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Manish Kumar
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Over the years, the important role of information and communication in governance has been reaffirmed time and again. Advent of new technologies has created new avenues for rapid and wider information and knowledge sharing. Access to information, services and resources has expanded.
South Asian countries registered varying degree of success in achieving the targets underlined in the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), since the Millennium Declarations were agreed upon by more than 170 countries of the world in the year 2000. The mid-term progress review in September 2005 portrayed a mixed picture of South Asian region. The 2005 human development report also indicates that South Asia as a region still needs to make considerable progress to provide for satisfactory levels of human development. Sri Lanka takes the lead in human development in South Asia, with India, Bhutan, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh lagging far behind. With millions of people still trapped in the vicious poverty cycle, multi-dimensional and multi-sectoral approach is required to address the complex problem of poverty and hunger. Experiences and learnings from various development projects and programmes highlight the missing link between pro-poor governance and development interventions. Our experience at OneWorld South Asia (OWSA) further corroborates the fact that lack of pro-poor governance policies and programmes is crucial to the ineffectiveness of development activities. The National Participatory Rural Appraisal conducted with more than 250 grassroots workers in July 2005 proved to be an eye opener. The appraisal offered critical inputs from grassroots people to improve the productivity of our efforts aimed at achieving the development goals and the MDGs in particular.
Grassroot voices assume greater significance in the context of huge investments planned in e-governance initiatives. For instance, in India a major thrust is being given to e-governance programmes with National e-governance plan coming into effect. This is perceived as an effective way to reach common citizen and increase their access to government services. In this context, mainstreaming grassroots voices into the policy processes is vital for creating and implementing pro-poor governance systems and processes. This lends strength to democratic set up and contributes to improvement of human life. Dreze and Sen (2002) observe, Local democracy is also essential as a basis of public accountability, particularly in the context of the need for effective and equitable management of local public services. These services from schools and health centres to fair price shops and drinking-water facilities are often crucial for the quality of life. Their effective functioning, however, depends a great deal on the responsiveness of the concerned authorities to popular demands. To illustrate, it is difficult to see how the endemic problem of teacher absenteeism in rural India can be successfully tackled without involving the proximate and informed agency of village communities in general and parental groups in particular. As things stand, there is no mechanism to ensure any kind of accountability of village teachers to the local community or to the parents in large parts of India, and this is an important factor in the persistant dereliction of duty.(1)
Pro-poor governance involves the processes of decision-making and implementation of decisions that converts societys inputs and outlays to outputs, outcomes and impacts. This involves the interplay between multiple
stakeholders the state, the civil society, the private sector and grassroots community. Multiple processes and relationships that involve institutions, citizens, delivery mechanisms and framework of rules and regulations are intertwined. It gives importance to the roles and rights of people in development and their involvement and feedback in programmes, policy taking and political process. Governments, donors, civil society organisations, corporate, etc., have all shown their willingness to develop multistakeholder partnerships for better governance while recognising community as a key stakeholder. International organisations have also extended their expertise and experience to national governments and agencies to enact pro-poor governance through increased accountability, transparency, reduced corruption, and greater involvement of poor people in the whole process.
Over the years, the important role of information and communication in governance has been reaffirmed time and again. Advent of new technologies has created new avenues for rapid and wider information and knowledge sharing. Access to information, services and resources has expanded. However, the benefits of new technologies are unequally distributed largely driven by information asymmetry besides other constraints. To curb down the information asymmetry and remove any kind of bias, Indian government introduced Right to Information Act in the country to ensure rightful access to information as and when needed by common citizens, rich or poor. Coupled with decentralisation and empowering of local governing institutions like Panchayats, Right to Information can empower local people and increase their participation in activities of these institutions. Focus has now shifted towards creating IT-enabled Panchayats or e-panchayats. Speaking at the first convocation of the Jamshedji Tata National Virtual Academy Fellows in July 2005 in New Delhi, the Minister of Panchayati Raj, Mani Shankar Aiyar asked Mission 2007 proponents to take advantage of Panchayats while establishing village knowledge centres.
However, for effective delivery of services better coordination and cooperation is necessary among various government departments and stakeholders at all levels. ICTs offer significant opportunities to have integrated government. Interestingly grassroot voices can get heard at political and policy forums through these new tools. ICTs are an effective facilitator in all such processes that contribute to governance through increasing transparency, accountability and creating platforms for public participation and debate.
Footnote
1 Dreze, Jean and Amartya Sen. (2002). Development and participation. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2002. p. 359.
Author: Manish Kumar is the Manager ICT Research at OneWorld South Asia.
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