Thematic Focus

In order to focus the area of work in social accountability, ANSA –SAR & GPF has initially narrowed the work to three thematic areas: Environmental governance, Procurement and the Right to Information, with Citizen’s Watchdog (Third party monitoring) as a cross-cutting issue.

Phases of roll-out

ANSA-SA designs and implements its activities following a modular approach:

• Ideation
• Promotion
• Mediation
• Application
• Assimilation

Grant-making and selection criteria

One of the key challenges identified during a Regional Consultative Round in November 2008 was how to reach genuine and committed but fairly unknown CSOs at the cutting edges. A major observation on the general funding support provided by most donors is that many groups lack the capacity to write quality proposals that would pass the scrutiny and evaluation. As ANSA-SAR & GPF primarily aims to deepen and widen the pool of practitioners in the region, a carefully thought-out strategy was put in place to locate champions at the grassroots. 

In August 2009, a call for Concept Notes was announced to 240 CSOs in South Asia; the call was also widely publicized in e-groups, web portals etc. Seventy eight submissions were received, which were then rigorously evaluated and reviewed to arrive at a shortlist of 15 initiatives. The selected CSOs were then trained on proposal writing to help them develop the concept notes into a more technical and conceptual document. The Full Proposals were then evaluated again, using another structured protocol. This process will be maintained for each subsequent year of grant-making.

ANSA SAR launched its First Grant Program and provided grants to fourteen organizations in the region and four organizations globally.  NGOs, Community Based Organizations, Faith Based Groups, Trade Unions, Academic and Research Institutions from the region were encouraged to apply.

The ANSA-SAR supports the scaling up of ongoing projects and/or fund pilots in the following categories. Proposals may utilize one or more of these areas:

• Third Party Monitoring - delivery of public services, monitoring of public agencies, monitoring of public works etc.
• Budget monitoring and public expenditure tracking initiatives
• Design and Piloting of social accountability tools such as social audits, citizen report cards and participatory budgeting.
• Developing teaching/training/capacity building curriculum and pedagogies on social
  accountability concepts and practices

Criteria for grant funding will include an assessment of whether the organization making the proposal has the capacity (conceptual,technical, human and fiduciary resources) and legal status to implement the proposed initiative, and whether the project itself has specific actions likely to make a direct and significant contribution to social accountability, with clearly defined outcomes that can be achieved in a limited period of time.

Applying organizations should have substantial experience and involvement in governance and accountability. It should have considerable outreach with local communities and have demonstrable achievements through constructive engagement with all stakeholders. Demonstrated track-record and examples of cooperation with government institutions will be an advantage. Proposals should also feature co-financing or in-kind contributions by the requesting CSO.

In the first year, there were two tiers of grants: 

• Tier 1: Small grants under USD 30,000
• Tier 2: Medium to large size grants in the range of USD 30-60,000

The grant period could be a minimum of one year and a maximum of two.   Protocols for call for concepts, scoring formats for shortlisting potential candidates and protocols for the final submission of proposals were drafted. 

Knowledge Management & Learning

By knowledge management and learning, we mean the process of generating, organizing, interpreting and disseminating knowledge in ways which will be useful to ANSA-SAR & GPF and its partners. This is a core mandate of ANSA-SAR & GPF. There is a strong emphasis on creating buy-in with various stakeholders – civil society organizations, governments and donors, reporting on results, mainstreaming cross-cutting themes, disseminating best practices, and institutionalizing results. The need for knowledge sharing is based on the idea that most activities envisaged by ANSA-SAR & GPF have strengths and limitations. With effective knowledge harvesting and sharing, projects can leverage their strengths and overcome some of their limitations. Fewer wheels would need to be reinvented, and more effort could be spent on achieving great results. 

Capacity Building & Training

ANSA SAR & GPF regularly hold workshops and act as resource persons for their partners on various social accountability issues. These activities depend on the changing needs and priorities of the project. Demands for a workshop around a particular issue may be generated by partners themselves, or by ANSA SAR identifying capacity gaps and developing a strategy for capacity enhancement. ANSA SAR attempts to follow up with participants as to whether the knowledge gained in the workshops have been applicable in the field. As the institutionalization of knowledge is also an important goal for workshops, participants are encouraged to share the skills, knowledge and techniques learnt at the workshop with other members of their respective institutions. The workshops may be local, regional or international in nature and are held with various audiences such as ANSA SAR’s partners, government officials and other development organizations. 

Documentation and Dissemination

ANSA SAR & GPF are seeking to actively promote the concept and practice of social accountability around the globe.