Conference on Social Accountability: Antananarivo, Madagascar
7 February 2008
Overview
The National Conference on Social Accountability (Conference sur la Redevabilité Sociale) was held from February 7th-9th, 2008, at the National Leadership Institute of Madagascar (NLIM), at Iavoloha, and was supported by three projects (PGDI, PGRM, PIC) as well as by WBI, CommDev, COPCO (the Oil, Gas, Mining Policy Division), the African Network on Social Accountability (ANSA), and the Office of the Prime Minister of Madagascar.
The objectives of the Conference were to (a) increase technical capacity in key social accountability (SA) tools, including Citizen Report Cards, Community Score Cards, the use of PETS, and Participatory Budgeting; (b) provide exposure to specific case studies from other countries on the successful application of SA tools to similar sectors, that might be of use to planning future activities; (c) disseminate the planned and completed SA pilot activities; (d) deepen the sectoral SA strategies initiated during sectoral discussions in the Social Accountability meeting in July, 2007; (e) build synergy amongst the stakeholders in the field of governance and civic engagement.
The conference was attended by approximately 160 participants, including 20 international and Malagasy presenters.
Participants
Participants included regional and national stakeholders. Seven regions were represented: Anosy, Diana, Alaotra Mangoro, Haute Matsiatra, Boeny, and Antsinanana. Each region was represented by seven participants, so as to create a core SA team in each of these regions. There were approximately 50 regional representatives, including mayors, chef de fokontany, regional government and civil society representatives, religious organizations, NGOs, and media. At the national level, participants included key government, civil society, donor, and media contacts. Annex 2 includes a list of participants.
Conference Events
The conference was opened by Dr. Jean-Louis Robinson, Minister of Health and the World Bank Country Manager Robert Blake. Annex 3 includes the conference agenda. The conference lasted 2.5 days. On Day 1, the presentations provided an overview of the key concepts of SA, an overview of the enabling environment and current social accountability initiatives in Madagascar, and some specific examples of social accountability and participatory planning of mining revenues in other countries and regions, such as Uganda, Peru, South Africa, and across Africa.
Day 2 of the conference was focused on capacity building and action planning. Participants chose from a number of different training activities in the morning, and in the afternoon they worked in small groups to determine action plans on themes such as “Civil Society and Social Accountability,” “Decentralization and Social Accountability,” “The Enabling Environment for Social Accountability,” “Participatory Planning of Mining Revenues.” Participants also had the choice to participate in a clinic providing detailed technical advice on Community Score Cards and Citizen Report Cards.
Day 3 of the conference was a half-day visit to the village of Ambalavao, a participatory budgeting site, organized by the Swiss NGO SAHA.
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