Mainstreaming Social Development: The Sierra Leone Experience

1
Mainstreaming Social Development The Sierra
Leone Experience

• SD Days March 30th, 2005
• Dan Owen (SDV)
• Rob Chase (SDV)
• Yongmei Zhou (AFTPR)
• Samantha de Silva (HDNSP)
• Dan Murphy (SDV)
• Camilla Holmemo (SDV)

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What are the SD strategic priorities again?

• Overall Social Development Objective
• Empowering poor and marginalized men and women
• Through a process of transforming institutions
• For greater inclusion, cohesion and
  accountability
• Strategic priorities
• More Macro Clients incorporate SD into
  strategies and policy dialog
• Better Projects Comprehensive and efficient
  mainstreaming of SD into project-level processes
• Better Grounding Improve research, capacity
  building and partnerships

3
Sierra Leone and Social Development So What?

• Sierra Leone embodies some promising examples to
  mainstream social development into operations
• More Macro
• SD Principles of inclusion and accountability
  incorporated into the CAS
• Better Projects
• Constructive synergies between decentralization
  CDD
• Better Grounding
• Operational research on social development impact

4
Sierra Leone The Context

• Social Assessment 2004 better understand poverty
  and vulnerability in order to strengthen CDD
• Findings
• Widespread practices of social exclusion
• Youth marginalization exacerbated by 11-year
  civil war
• Communities divided between leading lineages and
  the rest
• Weak institutional structures from grassroots to
  national level
• Need reestablish mutual trust through inclusive
  and accountable governance

5
Sierra Leone The CAS

• Three pillars governance, pro-poor sustainable
  growth, human resource development
• Governance pillar supports two promising entry
  points of governance reform
• Decentralization and empowerment
• Public financial management reform

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Extreme poverty outside Freetown
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GoSL vision of Decentralized Governance

• May 2004 Election of local councils
• Local Government Act 2004 requires
• Devolution of functions, expenditures, revenue
  authorities to local councils during 2004-2008
• Inter-governmental transfers based on transparent
  formula and principle of equity
• Local councils autonomy in HRM and FM under
  guidelines
• Transparency and accountability in council
  operation

8
CAS Helps GoSL Establish Effective Local
Governance

• Support fiscal decentralization to empower LGs
  with power and resources (IRCBP)
• Build LGs capacity in inclusive development
  planning, accountable financial management and
  effective service delivery (IRCBP)
• Empower communities to effectively express demand
  for public services and hold LGs accountable
  (IRCBP, JSDF, DevComm)
• Promote inclusive decision making processes
  within communities, empower communities to
  undertake collective action and address own
  development challenges (NSAP, JSDF)

9
CAS Helps GoSL Improve Transparency and
Accountability of Public Financial Management

• Improved strategic orientation of budget (IRCBP,
  Development Policy Lending)
• Improved transparency of overall government
  resource envelope and allocation (IRCBP, DPL)
• Improved accountability of spending units (IRCBP,
  DPL)
• We expect DfID ENCISS Project to help strengthen
  the monitoring and advocacy capacity of civil
  society groups

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Institutional Reform and Capacity Building
Project (IRCBP) Decentralization Component

• Facilitating and financing Local Council Rapid
  Results Initiatives immediate disbursement to
  finance RRIs, implemented within 100 days.
• Build functioning LGs which can
• institutionalize participatory planning
• have basic FM capacity
• establish local revenue mobilization capacity
• first maintain and later expand/improve service
  delivery
• Reward LGs which adopt a transparent and
  accountable management culture

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Institutional Reform and Capacity Building
Project Decentralization Component (2)

• Block grants to LGs so they can practice
  discretionary resource management skills
• Access rules focus on transparency and
  accountability requirements of LG Act 2004
• Allocation of formula-based LGDG among LGs based
  on equity principle infrastructure needs, other
  financing available
• Establish a credible transfer system for other
  financiers to use in future

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IRCBP Lessons Learned

• Promoting inclusion and strengthening
  accountability is about changing peoples belief
  and behavior. How do we do it?
• Nurturing inclusion and accountable governance
  culture in new LG institutions through
• Legal framework
• Processes
• Values
• Incentives
• Provide immediate reinforcement through publicity
  and peer pressure
• Key to start with virtuous cycle

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IRCBP Lessons Learned (2)

• Strengthening accountability and promoting
  inclusion in entrenched system may face more
  challenges.
• Need to disturb equilibrium, e.g., supporting
  champions for change within government and in
  society.

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National Social Action Project (NSAP) PDO

• To empower communities in the process of
  selection, rehabilitation/construction and
  operation of social and economic infrastructures
• Targeting especially the most vulnerable groups
  of society and in the areas most affected by the
  conflict or underserved by the government
• Supporting communities in taking collective
  action for social change.

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NSAP COMPONENTS

• Community Driven Program Provision of social
  services and economic infrastructure (primary
  schools, health posts, rural water, village
  roads, sanitation, small projects in agriculture,
  markets).
• Public Works. Finances shelter and feeder roads.
  (Only in three most vulnerable districts Kano,
  Kalahun and Koinadugu).
• Management and Innovative Activities.
  Information, public education, communication,
  capacity building

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NSAP Strategy for Reaching the Vulnerable

• Targeting
• District level. Resource allocation using
  vulnerability targeting (areas most affected by
  conflict, newly accessible areas)
• Below district level. Targeting strategy uses
  Services and Opportunities Mapping to compare
  vulnerability across chiefdoms and wards.
• Community level. Targets poor/remote communities.
  PPA and mobilization process ensures inclusion of
  VGs (e.g., returnees, IDPs, former combatants,
  widows, orphans).
• Shelter Component Works through NGOs. Finances
  shelter for vulnerable groups/families (amputees,
  disabled, widows etc.). Sensitizes communities on
  related issues.
• Project uses specific indicators to track social
  inclusion and vulnerability.

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NSAP Criteria for Vulnerability Ranking(Below
District level)

• Population (based on 2004 ranking)
• Education (operating standard education
  facilities)
• Health (operating standard health facilities)
• Water (availability of potable water)
• Agriculture (availability of agricultural
  services, rating of agricultural activities)
• Natural resources (rating of availability of
  natural resources)
• Transportation (rating of accessibility)
• Commercial activities (prevalence commercial
  opportunities and activities)
• Civic facilities (availability of civic
  facilities)
• Support (rating of NGOs/GOSL support)

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NSAP RESULTS

• Reaching most vulnerable areas (conflict
  affected/newly accessible)
• 33 of CDP projects in most vulnerable districts
  (target over 50)
• PWP/Shelter. 388 shelters rehabilitated
  benefiting 6,294 beneficiaries.
• MOU SLRA, DCs,NaCSA- signed to rehabilitate
  100km of feeder roads (30-40 roads)
• CDP financed 175 subprojects in poor/remote
  communities.
• Communication campaign focuses on social cohesion
  and community participation.
• Measuring impact. Developing common set of social
  capital indicators (trust, inclusion, networks
  etc.) jointly with IRCBP and JSDF.

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NSAP Addressing Accountability Issues

• Communities given full control over decisions and
  resources.
• PMCs accountable to the greater community
• Transparent procedures/rules in place
• Internal audits of community accounts
• PPA and social mobilization process promotes
  transparency and accountability at all levels.
• Strengthens links between local councils and
  communities
• Information campaigns publicizes info about NaCSA
  (operating procedures, rules of the game,
  budgets, achievements, etc.)
• NaCSA fully accountable to parliament.

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Empowering the Grassroots Capacity Development
to Strengthen Social Capital (JSDF)

• Objectives
• Learning by doing via bottom-up support to
  decentralization (IRCBP link)
• Address Social Assessment finding of fragile
  social capital inclusion, trust, collective
  action, groups and networks, information and
  communication (NSAP link)
• Scope
• 2 year pilot in Bonthe and Bombali Districts
• Operates in 60 villages, 10 wards per district.
• Recipient Decentralization Secretariat

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Empowering the Grassroots Capacity Development
to Strengthen Social Capital (JSDF)

• Design Highlights
• Development Planning at village and ward levels
• Strategic plans, identify concrete goals and
  action steps to achieve them
• Community-Driven Initiatives at village and ward
  levels
• Via Development Grants
• Results oriented, will use successful model of
  RRI
• Community Driven Monitoring and Evaluation (CDME)
• Communities choose indicators, track progress,
  and make changes when necessary
• Simple, effective management tool

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JSDF Pre-requisites for Inclusion and
Accountability

• Political will of key national stakeholders
  critical
• Support institutional structures at lower levels
  that can be sustained
• In Bombali District, average of 45 villages per
  ward
• Quality technical design simple, relevant, and
  scaleable approaches
• Engage most vulnerable youth and women

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JSDF Operational Value Added vis-à-vis Inclusion
and Accountability

• Mobilization process allows communities to
  examine intangibles (i.e. inclusion,
  accountability), that are reflected in planning
  and action
• Support behavioral change by fostering a culture
  of inclusion and accountability at community
  level
• Management of Development Grants
• Financial accountability via learning by doing
• Community-Driven Monitoring and Evaluation
• Inclusion and Accountability explicitly and
  implicitly

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JSDF Lessons Learned?

• Process nice rhetoric Is it doable?
  Necessary?
• In terms of addressing urgent development needs,
  Subsidiarity Principle may not yet trickle down
  to community level. A proactive approach in
  short- to medium-term necessary.
• Sustainability of village/ward level block grants
  questionable in short-term. Key is to demonstrate
  absorptive capacity of sub-district structures to
  Local Councils, GoSL, donors.

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Are We Really Supporting Inclusion and
Accountability? Joint Impact Evaluation

• Empowering people, transforming institutions,
  promoting inclusion and accountability? Joint
  Impact Evaluation
• Impacts on inclusion
• In development planning and implementation
• Inclusive leadership/decision-making
• Impacts on accountability
• Public spending and services
• Communities empowered to hold leadership
  accountable

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Supporting Inclusion and Accountability How did
we do?

• Relative pros and cons
• Which approach is more effective in promoting
  inclusive and accountable local governance?
• Value added of participation?
• How are we going to do this?
• Annual household surveys to track before/after
• Targeted quality studies in key sectors
• Annual Public Expenditure Tracking Surveys
• JSDF Randomized impact evaluation qualitative
  quantitative

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Operational research on SD impact so what?

• Better grounding operational research and
  capacity building
• Better projects careful downstream analysis
• More macro build capacity to link operations to
  policy through research and analysis