Democracy - Justice and Accountability at the Local Level

This app: Democracy – Justice and Accountability at the Local Level provides an introduction to ActionAid’s Just and Democratic Governance Approach and should be studied before the other apps in the series. It explains key aspects of democracy from a people’s perspective and presents ActionAid’s four-pronged approach to governance which focuses on Power, Voice, Accountability and Budgets. Each of these issues is the subject of a separate app. This app presents a people-centred, participatory and rights-based approach to local democracy. A number of governance challenges facing activists working for Just and Democratic Governance are also explored; issues such as power abuse, state capacity, decentralisation, local government and efforts towards greater social redistribution. Furthermore, challenges facing civil society organisations are also discussed.

The HRBA Governance Resources Series

Is a collection of APPs focusing on key governance issues of central importance to ActionAid’s Human Rights Based Approach developed by the AAI Democratic Governance Team. The APP titled Democracy introduces the series and should be studied first. Thereafter, the titles: Accountability, Power, Budgets and Voice can be studied individually. Read together, the titles complement each other and contribute to an overall appreciation of key governance issues at the local level. The series supports frontline staff and partners in their efforts to achieve ActionAid’s strategic promises of improving service delivery for people living in poverty and achieving a fairer distribution of resources to finance public policies aimed at reducing poverty.