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| Civic Engagement in Urban Governance | | Rationale: | Good local governance leads to enhanced service delivery by Urban Local Bodies (ULBs). In India, providing basic services like water supply and sanitation is primarily the responsibility of the ULBs. However, in most cities in the country the availability, accessibility, quality and adequacy of such services are in deficit. Despite considerable amount of resources being spent each year both by the central and state governments, universal access to urban services is a distant dream for many citizens, particularly the poor and marginalised. One of the important reasons for such ineffective and non-responsive service is the lack of transparency and accountability in the local governance institutions. | | | A number of efforts have been made by various state governments to improve the ‘institutional’ accountability mechanisms. However, they remain largely ineffective in exacting accountability because of the lack of complementarities with the civil society. Numerous civil society efforts in India and elsewhere showed that strengthening and promoting social accountability enhances participation, transparency, accountability and effectiveness in public service provisions. In other words, by institutionalising social accountability mechanisms, the likelihood of realising good urban governance would be higher. | | | This project proposes to carry forward and build on the learning and experience from an exercise that PRIA carried out last year under “Improving Citizens’ Access to Urban Services”. It also proposes to create new platforms for better citizenship, improved governance and accountability through concrete interventions. Improved and effective delivery of Water Supply and Sanitation Services (WSSS) for all citizens and effective social accountability mechanisms in ULBs w.r.t. Water Supply and Sanitation Services (WSSS) are the key objectives of the project. | | | | Project Goal: | • Improved and effective delivery of Water Supply and Sanitation Services (WSSS) for all citizens. | | Project Purpose: | • Ensuring effective social accountability mechanisms in Urban Local Bodies with regard to Water Supply and Sanitation Services (WSSS). | | | | Project Locations: | | State | District | Block/ Municipality | No. of Gram Panchayat s/Wards | | Rajasthan | Jaipur | Jaipur | 2 wards | | Bihar | Patna | Patna | 2 wards | | Jharkhand | Ranchi | Ranchi | 2 wards | | Uttar Pradesh | Varanasi | Varanasi | 2 wards | | Chhattisgarh | Raipur | Raipur | 2 wards | | |
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| Citizen Centric Planning | | Rationale: | Over the years various urban plans have been prepared across the country to address the emerging development problems in terms of infrastructure and municipal services. As a practice such city plan preparation has been expert centric rather than citizen centric, which is sensitive to their needs and aspirations. The participation of citizens in the planning process should be promoted by all means. | | | PRIA has gathered ample experience in the last 4 years on preparing participatory urban plans comprising Master Plans, City Development Plans (CDPs), Zonal Plans, Slum Upgradation Plans and Solid Waste Management Plans involving various stakeholders. There is now a need to popularise the participatory methodology in urban planning through different interventions. The target audiences are practitioners, academia, policy makers, municipalities and other civil society organisations, etc. Different dissemination tools will be utilised that may include writing articles, policy briefs, methodological note and convening dialogue at different platforms. | | | Another rationale behind the project is to demonstrate implementation of ward/area plans with citizen participation. Many cities have prepared CDPs and detailed project reports (DPRs) under JNNURM, but are still far from implementation. The last leg of implementation on the ground resulting into service delivery is missing. PRIA’s intervention is intended to prepare an implementable area plan based on pressing issues such as water supply, sanitation, roads, etc. PRIA wants to showcase that citizen participation can actually result into better planning and implementation through such initiatives. | | | The current project picks up the thread from PRIA’s earlier interventions where it has been engaged in participatory town planning at the city level, whether it is integrated plan or sectoral plans. Now PRIA attempts to showcase that citizen-centric participatory planning makes difference in the lives of people through this intervention. The project aims to strengthen urban governance systems to deliver basic services to the citizens with particular focus on urban poor and marginalised. Enhancing capacities of intervened municipalities to promote citizen participation in project planning and implementation and influencing the urban planning community and policy makers to adopt participatory urban planning methodology are the key objectives of the project. | | | The project has been proposed to be taken up in Raipur, Patna and Ranchi in addition to Chapra, Dumka, Arang and Akaltara. At the places where development plan or city plans have been under preparation, it will be consolidated and submitted after completion and in other locations ward-level integrated area-based plans will be prepared to demonstrate the implementation in stages. The basis for selection of these locations is PRIA’s earlier intervention, where synergy has to be brought through technical planning to solve the problems. PRIA has been engaged in selected wards in selected cities to improve urban basic services. The citizens in these areas are struggling for accessing basics municipal services. The project intends to improve the service delivery through planning input. At the initial stage, a few priority sectors like water, sanitation, solid waste, drainage and sewerage, roads, etc. will be focused upon. | | | | Project Goal: | •Strengthening urban governance systems to deliver basic services to the citizens with particular focus on urban poor and marginalized. | | Project Purpose: | •Enhancing capacities of intervened municipalities to promote citizen participation in project planning and implementation. | •Influencing the ‘ urban planning community of practice’ and policy makers to adopt participatory urban planning methodology. | | | | Project Locations: | | State | District | Block / Municipality | No. of Gram Panchayats/Wards | | Chhattisgarh | Raipur | Raipur | 2 wards | | Jharkhand | Ranchi | Ranchi | 2 wards | | Bihar | Patna | Patna | 2 wards |
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