ActionAid International Annual Report 2006

Progress towards our strategic objectives

Rights to Just and Democratic Governance

Our work on citizens' rights aims to empower people to engage with their governments, raising their voices and building their skills to ensure that government policies, budgets and programmes are really working for them and not only benefiting a small elite.

Holding governments to account

With our partners, we have built a lot of experience in developing and applying tools for holding governments and decision makers to account. In order to be able to do this, people need to understand clearly what they can expect from their governments. In Ethiopia, we promoted popular understanding of rights by publishing a simple version of the national constitution and distributing it to rural communities and government officials. The Ministry of Defence, inspired by our work, has now produced its own copy of the constitution in the same format and is distributing it to all the members of the armed forces.

In Sierra Leone, we supported poor people to join in regular radio panel discussions and a dialogue forum for citizens and officials to share their views on the plans, activities and challenges for local and national development. In Thailand and India, we supported social audits for people to find out about and question government commitments, and to provide feedback on the value and impact that they had made. This helps citizens to feel confident in their assessment of whether their goverments are delivering on their promises.

We continued to work on building strong and accountable local structures for people to participate in the decisions that affect their lives. One of the many examples of this work is in Afghanistan, where we worked with the government to establish village-level consultative decision making bodies to support reconstruction and development in 129 villages.

Story of change in Kenya:

Making governments deliver on their promises and their duties

In West Pokot, Kenya, community groups used local budgets and data to keep track of government promises. They challenged leaders who claimed that lightning conductors had been erected when they hadn’t. Less than two weeks later, the conductors were installed. One member, David Lopewuoyi, said:

"We are now aware that community development fund money is ours and that we can demand accountability and transparency in its management at any time."

Understanding and tracking budgets

ActionAid’s Economic Literacy and Budget Accountability for Governance (ELBAG) programme builds numeracy and budget tracking skills of poor people so they can better hold their governments to account.

In 2006, we worked on budgets in 10 countries. In Nigeria, ActionAid’s Centre for Budget and Policy Advocacy organised training for people working on social issues. Yinka Akibu remarked: “I am now able to analyse both budget and economic policies with a view to identifying how they respond to social issues like health and HIV/AIDS.”

After scrutinising budget information, the Cabo Women’s Centre, one of our partners in Brazil, managed to get thirty proposals on how to use local government money approved in 2006, including refurbishing schools and improving health services. Another partner, Conviver, held its first public forum on the budget, bringing together 300 people and challenging local government plans to spend almost €92,000 on holding parties.

We also worked with the media in several countries to raise public awareness of how to understand budgets. In Malawi, this resulted in TV programmes on economic literacy, and in Sierra Leone, journalists succeeded in getting the 2007-09 budget published earlier than usual to allow citizens’ groups more time to analyse it and provide feedback. A member of the ActionAid-supported Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group won an award for investigative reporting on budgeting.

Civil society and the media

In Asia, we held five national consultations and a regional forum, and conducted research in nine countries, to look at how civil society organisations are accountable to the people they serve. We also worked with journalists to build the Asia Media Forum, which meets annually and manages an online resource to share anti-poverty and development-related stories and information.

Influencing international institutions

In 2006, we continued to challenge powerful international bodies such as the European Commission and the G8 to really deliver results to end poverty. Although there were fewer opportunities for influence than in 2005, Ramesh Singh, ActionAid Chief Executive, was able to join other civil society leaders to meet President Putin before the G8 summit in St. Petersburg, Russia to highlight key issues such as trade justice.

We also worked in alliance with other African and international organisations to develop a critique of the European Union’s Africa strategy. We saw results by the end of 2006 when the European Commission revised its approach and started collaborating with the Africa Union, as well as African and European citizen’s organisations. We will continue to collaborate in this process until it culminates in the EU Africa summit in December 2007.

Home Introduction Mission, Vision, Values Message from Chair and CE Message from Treasurer Strategic Overview Strategic Objectives Women's Rights Education Rights Food Rights Human Security HIV/AIDS Governance Other Initiatives Organisational Objectives Governance & Audit Financial Review Review Auditors' report Policies Financial Accounts Income statement Balance Sheet Cash Flow Note 1 Notes 2 & 3 Note 4 Note 4c Notes 5 & 6 Note 7 Note 8 & 9 Note 10 Note 11 Note 12 Note 13 Note 14 Note 15 Notes 16 & 17 Board-Trustees/Directors Photo Galleries Get on board 2006 South Asia Earthquake Global Action Week Video Gallery Contact Us		Progress towards our strategic objectives Rights to Just and Democratic Governance Our work on citizens' rights aims to empower people to engage with their governments, raising their voices and building their skills to ensure that government policies, budgets and programmes are really working for them and not only benefiting a small elite. Holding governments to account With our partners, we have built a lot of experience in developing and applying tools for holding governments and decision makers to account. In order to be able to do this, people need to understand clearly what they can expect from their governments. In Ethiopia, we promoted popular understanding of rights by publishing a simple version of the national constitution and distributing it to rural communities and government officials. The Ministry of Defence, inspired by our work, has now produced its own copy of the constitution in the same format and is distributing it to all the members of the armed forces. In Sierra Leone, we supported poor people to join in regular radio panel discussions and a dialogue forum for citizens and officials to share their views on the plans, activities and challenges for local and national development. In Thailand and India, we supported social audits for people to find out about and question government commitments, and to provide feedback on the value and impact that they had made. This helps citizens to feel confident in their assessment of whether their goverments are delivering on their promises. We continued to work on building strong and accountable local structures for people to participate in the decisions that affect their lives. One of the many examples of this work is in Afghanistan, where we worked with the government to establish village-level consultative decision making bodies to support reconstruction and development in 129 villages. Story of change in Kenya: Making governments deliver on their promises and their duties In West Pokot, Kenya, community groups used local budgets and data to keep track of government promises. They challenged leaders who claimed that lightning conductors had been erected when they hadn’t. Less than two weeks later, the conductors were installed. One member, David Lopewuoyi, said: "We are now aware that community development fund money is ours and that we can demand accountability and transparency in its management at any time." Understanding and tracking budgets ActionAid’s Economic Literacy and Budget Accountability for Governance (ELBAG) programme builds numeracy and budget tracking skills of poor people so they can better hold their governments to account. In 2006, we worked on budgets in 10 countries. In Nigeria, ActionAid’s Centre for Budget and Policy Advocacy organised training for people working on social issues. Yinka Akibu remarked: “I am now able to analyse both budget and economic policies with a view to identifying how they respond to social issues like health and HIV/AIDS.” After scrutinising budget information, the Cabo Women’s Centre, one of our partners in Brazil, managed to get thirty proposals on how to use local government money approved in 2006, including refurbishing schools and improving health services. Another partner, Conviver, held its first public forum on the budget, bringing together 300 people and challenging local government plans to spend almost €92,000 on holding parties. We also worked with the media in several countries to raise public awareness of how to understand budgets. In Malawi, this resulted in TV programmes on economic literacy, and in Sierra Leone, journalists succeeded in getting the 2007-09 budget published earlier than usual to allow citizens’ groups more time to analyse it and provide feedback. A member of the ActionAid-supported Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group won an award for investigative reporting on budgeting. Civil society and the media In Asia, we held five national consultations and a regional forum, and conducted research in nine countries, to look at how civil society organisations are accountable to the people they serve. We also worked with journalists to build the Asia Media Forum, which meets annually and manages an online resource to share anti-poverty and development-related stories and information. Influencing international institutions In 2006, we continued to challenge powerful international bodies such as the European Commission and the G8 to really deliver results to end poverty. Although there were fewer opportunities for influence than in 2005, Ramesh Singh, ActionAid Chief Executive, was able to join other civil society leaders to meet President Putin before the G8 summit in St. Petersburg, Russia to highlight key issues such as trade justice. We also worked in alliance with other African and international organisations to develop a critique of the European Union’s Africa strategy. We saw results by the end of 2006 when the European Commission revised its approach and started collaborating with the Africa Union, as well as African and European citizen’s organisations. We will continue to collaborate in this process until it culminates in the EU Africa summit in December 2007.


© 2007 ActionAid International. All rights reserved.