Browse by Theme: Citizen Voice & Participation

By Dina Hanania, Katherine Mercer, and Andrew Wells-Dang

CARE’s impact data over the last five years has shown that nearly half of our total impact comes from advocacy and influencing that stretches beyond the direct implementation of programs. This striking number points to a clear conclusion: advocacy to influence policies and programs is a powerful pathway to scale and is key to multiplying impact. But what types of advocacy work? What combination of advocacy tools and tactics yields initiatives that bring impactful wins to fruition?

“Initially, we opposed and resisted the [displaced people] from being settled in our community land. [These] are people who came in with nothing and wanted to use and enjoy our local resources at the expense of our community. But with time, meetings between the refugees and local communities chaired by local leaders … peace has returned.”

How can governments around the world become more transparent, improve accountability and empower citizens through meaningful participation? One answer is to proactively engage women’s rights organisations in open government processes, finds action research by Rebecca Haines, Kara Medina and Tam O’Neil.

For the first time in history, the United States has elected a woman of colour as Vice-President. It’s a historic moment for celebration. But the election also showed that America is a country deeply divided, with a lot of work ahead of us to make sure Americans are all constructively working for a better future – a just future – for everyone. As often happens, I find hope for that future in the amazing stories from CARE around the world, and the people who have found ways through divisive conflict. As always, Americans can learn a lot from people in all parts of the world. They show us it’s possible.

“Even as a child, we were always told to fear the police. But seldom were we taught that the police is there for us. We need to work together to change this narrative, and one of the approaches is participating in the Community Score Card,” says Inspector Ram Chandra Ghimire of the Area Police Office in Jaubari, Gorkha. So how has the Community Score Card process, under the DFID-funded Safe Justice project, helped the Nepal Police to strengthen police and community collaboration?

By Reshma Aziz Khan and Sébastien Fornerod

CARE seeks to tackle the underlying causes of poverty and social injustice to bring lasting change to the lives of poor and vulnerable people (CARE 2020 Program Strategy). But how many of us can say that tackling these underlying causes is what we focus on every day?

Advocacy and influencing is at the heart of CARE’s program strategy – otherwise we couldn’t achieve our aims of tackling the structural causes of poverty and inequality, and scaling up our impact far beyond the communities where CARE and our partners work directly. But what are the most effective tactics and strategies that CARE uses to influence change? Here’s what we have learned from a recent review of CARE’s most successful advocacy and influencing work.