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The Sub-grantee will implement the following activities from
August 2011 to September 2014 in six constituencies in Jessore
district of Khulna division.
1. Produce
two report cards during the project period tracking priority
development issues at the constituency level such as poverty,
education, gender parity and social safety net programmes.
These reports cards will also be revealed the expectation
of the community towards MPs and address the local issues
to bring into the parliament. MPs will assist in tracking
the findings of the report card, and will advocate with the
relevant standing committee members and other stakeholders
to introduce legislation as needed or maintain oversight on
implementation of existing laws or resolve the problems. In
Year 1, one report card will be produced.
2. Two
meetings on the results of report cards will be fed into policy
briefs and will be specifically shared with Women Parliamentarians
at national level. Women MPs will raise the issue for necessary
parliamentary action to address the policy deficiencies and
develop an oversight mechanism to track the progress of the
issues highlighted in the report cards. This meeting will
also be organized with Bangladesh Alliance for Women Leadership
(BDAWL) who are advocating and supporting women in leadership
positions. This will help to build a In Year 2 and 3 the meeting
will be held at national level.
3. Organize
three radio programs (Government/Private/Community) with selected
MPs (from the respective constituencies) to discuss the local
problems and find out the solution with community. In addition
the relevant burning issues at local level like poverty, education
and gender disparity problems and policy solutions will also
be discussed. This activity will take place from Year 2.
4. Based
on the findings of the report cards, six public hearing sessions
will be organized during the project period to address various
issues related to poverty, education and gender parity at
the constituency level by engaging the targeted MPs, CSO and
GOB officials to generate feedback on the implementation of
different legislation and selected policies, as well as discuss
its effectiveness and impediments. In year 1, two public hearing
sessions will be arranged.
5. DPPFs
will organize six dialogues during the project period with
MPs and representatives from government institutions to discuss
the application and implementation of national policy on safety
net programs (VDG card, VGF card, elderly allowance, widow
allowance), along with gaps requiring new policies, legislation
or oversight activities . In Year 1, two dialogues will be
held.
6. DPPFs
will organize four sharing meetings during Year 2 and 3 of
the project at the upazila level with guardians and other
concerned authorities to reduce the dropout rate at the primary
school level. In addition, women representatives will be involved
in promoting gender equality at the constituency level and
discuss with representatives of different standing committees
of the Upazila Parishad. The report from this session will
be fed into policy briefs and will be shared with MPs and
relevant parliamentary standing committees to advocate for
policy improvements (which may include new legislation or
amendments to exiting policies or call for oversight by Parliament).
7. Effective
and rigorous campaigning to promote national policy solutions
will be conducted throughout the project period. Information,
Education and Communication (IEC) materials (such as bulletins,
posters and brochures) will be produced. In Year 1 and 2 2000
copies of the brochure will be printed and distributed. In
year 2 and 3, 6000 copies poster and year 2 and 2000 copies
of bulletin will be published.
8. Issue
based three District level Democracy festivals to deepening
people's awareness and sensitize on democracy and governance.
In these festivals Democracywatch will disseminate and publicize
information on the local progress and challenges about the
poverty reduction, education, Gender and Governance. These
festivals will create an opportunity to make people more aware
and sensitize on citizen's demand to make government more
responsive in bringing the local development issues into the
parliament. A number of 3 festivals will be held up to 2014.
The festival
will have an exhibition where NGOs - local and international,
embassies of mature democratic countries like USA, UK etc
and international and local development & research agencies
will take part. The exhibition of festival works as an excellent
tool, which has been proven in last nine festivals (i.e. democracy,
local government and youth festivals) organized by Democracywatch,
to propagate democratic culture, values and disseminate information
on democracy, good governance among the common people, who
otherwise will not have access to this free information provided
by different participating agencies. This will establish a
bridge between the people and the government.
The duration
of the Democracy festivals will be minimum two days. The festival
will also have 2/3 seminars on topics of democracy and parliament
relevance. These festivals will also be related to democracy
and good governance issues. There will be scope for common
people to voice their views in these open seminars. Besides
a press conference will be organized to make people more aware
and sensitize on the progress at local level.
During
from the experience of successful 'Mukto Mancha' (an open
platform, where anybody can speak on selected topics) Democracywatch
will also include this event in the festival to track the
people's view on the different development issues. There will
be debate, quiz competition and Mock parliament to make general
people more aware and sensitize on the development issues.
The overall
objectives of the Democracy Festival are
" Making grassroots people, especially the youth and
women, aware of their democratic rights and privileges to
pave the way of good governance in Bangladesh
" Dissemination of information on progress at local level
" Creating the ground for interaction among policy makers,
local people and stakeholders of the project.
The Outputs
of Democracy festival:
People
participating in different programmes of Democracy Festivals
will become more conscious citizens of the country, who will
be more aware and sensitized on their local issues and democratic
rights and exert pressure on the policy makers for positive
changes to achieve good governance in the country
9. Organize
a number of 8 Mock Parliaments at School level at 8 Upazillas.
In the proposed area, students will be taking on the role
of speaker, deputy speaker, chief whip, whip, ministers, role
of MPs as they attempt to pass legislation about their school
through their own mock parliament. MPs of the local constituency
will be invited through the intervention of the local MPS
will be aware of the needs of the youths.
Mock Parliament will help students not only to understand
the roles of MPs, but will also help develop important skills
in public speaking, debating and argumentation. This will
also create awareness about the political system of the country
among the youths and motivation to be involved in the political
process. The Program will continue during Year 2 and 3.
10. Two
National Conventions on DPPF will be held to determine the
achievement and key lesson learning during the intervention
of DPPF, the DPPF members will be more strategic and proactive
to address the local issues to bring into the parliament.
This convention will also find out the ways to work with MPs
in an effective manner. This National Convention of DPPF will
create a sensation among the policy makers to bring the local
burning issues into the policy level in a participatory process.
This activity will continue during the 2nd year and 3rd year.
11. Two
National Meetings with concerned parliamentary standing committees
will be held to determine the real scenario of educational
status at Upazilla level. Based on a comprehensive report
of the locality, the DPPF members will present their findings
on the concerned educational institutions and prepare recommendations
for members of the parliamentary standing committees to bring
these issues into the parliament. This program will be done
during the year 3.
12. 46 Orientation for DPPF for enhancing organizational and
advocacy capacity in the field of Democratic Governance especially
on different aspects of parliament. This activity will be
done in the first year of the project. The DPPF activities
at the constituency level will create demand and provide community
members/constituents with information on the current development
issues at the locality. Side by side CSO organization will
encourage them to reach out to their respective constituents
and monitor the progress of development.
A number
of 23x2=46 (Functions of parliament, Accountability, Transparency,
Role of MPs, Civil Society role to promote parliament more
effective and pro-people etc ) orientations for DPPF will
be held during this time.
Members
will learn about accelerating the development progress and
advocacy with policy makers to bring these issues into the
parliament. Through this process DPPF will built a strong
'Citizen Monitoring Mechanism' to identify the different gaps
and policies at the sub national level, coping with policymakers
especially with MPs on development issues, progress tracking
process and influence local MPs to bring these issues into
the parliament. Side by side the Members will learn about
the Governance issue such as accountability, transparency
and functions of parliament in a professional manner. The
DPPF will also sensitize other contemporary Networks at National
level through dissemination of information and media campaign.
13. Formal meeting between MP's and DPPF to inform officially
regarding the objectives and activity of DPPF. The members
of DPPF will also seek their cooperation and collaboration
to work in their constituencies regarding the development
issues. The DPPF will engage local Parliamentarian in the
discussions about the progress and challenges of Poverty,
Education, Gender parity and Governance. A total number of
6 formal meetings will be organized. These meetings will be
held during 2013 and 2014.
14. 3
Advocacy Training will be held for DPPF members to raise the
demand for better services at the community level. A number
of 3 potential members from each committee will be given preference
to attend these training sessions. These training sessions
will be held during 2013.
15. A
number of 3 Street drama and folk songs will be organized
at 6 constituencies focused on gender equality and empowerment
of women. This program will be organized at 2013.
16. A number of 2 bulletins and 2 posters will be published
to make general people more aware and pro-active on the role
of civil society organizations to make parliament more effective.
17. Annual
Partnership Meeting. A total number of 3 Annual Partnership
meetings will be held during the project period.
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