Youth Project by LTA

[Raghda Allouche]

Musharaka: Youth Partnership for the Improvement of Governance in Municipalities

 

The goal of the Musharaka program is that citizens are engaging and advocating for responsive, transparent and accountable government institutions in Lebanon.  The program addresses societal changes required for decentralization and enabling citizens to play more active roles in holding local officials accountable. The Lebanese Transparency Association (LTA) and Mercy Corps launched the project in April 2011 with the aim of ensuring active citizens’ involvement toward greater transparency in local governance by encouraging youth leaders to directly participate with local authorities as partners, and integrating marginalized groups within the wider community, particularly women and youth into local governance channels.

Throughout The Musharaka program, 15 democratically elected Youth Shadow Councils that will implement small developmental projects and will analyze actual municipal budgets and propose recommendations on how to make their municipalities more responsive. The Youth Shadow Councils will further implement an advocacy campaign that will stimulate community action through a series of trainings and workshops pertaining to the tools necessary for reform.

The Musharaka team provided Trainings on the topics of Good Governance, Leadership, Communication Techniques, Proposal Writing, and Project Management to an average of 50 community members in these regions and conducted needs assessments in the targeted areas based on which youth designed their platforms and run as candidates for the Youth Shadow Councils (YSC). Electoral campaigns were conducted by youth and a democratic electoral process was held, through which the elected YSCs were formed. YSCs have received trainings on Municipal Code; Advocacy, Strategy and Tactics; Know Your Rights: Access to Public Services; and Municipal Budgets. In the next phase, these elected YSCs will receive grants to implement the small developmental projects they have proposed.

[Rosen Dimov]

Raghda, congratulations for the courageus endeavour. Please share with us the outcomes of the youth shadow concils - if the project has not yet been completed, any interim findings will be good to hear. Additionally, do you think that this LTA good practice may be disseminated in other corners of the world.

Good luck to you and your team! Regards from Bulgaria,

R