How does Community-Driven Development Improve Governance?

In Nigeria, local governments have increased budget allocations to fund community-led initiatives, following the success of a CDD project which allocated grants to villages to address local priorities. This resulted in reduced maternal and child mortality, increased school enrollment, and improved access to basic services. Community-driven development (CDD) approaches have become a preferred tool of many governments to deliver infrastructure and services, but also to improve local governance by strengthening the voices of communities in development and democratic processes. With communities in the driver's seat, local governments are held more accountable, with context-appropriate and needs-based projects being prioritized in funding - all through simple facilitation and small grant project model. 

CDD programs can be designed to support better accountability of local leaders, improve service delivery, and allocate development resources to local priorities - all of which uplifts communities and gives governments the tools they need to serve their citizens. In Afghanistan, Community Councils are now monitoring the services of schools and health clinics and passing feedback directly to the central government, helping to improve the quality of service delivery over time by strengthening downward accountability. 

Government programming and policymaking is often a top-down process decided by a few elite representatives, but CDD programs provide an opportunity for more decentralized, democratic processes that are responsive to the needs and opportunities facing communities, without slowing Government down. Prescriptive government development programs and policies risk missing out on valuable contextual factors and sidelines those they are meant to benefit, which can determine success or failure. This perpetuates exclusion and poverty traps, especially in rural areas and areas that are harder to reach for government programming. 

Spark’s Facilitated Collective Action Process (FCAP) offers agencies and governments a quality tool to mobilize the power, knowledge, and skills of communities to action bottom-up development. In Rwanda, Spark works with the national and local government to build the capacity of local government officials to engage constructively with citizens, and to facilitate village planning initiatives (rather than prescribing formulaic solutions). While the government of Rwanda is increasingly committed to strengthening citizen engagement for decentralization and rural poverty reduction, important gaps remain. At the village level, local officials understand the targets set to reduce poverty and support food security. However, many feel ill-equipped to mobilize citizens to own and lead change, and tend to tell citizens what to do, rather than asking what they need or assessing local opportunities which could be captured. 

In 2019, Spark signed a partnership with the Local Administrative Entities Development Agency (LODA) and is now working closely with central and local government partners to integrate the FCAP into government systems which implement the Social Protection Policy, which aims to address the needs of the poorest, making sure no one gets left behind as Rwanda’s economy grows. Spark’s FCAP not only aims to strengthen the links between existing development programs and community needs, but also allocates resources to villages, allowing them to address issues that might fall between the gaps of government-run national programs. 

The Government of Rwanda’s newly approved Social Protection Policy further expands the space for tackling vulnerabilities of citizens (including supporting genocide survivors, people with disabilities, elderly, etc.), by strengthening community participation and citizen engagement. This significant milestone has the opportunity to both help citizens that need it most and set an example for governments around the world to include community-driven practices in their policy-making and governance structures. 

“We shall no longer limit our ambition to the eradication of extreme poverty but rather aim for prosperity and wellbeing for everyone.” - President of Rwanda on new Social Protection Policy.

Spark has promising plans for the next few years to work directly with the Government of Rwanda to strengthen these systems and alleviate poverty in Rwanda and across East Africa.