Democratic Local Governance Program
Project Objectives and Activities
Objective 1: Knowledge Development on Leadership; Accountability, Transparency
and Inclusivity; Pluralism and Freedom of Expression (Months 1-10)
Identify a new cohortof 360 young people who will be trained to act as
agents for positive social change. Their training will focus on: Youth
Leadership; Accountability, Transparency, and Inclusivity; Grant Management;
and Pluralism and Freedom of Expression. 432 youth, (80% of participants
from the PRODIGY pilot) willreceive additional training on pluralism and
freedom of expression.
1.1 Conduct a baseline survey in 15 Union Parishads (rural) and wards
(urban) to select 360 young people aged 18-30 to participate in leadership
development programs. (Months 1-2) The baseline survey will identify 360
young people from 10 newly selected communities who will act as agents
of positive social change. Young people will be selected from diverse
groups representing both rural and urban areas, with a female participation
rate of 50%. Participants will be selected using specific criteria agreed
by the British Council and its partners, taking into account both their
accomplishments as well as their potential, in addition to their commitment
to give back to their communities. Through a targeted approach, the project
will ensure participation of at least 10% of young people from marginalized
communities including the extreme poor, religious minorities, ethnic minorities
and differently abled people.
1.2 Review and revise existing training modules (Month 3) The consortium,
in consultation with the British Council, will review these three training
modules to update the content based on feedback from thePRODIGY pilot.The
project will also identify appropriate existing modules and will review
and adapt them to develop a new training module on pluralism and freedom
of expression.This will be done by a network of expert staff from the
British Council and its partners. The new module will include contents
on valuing diversity and different perspective, social cohesion, peace
building.
1.3 Select master trainers from targeted Union Parishads and wards and
conduct 2 trainings of trainers (ToT) (Months 3-4) The master trainers
will be project staff (Field Coordinators and Program Officers), who will
take part in two training of trainers (ToT) sessions. They will be trained
to use the revised training modules, which will focus on: youth leadership,
transparency and accountability, inclusivity, pluralism, freedom of expression,
and small scale grant management. The three-day ToT sessions will be residential.As
the master trainers will also play the role of Field Coordinators and
Program Officers, they will be in a position to closely monitor the activities
of the young people, providing valuable feedback and mentoring support.
1.4 Hold training programs for young peopleon leadership; transparency
and accountability; inclusivity and pluralism; and Freedom of Expression
(Months 5-8) 30nonresidential trainings (3 trainings in 10 locations,
focusing on each of the following 3 modules: a. leadership; b. transparency
and accountability; and c. inclusivity, pluralism and freedom of expression)
will be conducted. Using the newly developed curriculum, the trainings
will be delivered to 360 young people (10 groups of 36 participants) in
targeted communities. Two master trainers will train 36 participants from
each community.
1.5 Hold training programs on pluralism and freedom of expression for
existing cohort of 432 young people (Months 5-7) 432 young people (representing
80% of the existing cohort of 540 youth from the PRODIGY pilot)will take
part in a four-day nonresidential training that will focus on pluralism
and freedom of expression. The trainings will take place in 15 locations
across the country and will bring together 27-30 participants each. They
will develop a network that will collaborate to promote tolerance in their
communities, using the skills they have gained to build bridges across
social and community divides.
1.6 Hold training workshops for young people on grant management, project
design, implementation and community needs assessment (Months 9 - 10)
The cohort of 360 youth leaders will receive additional training to plan
and design their own community projects. In each of the 12 communities,
groups of 30 young leaders will take part in a one day nonresidential
training workshop which will focus on grant management, project design
and project implementation. In addition, they will receive community needs
assessment training to help them design projects that are responsive to
the challenges faced by their communities. The youth leaders will receive
additional support in grant management, project design and needs assessment
during the implementation phases of their community projects.
Objective 2: Empower a network of trained group of youth to engage
wider communities in issues around governance, pluralism and freedom of
expression to raise awareness and level of motivation among citizens(Months
8 - 22)
2.1 Assist young people to design and plan their community projects to
engage wider communities in local governance (Months 8 - 14) We willmentor
youth leaders as they design and plan their community projects after the
conclusion of the training programs. Trainedyouth will be encouraged to
carry out peer learning initiatives to cascade their knowledge on transparency,
accountability, inclusivity, citizens' rights, pluralism and freedom of
expression. The existing cohort of 432 young people will continue to build,
expand and improve the 75 social action projects which they have initiated
during the PRODIGY pilot phase and mentor their peers. The new cohort
of 360 young people will initiate at least 40 new social action projects
from month 11 onwards. Through the social action projects, the youth leaders
will create better awareness in their communities on functional issues
of the local government such as open and participatory budget, citizen's
charter, social safety net program, and role of standing committees for
community development. Activities like street theatre, folk music, yard
meeting, public rallies, discourses and dialogues between local government
and citizens will be used by the young people to deliver their social
action projects. These social action projectswill enable youth leaders
to demonstrate to their fellow citizens that they are entitled to know
how their needs and vulnerabilities are assessed and how specific interventions
are designed, budgeted for and implemented by local government. This will
create a demand for accountability, transparency and inclusivity within
the targeted communities. A special focus will be given to promote social
cohesion through some of the new social action projects aimed at building
bridges across social, ethnic and religious divides. Youth leaders will
promote social networking and interactionsbetween communities with different
values and beliefs by celebrating Harmony Day, convening round table discussions
on social cohesion and piece building at local level, organizing music
and sports events as part of their social action projects. These projects
will promote stronger social cohesion which will enable to community people
taking a stand against all sorts of racism, prejudice and intolerance.
2.2 Provide Internship opportunity to young people (Months 12-14)In addition,
25 youth leaders from the existing and the new PRODIGY cohorts will beoffered
internships in various government offices.Interns will gain practical
experience inthe functional system of local governance and will be able
to analyze and provide recommendations, with empirical evidence on issues
related to government transparency and accountability, pluralism and freedom
of expression. The interns will also gain better understanding on transparency
of local government rules, plans, and processes as well as the actions
of public officials and civil servants. Cascading this knowledge to peers
will help reduce corruption, and reinforce trust between citizens and
their government. Government officers will have additional support and
gain citizen insights through having a youth leader working with them
on a daily basis.
2.3 Assign local mentors (school teachers, NGO personnel) to youth leaders
(Months 8 - 14) Local mentors will be assigned to help youth leaders to
mobilize resources and engage wider communities in their local projects.
The mentors will include individuals who are respected and trusted within
their communities. They will offer young people guidance as they build
their engagement with their communities and, as a result, the community
projects they develop will gain in respectability in the eyes of the community.
2.4 Monitor progress, evaluate community projects and award small grants
to top projects for further support (Months 11 - 22) The top 70 community
projects will be awarded small grants ranging from $150 to $200 to support
their further expansion. The remaining 45 projects will tasked with raising
external funds to support their activity. A selection committee will be
established consisting of British Council staff, partner organizations'
field staff, and mentors to identify the projects that will receive small
grants, and determine the amount of each grant. Community projects will
be evaluated on specific criteria including innovation, sustainability,
reach and cost effectiveness. All expenses incurred will have to be supported
with appropriate evidence including vouchers and receipts.
Objective 3: Recognition and demonstration of youth activities
(Months 18 - 22)
3.1 Mobilize young people to organize a National Youth Summit and International
Youth Day celebrations in 25 locations simultaneously The National Youth
Summit will take place in Dhaka, bringing together at least 500 youth
leaderswho have successfully implemented their community projects.The
demonstration of community projects will be open to the wider public and
gender balanced panel discussions will include representatives from government
bodies, the private sector, civil society, youth groups, as well as poor
and marginalized groups. We will engage youth leaders to celebrate International
Youth Day in the second year of the project.Each partner organization
will take the lead in organizing these events in their assigned geographic
areas. A total of 25 events will be organized simultaneously in each of
the target communities, reaching more than 8,000 people in local communities.Activities
during the events will include panel discussions, as well as round table
debates involving policy makers and civil society representatives.The
British Council has trained over 29,500 Active Citizens across Bangladesh,
so the members of the Active Citizens network available at local level
will also join with the PRODIGY youth leaders in organizing and celebrating
these events. The PRODIGY youth leaders will also be linked with vibrant
Facebook group of Active Citizens Bangladesh,where they would be able
to share the success stories of the social action projects as well as
learn some of the best examples of social action projects from the wider
group of Active Citizens.