and provincial assemblies so that they could positively respond to demands of civil society by establishing transparent procedures, and by creating spaces for their participation and effective monitoring and democratic accountability of the use of public funds;
5. To provide platforms for discussions on main concerns related to development priorities and use of public funds at various levels, including in communities, to hold public authorities accountable.

In this regard CPDI has formulated a network of different civil society organizations, academia and NGOs from every district of the Punjab, known as the Citizens Network for Budget Accountability (CNBA). Strengthening the participation of citizens, enforcing transparency & accountability and pointing out the loopholes in the budget making process is its main aim. Until 2012 the project was being implemented only in three districts of the Punjab but this year CPDI has taken a gargantuan step to cover all thirty six districts of the Punjab. CNBA is the first step towards a nation-wide network of budget monitoring organizations, called Network for Budget Advocacy (NBA) that CPDI hopes to build in few years down the lane.

For more details regarding the network please visit its Facebook page:

Citizens Network for Budget Accountability (CNBA)