As special-interest associations, community-based organisations fill an institutional vacuum, providing basic services to ensure a robust response to crises of poverty. It is at this local level that people, however limited their incomes or their assets, tend to reveal their true wealth: the ingenuity that they need to solve their own problems and those of their communities. Community based organisations (CBOs) are locally based membership organisations that work to provide services to their own communities. They have emerged in response to the need for collective social action. Their main characteristic is the importance that they attach to self-help, based on the principle of traditional communal values, reciprocity and interdependence. The author argues that CBOs can serve as a channel through which African governments can facilitate development at the grassroots level. While the CBOs need capacity-building to strengthen their skills in areas such as bookkeeping and accounts, experience indicates that the related needs assessments should be carried out jointly with communities. Examples show considerable grassroots enthusiasm for decentralisation within communities that can be mobilised by winning the confidence and trust of local and traditional communities and their leaders. CBOs are argued to provide the basis for a bottom-up approach in the fight against social exclusion and in national decision-making.
Governance and participation in health
This evaluation of the South African Budget Monitoring and Expenditure Tracking (BMET) project, which was launched in 2009, demonstrates that citizen involvement in economic governance is both possible and progressing. The project is aimed at improving the delivery, accessibility and affordability of treatment for people living with HIV and AIDS and TB. Project interventions have reached a range of targeted beneficiaries and achieved a positive impact in four key aspects. First, community engagement has stimulated community members’ interest in budget issues relating to health care provision and mobilising for improvements. Second, health workers have a better understanding of their own and their client-community needs towards enhancing facility systems. Third, citizens are empowered with skills to research and track the quality of HIV and AIDS and TB services in their community and demand answers. Finally, collaboration on resolving longstanding and complex health service delivery problems has been enhanced because citizens, organisations and health authorities have a shared, relational understanding of both the barriers to and the opportunities for change.
Sustainable, effective and successful partnerships need to be built on mutual trust, on an explicit programme, clearly defined responsibilities, champion figures and financial resources. In this article, Dr. Kakonge outlines positive and negative factors that influence development assistance partnerships in Africa. The article notes that partnership demands creativity, compromise, commitment, consistency, flexibility and fairness. Some scholars argue that partnerships do not work when there is poor coordination relating to external assistance. . The author reviews factors that are critical in making development assistance partnerships successful in Africa.
In Tanzania, the policy of decentralisation and the health sector reform have placed an emphasis on community participation in making decisions in health care. The objective of this study was to explore challenges to fair decision-making processes in health care services with a special focus on the potential influence of gender, wealth, ethnicity and education. study was carried out in the Mbarali District of Tanzania. A qualitative study design was used, with in-depth interviews and focus group discussions conducted among members of the district health team, local government officials, health care providers and community members. Informal discussion on the topics was also of substantial value. The study findings indicate differences in influence on health care decision-making processes in terms of gender, wealth, ethnicity and education, as men, wealthy individuals, members of strong ethnic groups and highly educated individuals had greater influence. Opinions varied among the study informants as to whether such differences should be considered fair. The differences in levels of influence emerged most clearly at the community level, and were largely perceived as legitimate. The authors conclude that these inequalities in decision making in health care need to be addressed if greater participation is desired. There must be an emphasis on the right of all individuals to participate in decision-making processes, and role players should ensure that information, training and education is fairly distributed so individuals can participate fully in informed decision making.
After two decades of marketizing, an array of national and international actors have become concerned with growing global inequality, the failure to reduce the numbers of very poor people in the world, and a perceived global backlash against international economic institutions. The essays in this volume explore what forms a new politics of inclusion can take in low- and middle-income countries. The contributors favor a polity-centered approach that focuses on the political capacities of social and state actors to negotiate large-scale collective solutions and that highlights various possible strategies to lift large numbers of people out of poverty and political subordination.
China’s growing involvement in countries where peace is fragile brings new responsibilities and policy choices for Beijing, as well as a new reality for Western funders and policy makers, according to this brief. This increased involvement brings risks and opportunities for peace and stability in conflict-affected states, SAFERWORLD argues. The brief summarises the impacts of China’s growing economic, diplomatic and military engagement in conflict-affected states and analyses the implications for peacebuilding. The briefing also offers recommendations for policy makers in China and the West focused on fostering a culture of dialogue, bridging the current policy gap regarding conflict-affected states, and creating an enabling international architecture. A key conclusion is that as Beijing’s approach towards conflict-affected countries evolves, there is an unprecedented opportunity for China and the West to develop more complementary approaches in support of peace and equitable development.
In this article, the author analyses China’s trade and diplomatic relations with Africa in terms of Joseph Nye’s concept of soft power. He argues that examining China's Africa Policy, there is a motivation to change cultural perceptions about China and to influence agenda's through co-option rather than economic or military coercion. Although Chinese leaders often refer to the importance of its soft power in the world, China's policy for engagement with African countries does not mention soft power directly. Instead, it speaks in very general terms of mutual cooperation and win-win strategies. The author argues that China’s well-disguised soft power approach is not very different from the soft power component of US foreign policy.
Mkanda, in central Malawi, is presented as a successful example of cholera control through the Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) approach, with a fall from fourteen to zero cholera cases in a year. The article does not give adequate evidence to attribute the cause of the decline, but toilet availability and community awareness both improved in the year.
Ban Ki-Moon’s term as UN Secretary General ends this year and already political jostling is underway ahead of the selection of the new head of the world body. There are strong indications that favour a woman candidate. And how has Africa positioned itself for the unfolding contest? A number of African female candidates with the right credentials fit to lead the UN exist. The author discusses which African candidates could be in the running and whether a candidate from Kenya might have the diplomatic weight to lobby and get elected.
The Third Forum of the World Alliance of Cities against Poverty (WACAP) held in Huy, Belgium, from 10-12 April, provided an opportunity for representatives to develop partnerships. Participants from 96 countries shared experiences on how they are becoming increasingly involved in addressing the impact of HIV/AIDS, particularly on women. The Alliance of Mayors Initiative for Community Action on AIDS (AMICAALL), set up with support from UNAIDS to help translate the goals of the IPAA into concrete actions, is multisectoral and emphasises partnerships between local government, civil society, including the private sector and communities, mayors and municipal leaders in Africa. Through their strategy they are working through exiting cities' networks as well as with other partners and networks to ensure that HIV/AIDS is integrated into municipal agendas. For more information please contact Mina Mauerstein-Bail.