COMMUNITY GOVERNANCE IN INFRASTRUCTURE SERVICES PROJECT

The five year Community Governance in Infrastructure Services project co-funded by the European Union and implemented by Practical Action concluded in 2014. Operating in Sri Lanka, India and Pakistan the project centered on mainstreaming community voices in development planning and interventions. The project actively advocated development of institutional capacities of local governance systems in South Asia to mainstream participation of poor and vulnerable men and women in consultative and decision making processes via developing, practicing and disseminating innovative mechanisms on community governance in infrastructure and service delivery. The project also demonstrated how poor communities can access basic needs such as water, transport, transparency and accountability through appropriate technology based approaches practiced by Practical Action. Beneficiaries of the Community Governance Project include 175,000 men and women from marginalized tribes, urban slum dwellers, communities affected by natural disasters including floods, drought and tsunami, people with disabilities, marginalized women groups, elders, and those affected by conflict in Sri Lanka, India and Punjab in Pakistan. Compounding this number, by completion in 2013 the project had also reached a significant number of beneficiaries indirectly.