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Enhancing Domestic Accountability through Public Information, Citizen Participation and Dialogue in Sierra Leone:

The Open Government Initiative

Yuichiro Sakai

Programme Officer・Governance Unit Unitted Nations Development Programme

Sierra Leone

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Table of Contents ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................................................... 3

1. INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................... 4

1.1 Background ................................................................................................................................ 4

1.2 Overview of the Open Government Initiative (OGI) ................................................................. 5

1.3 Objectives and outline of this paper .......................................................................................... 6

2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND RESEARCH DESIGN ............................................. 6

2.1 Transparency .............................................................................................................................. 7

2.2 Participation ............................................................................................................................... 7

2.3 Accountability ............................................................................................................................. 8

2.4 Research instrument .................................................................................................................. 8

3. TRANSPARENCY AND CHANNELS FOR PUBLIC INFORMATIO N ............................. 11

3.1 Town hall meetings .................................................................................................................. 11

3.2 Radio/TV discussion forum ..................................................................................................... 18

4. PARTICIPATION IN POLITICAL PROCESSES ................................................................. 18

4.1 Creating platform for political participation ........................................................................... 18

4.2 Role of the media and civil society organizations ................................................................... 19

4.3 Promoting participation of women and youth ........................................................................ 20

5. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY ...................................................................................... 22

5.1 Improved perception of accountability and transparency ....................................................... 22

5.2 Integrating citizen`s concerns into policies ............................................................................. 23

6. REFLECTIONS AND CONCLUSION ...................................................................................... 24

6.1 New platforms for public discussions ...................................................................................... 24

6.2 Citizen participation in governance processes ........................................................................ 25

6.3 Towards accountable and responsive government .................................................................. 25

ANNEX 1: Photos from OGI 2008-2009 ......................................................................................... 27

ANNEX 2: Sample questionnaire .................................................................................................... 29

ANNEX 3: List of Past “OGI Hour – Have Your Say in Governance” .......................................... 31

ENDNOTE ......................................................................................................................................... 33

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ABSTRACT This paper introduces activities of the Open Government Initiative (OGI) between 2008 and 2009 focusing on contributions it has made towards government transparency and accountability as well as citizen participation in public space. OGI was launched in 2008 by the government with the initial technical and financial assistance from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to respond to the objectives of the government to enhance government accountability and participatory decision making process as articulated in the Agenda for Change (PRSPII). Since its launch in 2008, the Open Government Initiative (OGI) has promoted platforms through which the government and the population can directly interact, and the Sierra Leoneans in the communities can receive information on government policies and activities. The improved access to information enables the public to check the progress and impact of government activities, and demand accountability of the elected and appointed officials for the actions taken on their behalf. The government, on the other hand, is provided with feedback on its performances and recommendations for improvement. Through town halls with government officials including the President, ministers, parliamentarians, judiciary and local councilors, and through the interactive radio/TV discussion forum, OGI has provided new channels for free flow of information for ordinary Sierra Leoneans. The paper fist examines whether OGI was successful in creating new channels for public information and two-way communication between the citizens and government. This examination is concerned with how ordinary Sierra Leoneans benefited from the additional channels of communication. The paper then discusses if and how OGI contributed to participation of the citizens in political processes. Special attention is given to the participation of vulnerable groups. Thirdly, the paper analyzes whether, through OGI activities, people`s concerns band views were utilized into government policies and actions. The paper concludes with discussions on lessons and recommendations for way forward.

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1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background In 2002, Sierra Leone emerged from a decade-long civil conflict that left much of the country`s infrastructure and institutions ravaged. Some of the root causes of the conflict are traced to the alienation of the population, especially women and youth in regions, from national governance and abuse of power and authority. Sierra Leone has since then made tremendous strides in peace building and strengthening of democracy. The country has successfully managed national and local elections on two occasions each, since the end of the civil conflict—the national (presidential and parliamentary) elections were held in 2002 and 2007, while the local elections were held in 2004 and 2008. These elections were peacefully conducted free and fair by international standards. The 2007 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections brought a peaceful change of power for the first time in the country`s history. Additionally, Sierra Leone has adopted a decentralization policy that resuscitated Local Council Administration after 30 years of absence in order to improve public service delivery for the rural population. Furthermore, in order to effectively combat corruption, the Anticorruption Commission has been mandated with power to prosecute. In order to promote independent, neutral and tolerant media, Sierra Leone has recently established the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation, the second independent public broadcaster in Africa. Strengthening of democratic institutions in Sierra Leone in recent years has been recognized. Recently, Sierra Leone has improved its rankings in the global governance reports, although it is still placed near the bottom of the UN Human Development Reports. In 2010, Sierra Leone was ranked 158th out of 169 countries in the UN`s Human Development Index, placed 12 points from the bottom of the index.i Mo Ibrahim Index of African Governance shows Sierra Leone has moved from 49th place among African countries to 30th place in the category of safety and rule of law between 2000/1 and 2008/9 while it remained at 19th place for participation and human rights.ii Transparency International`s Corruption Perception Index also notes that Sierra Leone is fairing better than some other countries in its anti-corruption efforts recently. Sierra Leone moved from 158th place out of 180 countries in 2008 to 134th place out of 178 countries in 2010.iii

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Despite the steady progress made, there is still a general sense of disconnect between the government and the electorate who are often uninformed or misinformed of government policies and actions. In this context, the Open Government Initiative (OGI) was launched in 2008 by the government with the initial technical and financial assistance from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to respond to the objectives of the government to enhance government accountability and participatory decision making process as articulated in the Agenda for Change (PRSPII).iv Since then, the OGI has demonstrated that a meaningful two way communication between the people and the government is possible through simple yet innovative means. For the first time, Sierra Leoneans had the opportunity to receive the President and the cabinet ministers as well as other public officials in their communities for a face-to-face meeting for interactive question and answer sessions. Sierra Leone`s Agenda for Change 2008-2012 views OGI as one of the tools to communicate its objectives, processes and impacts to the general public as well as to enhance transparency and accountability of the three branches of the Government: the Executive, Legislative and Judiciary.

1.2 Overview of the Open Government Initiative (OGI ) Since its launch in 2008, the Open Government Initiative (OGI) has promoted platforms through which the government and the people can directly interact and exchange information on the implementation of government policies and activities. The improved access to information enables the public to check the progress and impact of government activities, and demand accountability of the elected and appointed officials for the actions taken on their behalf. The government, on the other hand, is provided with feedback on its performances and recommendations for improvement. Thus, the initiative focuses on improving the capacity of the state institutions and officials in public information sharing and dialogue while also focusing on the capacity of citizens to participate in governance and demand accountability. Officials including the President, relevant ministers, members of parliament and the Judiciary visit the districts to have face to face discussions with the people in a town hall setting on their day to day challenges, such as related to agriculture, energy supply, promotion of girl child education, employment of youth, improvement of health, education, prison and police facilities. People can ask any questions and the Government is required to answer them and utilize the voices of people into their policy

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development. In addition to government-public dialogue organized in town halls, the OGI also organizes weekly television and radio show called The OGI Hour – Have

Your Say in Governance. The OGI Hour provides another sphere for the government to reach out to the public and discuss emerging issues and actions taken to address them. The OGI Hour is a question and answer discussion forum where listeners and viewers can send in questions and comments, and panelists provide responses. Panelists normally comprise of public officials and civil society representatives.

1.3 Objectives and outline of this paper Objective of this paper is to examine the extent to which OGI contributed to strengthen government transparency and accountability as well as citizen participation. The paper fist examines whether OGI was successful in creating new channels for public information and two-way communication between the citizens and government in order to make information available and increase government transparency. The examination is concerned with how ordinary Sierra Leoneans benefited and what types of information was received. Secondly, the paper analyzes if and how OGI contributed to participation of the citizens in political processes. Special attention is given to the participation of vulnerable groups. Thirdly, the paper discusses whether OGI assisted the citizens to hold government to account and whether citizens` views were utilized into government policies and actions. The rest of the paper is organized as follows: Section 2 provides theoretical framework of the study by providing a brief literature review on the three key principles of democratic governance. The section also presents the analytical framework and methodology of the study, describing the method of data collection and analysis. Section 3, 4 and 5 examine and discuss the findings of OGI`s contributions to government transparency and accountability and citizen participation. Section 6 provides reflections on the findings and concludes the paper.

2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND RESEARCH DESIGN In recent years, there has been a growing new consensus that good governance is

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an integral part of achieving poverty reduction and that institutions, rules and political processes matter for development. Poverty reduction and human development are not only economical, social and technological processes but also institutional and political processes. Various studies have shown governance failures such as widespread corruption and ineffective public services as responsible for lagging development and persistent poverty. Discussions on promoting good governance focus on making institutions and processes effective for ordinary citizens to receive basic services and center around issues such as transparency, participation, accountability and rule of law. It is also crucial that the institutions and processes are fair and ordinary people have a say and participate in these processes.v The Open Government Initiative (OGI) was designed to promote these core principles of governance, namely transparency, participation and accountability through town hall meetings and other means.

2.1 Transparency Transparency is concerned with making information available to the public. Sen (1999) notes that places for information and free flow of information such as open discussion, debate, and exchange are essential for “processes of generating informed and reflected choices.”vi In order to make transparency meaningful, information needs of the people must be identified, cost of access must be reasonable, and information should be user-friendly. Access to information and communication in countries affected by crises are especially vital in identifying the opportunities and threats for crisis prevention and recovery and long-term development.vii In terms of transparency, this paper examines the extent to which OGI provided channels for information flow and communication in order to increase government transparency by making information available. The analysis will pay particular attention on how town hall participants benefitted from the two-way communication and the acquisition of information.

2.2 Participation The second area that the OGI was intended to promote was participation. Ability of the people to participate in political process and influence government policies and actions through public opinions is one of the core principles of democracy.viii The UNDP notes that for information to empower citizens, they

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need to have capacity to understand and analyze information and be able to communicate their views and act on the information.ix Citing that famines do not happen in democracies, Sen argues that government response to citizens` needs and sufferings depends on the pressure that people put on the government through the exercise of political and civil rights.x The paper analyzes the contribution of OGI to enhancing the participation of ordinary Sierra Leoneans in political processes, paying special attention to the vulnerable groups such as the poor, women and youth.

2.3 Accountability Thirdly, accountability is fundamental in strengthening governance. Accountability brings into focus the ability of citizens and civil society to hold the government to account for its policies, programs and performances, including, ultimately, the ability to change public officials through democratic means.xi Further, a responsive government listens to people’s needs and concerns and reflects them in the design and implementation of policies and programs.xii Whether the implementation leads to a real change often depends on “communication among networks within and outside of government, among civil society organizations, and between citizens in the public sphere.”xiii The paper will look for cases in which OGI facilitated the people to hold government to account. It will also examine if OGI strengthened responsiveness of the government by looking for instances where people`s concerns and requests were utilized in government policies and actions.

2.4 Research instrument This study utilized a combination of primary and secondary sources of data. They were combined through the administration of 404 questionnaires and the review of 17 documents written on OGI. Information from a wide range of groups of people were necessary to provide answers to three objectives of this paper. Through the analysis of questionnaires, the paper aims to discover the perception of participants to OGI activities on its contribution to strengthening government accountability and transparency as well as to citizen participation in political process. A large number of questionnaires were answered by town hall meeting participants shortly after the meetings. The administration of questionnaires

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(see Annex 2 for a sample questionnaire) was conducted by local civil society organization (CSO) members that assisted the logistics and organization of the town hall meetings. Shortly after the town hall meetings, a group of local CSO members administered the questionnaires through face-to-face interviews with participants. Total of 404 questionnaires were conducted after three town hall meetings with Parliamentarians and three town hall meetings with the representatives from the Justice Sector. Questionnaires were not conducted during the four previous town hall meetings with the Presidency. In order to improve sampling quality and diversity of respondents, the survey administrators were instructed to balance variables of gender and age. Figure 1 below shows the age distribution of 404 respondents to the questionnaire. It is obvious that the male participants far outnumbered female participants at all age groups. Out of 404 questionnaire respondents, 298 were males and 106 were females. It can also be easily observed that the majority of the participants belonged to the age group between 20 and 50. Figure1: Age and gender of respondents

The respondents included a diverse cross section of the community ranging from teachers and civil society members to traditional leaders and farmers. Figure 2 and 3 show the occupations of male and female participants respectively.

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Figure 2: Occupation of participants - male

Figure 3: Occupation of participants - female

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In addition to the questionnaires, secondary sources of data were examined through the review of 17 documents. These documents included field visit reports, project reports, OGI newsletters, and a research paper conducted by an independent evaluator as well as a recommendation paper. It should be noted that the author of this paper was directly involved in supporting the implementation of the OGI as a responsible UNDP officer for the period under review by this study. This has enabled an easy access to documents that served as important secondary sources to address the objectives of the study. The findings discussed in this paper are views and opinions of the author and not of UNDP or the project. Data analysis was conducted manually using Microsoft Excel using the data on the reports transcribed from questionnaires after each town hall meetings. Quotations used in the following discussions were selected due to their representative nature of the participants as a whole and relevance to the objectives of the study.

3. TRANSPARENCY AND CHANNELS FOR PUBLIC INFORMATIO N 3.1 Town hall meetings The main method that the OGI utilized to provide additional channel to make information available for strengthened transparency was the town hall meeting in provincial communities. This was the first time for many communities to receive the Presidency in a town hall setting and discuss directly with the President. It was also the first time for most people to meet face to face with the parliamentarians in their communities since the 2007 elections campaigns. OGI facilitated 10 town hall meetings during the period 2008-2009 between government and the communities in various parts of Sierra Leone. The initiative purposefully avoided the capital city as the choice of location and chose to organize meetings in district communities in order to rebalance information flow towards rural areas. During this period, four town hall meetings were organized between the people and the President or Vice President and the cabinet ministers; three meetings with the Parliamentarians, and three meetings with officials from the Justice Sector.. Town hall meetings are organized in the form of an open dialogue. While each meeting focused on a selected socio-economic issue such as such as agriculture, energy, and education, people were also free to

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ask any questions related to any other issues affecting their welfare. All community members, especially women and youth, civil society groups, and private sector operators were encouraged to participate. Prior to town hall meetings, government officials took part in the monitoring of local development projects and institutional activities to inspect and determine progress made in the implementation of works. These activities enabled the government officials to better understand the day-to-day challenges of the ordinary Sierra Leoneans and to see the areas that need to be addressed within the development framework. Town hall meetings usually started in the early afternoon and lasted for three to four hours or longer as people were eager to take advantage of such rare opportunities to ask questions. The meetings started with remarks on the topic of discussion from invited officials. Priority government policies and programs were outlined at the opening ceremonies. The people were then given the floor to ask questions, express concerns, and provide recommendations to the government officials.

Meeting with the Presidency OGI presented unprecedented occasions for open dialogue between the ordinary citizens in Sierra Leone and the President, Vice President and Cabinet Ministers. Below is a summary of locations, focus areas of discussions, and projects inspected by President and other officials.

September 2008 District Visited: Bombali District Location of Meeting: Makeni Town Hall Focus Area of Discussion: agriculture sector Field visit: farm projects

October 2008 District Visited: Bo District Location of Meeting: Bo Town Hall Focus Area of Discussion: energy sector Field visit: Bo Power Station

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November 2008 District Visited: Port Loko District Location of Meeting: Port Loko Town Hall Focus Area of Discussion: education sector Field visit: Port Loko Teachers College

February 2009 District Visited: Koinadugu District Location of Meeting: Koidu Town Hall Focus Area of Discussion: mining sector Field Visit: Koidu Holdings Mining Site

During the town halls, people raised concerns and asked questions directly to the Presidency on issues ranging from high unemployment and food sufficiency to poor local infrastructure and political issues. In the town hall in Makeni, a female primary school teacher raised the issue of youth unemployment and asked about mechanisms the government has in place to create employment. Deputy Minister of Trade responded that employment requires youth to possess skills and the government promotes “growth centers” for vocational skills in the sector that the region has comparative advantage. Responding to a question raised on poor school infrastructure in Port Loko, the Minister of Education noted the need to rehabilitate school facilities in the district and available subsidies will be allocated schools with high performance. OGI established a unique and solid channel of communication between the government and the people, and fostered a free flow of information in rural areas, which has not been fully achieved by the challenging decentralization processes. This is significant in a country where rural alienation from the center is considered a cause of the decade-long civil war. “If OGI was found before the

war, there would be no war in the country,” said one town hall participant. By reaching out to district communities and facilitating communication among key stakeholders from central, local and traditional chiefdom authorities as well as civil society organizations and ordinary citizens, OGI facilitated a process to address obstacles to development and peace building.

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Meeting with the Parliamentarians Parliamentarians visited three districts for town hall meetings with community members, elaborating on their roles as parliamentarians, role of the opposition, relationship between parliamentarians and local government, as well as gaining an understanding of daily issues that people are concerned with. OGI facilitated three town hall meetings with the parliamentarians as summarized below.

September 2009 District Visited: Kenema District Location of Meeting: Kenema Town Hall Focus Area of Discussion: Roles of Parliamentarians, health, infrastructure, gender issues Field visit: Kenema Government Hospital

October 2009 District Visited: Koinadugu District Location of Meeting: Kabala Town Hall Focus Area of Discussion: health and education sectors Field visit: Koinandugu Government Hospital, Government Education Inspectorate Office

November 2009 District Visited: Pujehun District Location of Meeting: Pujehun Town Hall Focus Area of Discussion: road networks, health and education sectors Field visit: ujehun Government Hospital, Government Education Inspectorate Office

These meetings provided opportunities for the parliamentarians to assess the needs of the people and ensure better representation of their constituents. The success of these meetings increased the confidence of the parliamentarians for constituency outreach and prompted other districts to demand OGI and parliament to organize similar town halls in their communities. Figure 4 below shows the result of the questionnaires on how the participants to town hall meetings benefitted from direct dialogue with Parliamentarians.

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According to the questionnaires, 25% of the respondents appreciated having a direct and open dialogue with the Parliamentarians, and 24% benefitted from gaining knowledge on the roles and functions of the Parliament while 22% gained new information on development activities pertinent to the community. Through these meetings, the people were able to learn about the functions of the parliament, the role of members of parliament in development, and how local tax is utilized. Figure 4: How did you benefit from town hall with Parliamentarians?

Additionally, these meetings enhanced information exchange on the implementation of critical development programs, such as road works, governance, and education with special reference to the girls education. The questionnaire responses indicate that following town halls, the participants are better informed of government policies and programs as well as development activities.

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A community member in Pujehun had this to say: “I got a lot of information on

pending development for the district. I am convinced that this bridged the gap

between the parliamentarians and the electorate. There is a good sign of

democracy.” Another participant said: “the meeting [helped] me to know

about government plans for the district, it brings my parliamentarians to an open

dialogue,” while a respondent from Kabala town hall said; “ I am happy with

parliamentarians because they accept their faults and discussed the way

forward.”

Meeting with the Justice Sector The members of the Judiciary (such as a high court judge, master and registrar, law reform commission, human rights commission, customary law officer), and the wider justice sector such as the police and prisons visited districts to meet and discuss with the public, and to visit facilities such as the police stations and prisons. OGI facilitated three town hall meetings with the justice sector as summarized below.

October 2009 District Visited: Kambia District Location of Meeting: Kambia Town Hall Focus Area of Discussion: prison conditions, bush or boundary disputes, court procedures Field visit: Kambia Prisons and Police

November 2009 District Visited: Bonthe District Location of Meeting: Mattru Jong Town Hall Focus Area of Discussion: geographical divisions between the mainland and the island, court procedures Field visit: Mattru Jong Prison and Police

November 2009 District Visited: Kailahun District Location of Meeting: Kailahun Town Hall Focus Area of Discussion: border security, prison conditions, court procedures Field visit: Kailahun Prison and Police

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Figure 5 below shows the result of the questionnaires on how the participants to town hall meetings benefitted from opportunities to ask questions and receive answers from Justice Sector officials. According to the questionnaires, 44% of the respondents appreciated gaining knowledge on the justice sector and justice issues, and 17% benefitted from increased awareness on issues pertinent to the community while 15% gained knowledge on their rights and responsibilities. Participants to Judiciary town hall meetings benefited by gaining more information on the justice system or justice related issues such as court proceedings, authorities and institutions within the justice sector, Child Rights Act, gender acts, and human rights violations. Many in Bonthe town hall also appreciated to learn that bail is free. Figure 5: How did you benefit from town hall with Justice Sector?

One participant mentioned that “most of the topics discussed were never known

to me. From this meeting I am now aware of them. It has made me to know more

about the law of the country and our community.” Another community member expressed that the benefit of the meeting “is in the open communication between

the Judiciary and the public which contributes to the enhancement of

transparency.”

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3.2 Radio/TV discussion forum In addition to town hall meetings, another channel for public information and dialogue facilitated by OGI is radio/TV discussion forum called OGI Hour – Have Your Say in Governance. This enables people from across Sierra Leone to ask questions or make comments through telephone or text messages during discussions. Panelists consisting of relevant government and civil society representatives discuss and answer people`s questions and comments. This program was broadcast by the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation across the country. Topics for each session were selected based on the context of the time and had included issues such as political violence, energy, land reform and price increase. OGI facilitated 12 of such programs between June and August 2009. Topics and panelists for each program are summarized in the Annex 3.

The OGI Hour still continues today and provides an additional new channel for public information and dialogue on relevant development issues. It provides listeners and viewers with opportunities to hear from officials who are directly responsible for policy making in key issues of the time and ask questions on the policies and actions taken by the government.

4. PARTICIPATION IN POLITICAL PROCESSES 4.1 Creating platform for political participation By providing a forum for participation in the public dialogue, town hall meetings contributed to strengthening people’s ownership of and a sense of responsibility for development of their own district. A participant in Kenema town hall commented; “One of the best things is that the MPs who were at a distance of

this constituency now know the important issues affecting the people.” A community member in Kabala town hall appreciated that “for the first time I was

able to meet with Member of Parliament and ask questions on their promises and

development issues.

Another member appreciated that “the government is empowering the electorate

through public discussion. The government initiative is good and commendable.” A community member in Kabala town hall indicated that “this meeting has

reminded me that I am part of the government and I have more responsibilities to

do toward the development of the country.” Another participant in Kabala added: “It makes me believe that my opinion and view is important in

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governance.” Through 10 OGI town hall meetings between September 2008 and November 2009, it is estimated that 6,000 ordinary Sierra Leoneans participated in the political processes. The figure estimated by the OGI Secretariat is not actually counted numbers but estimated figures based on the number of chairs and the size of town halls. As Table 1 below summarizes, it is estimated that over 2,000 people attended the meetings with the Presidency; over 2,000 attended the meetings with parliamentarians, and over 2,000 attended meetings with Officials from the Justice Sector. In all, over 247 questions were asked by community members in the 10 town hall meetings organized and answered provided by representatives from the Presidency, parliament, and the justice sector. Table 1: Number of participants and questions in OGI town halls

Source: OGI Project Completion Report

4.2 Role of the media and civil society organizatio ns During the initial stage of the project, most people in the districts were still not aware of the initiative. In order to sensitize the population on the initiative and mobilize participation, OGI invested in public education and sensitization in collaboration with the local media. In Sierra Leone, radio is the most important means for public information. According to the “media use survey” conducted in 2010 by the media NGO, Fondation Hirondelle, radio was listened to by 82% of Sierra Leoneans, 5% increase from the 2008 estimates. This compares to 26% for television, 9% for newspapers and just 3% for the internet. About 86%

Executive

Legislative

Judiciary

District # of people

attended*

# of questions

asked

District # of people

attended*

# of questions

asked

District # of people

attended*

# of questions

asked

Bombali

Bo

Port Loko

Kono

300

1,000

500

400

10

17

9

14

Kenema

Koinandugu

Pujehun

750

800

800

29

27

30

Kambia

Bonthe

Kailahun

800

700

600

37

36

38

Total 2,200 50 Total 2,350 86 Total 2,100 111

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of men and 78% of women are radio listeners.xiv In order to take advantage of their wide reaching effect, OGI partnered with community radio stations to sensitize and educate the people about government policies and actions. During the week leading to the town hall meetings, OGI coordinated radio discussion programs and jingles on the main local and community radio stations about these meetings. People were informed in advance about the purpose of such meetings, the expected participants, and the approach to the discussions. The mobilization of community participation through local radio stations proved effective. Feedback questionnaires conducted after town hall meetings revealed that the majority of the participants learned about the meetings through radio. Despite the initial success, one of the challenges that the initiative faced was to ensure the political neutrality so that the initiative is not perceived as a tool for political campaign in a country that is highly polarized along party lines. In order to ensure neutrality, it was crucial to mobilize participation of people from all walks of life regardless of party affiliation and including marginalized groups such as women, youth and the disabled. Civil society organizations are key in mobilizing people participation as the government on its own cannot undertake efforts towards human development.xv The OGI strengthened partnership with civil society organizations with a better understanding of grassroots realities. They held small community meetings to explain about OGI, appeared on radio programs, set up banners, and distributed leaflets. This partnership has given rise to the improved community participation and contributed to stem political marginalization. Civil society was part of advance teams, dispatched to the relevant districts to meet with the communities to explain OGI and upcoming town hall. Local radio stations were used for the announcement of these meetings, banners were posted and leaflet distributed.

4.3 Promoting participation of women and youth During the first town hall meetings that took place in Bombali district, about 300 community members participated to have an open dialogue and ask questions to the Presidency and senior ministers. However, despite sensitization to mobilize women and youth, majority of participants were adult men. The project then embarked on a major sensitization and mobilization efforts in order to attract female and youth participation.

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Songs and jingle were developed and broadcast intensively by radio encouraging especially women and youth to attend these town. By the fourth town hall meeting, women`s participation had visibly increased. In the post-conflict Sierra Leone, there exists a severe gender imbalance, and OGI intended to foster a better environment for women to take part in constructive national dialogue on issues impacting their lives. In order to rebalance gender disparity, the project ensured that equal number of men and women were able to ask questions although there were much less women attending these meetings. Additionally, to improve women`s participation, OGI held two-hour women`s forum on radio in each district before town hall meetings to discuss and sensitize gender issues and promote women`s participation in the meetings. During town hall meetings, a well-known women`s rights advocate was chosen as the facilitator as an additional measure to encourage women to contribute to the dialogue. However, despite all these measures, this has still been a challenge as the questionnaires estimated that only around 28% of participants to town hall meetings have been females (see Figure 6 below). This suggests that further initiatives were needed to bring about inclusive participation. Figure 6: Gender representation in OGI town hall meetings

In addition, marginalization of youth is one of the major issues in Sierra Leone. In order to mobilize participation of youth in the town hall meetings, jingles were developed by a popular Sierra Leonean artist. The artist also performed a song specially made for OGI at the beginning of every town hall meeting encouraging diverse people to participate in direct and open dialogue with the President and

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other government officials. Further, a special measure was taken to invite physically challenged people who sat in the front seat to facilitate their easier interaction with the government representatives.

5. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY 5.1 Improved perception of accountability and trans parency The questionnaires administered by civil society members showed the meetings were successful in improving the perception of the participants for government transparency and accountability. One town hall participants in Pujehun noted; “ I benefited by learning a lot and asking questions to the parliamentarians about

what they are doing for their district or constituency, what they promised to [do]

but what is not done.” Another community member expressed that the town hall “promotes accountability and transparency. Moreover, it promotes speedy

development as needs are highlighted by questions raised.” As the below figures 7-10 summarize, according to the questionnaires, 89% of the survey respondents that attended 3 parliamentarian town hall meetings said the meeting contributed to the improved government transparency and 86% said it contributed to the improved accountability. Questionnaire results were similar for judiciary town halls as 95% of the survey respondents at 3 judiciary town hall meeting said it contributed to the improved transparency of the Judiciary and 96% said it contributed to a better understanding of the justice system. *Has OGI parliamentary town hall meetings contributed to transparency and

accountability in the government?

Figure 7: Accountability Figure 8: Transparency

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The above graphs show averages of responses from 3 parliamentary town hall meetings

(Kenema, Koinandugu and Pujehun)

*Has OGI judiciary town hall meetings contributed to transparency in the justice system

and whether the OGI meetings improved peoples’ understanding of the legal and justice

systems?

Figure 9: Transparency Figure 10: Better understanding

These graphs above show averages of responses from 3 judiciary town hall meetings (Kambia,

Bonthe and Kailahun)

5.2 Integrating citizen`s concerns into policies In a well functioning democracy, citizens are able to hold government to account for its policies, programs and actions. Citizens express their concerns, views and recommendations for government to address, and assess government performance by examining to what extent their requests are reflected in action. Although efforts have not been made yet to systematically document and record these cases, there are instances in which OGI contributed to this process for citizens to hold government to account. For example, during discussions in the town hall meeting in Makeni in 2008, community members raised concerns on the issues of rapid increase in rice and fuel price as well as energy concerns to the Ministers of Energy, Minister of Agriculture, and Minister of Commerce and Trade to address. Following the town hall, the government took policy measures to mitigate price increase through fiscal incentives to importers, private sector operators and the Government of India on concessionary rice export terms. It has also been reported that following the town hall, where concerns on food sufficiency was raised and agriculture was promoted, the government allocated

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additional agricultural equipments to the district for harvesting crops. An independent evaluation of the initiative conducted after four Presidential town hall meetings, which made great contributions to OGI to identify weaknesses and opportunities for improvement, showed that 45% of the town hall meeting participants interviewed said that actions have been taken by the government following the town hall mentioning improvements that they have witnesses such as repair of roads and improved hospital facilities. Multiple interviewees noting follow-up actions by the government coupled with documentary evidence to back up the interviews provide adequate evidence that the government officials took measures to fulfill promises they made to the public during town halls.xvi

6. REFLECTIONS AND CONCLUSION 6.1 New platforms for public discussions OGI opened up new channels for public information and communication between the people and centers of power in Sierra Leone. During the town hall meetings, local actors including paramount chiefs, local councilors, students, teachers, women, youth, civil society and other community members engaged in dialogue with the President and ministers, parliamentarians, and members of the Judiciary. Apart from contributing to an informed public in rural communities, OGI facilitated public to gain insight into their role in development and political process as well as the relationships among various branches and levels of government both central and local. 89% of the town hall meeting participants interviewed by the independent evaluation noted that they felt informed about the government as a direct result of town halls.xvii In addition to town hall meeting as a public sphere, OGI offered additional platform for free flow of information through the open, interactive radio/TV discussion program OGI Hour – Have Your Say in Governance. Following the pilot period for OGI that was assisted by UNDP between 2008 and 2009, today OGI continues as a fully nationally owned initiative. The initiative received annual budget allocation from government subvention fund for the period 2011-2013, and Sierra Leone`s PRSPII, An Agenda for Change, aims to utilize the initiative as a tool to enhance government accountability and participatory decision making. To this end, a director post for OGI has been created as a

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permanent government post. In 2010, OGI set out to reach out to Sierra Leoneans in the Diaspora, and held a town hall meeting with the President in New York City. Sustainability of OGI ensures continued promotion of public discussions through the newly created channels of communication.

6.2 Citizen participation in governance processes OGI has demonstrated that a meaningful dialogue between the public and government is possible through simple yet innovative means. By providing public officials with opportunities to reach out to communities and bringing all stakeholders for community development together under one hall, the questionnaires suggest that it contributed to trust building between the public and government. This is especially notable in a post-conflict situation in which trust for the government is the key for citizens to partake in development efforts and political processes. Some of the earlier barriers for the grassroots to participate in the initiative was removed through efforts by the civil society organizations and the media to sensitize and mobilize diverse groups of community members. However, even though rural locations were selected for venues of town hall meetings to balance information flow in favor of districts, as the meetings took place in district headquarter towns, it was still difficult for people living in remote areas to attend. On this point, respondents to questionnaires suggested bringing town hall to chiefdom and village levels or holding similar meetings with local councilors in addition to meetings at village levels with central authorities. Efforts are under way to include these recommendations, and in 2010, OGI facilitated the conduct various town hall meetings with local councilors.

6.3 Towards accountable and responsive government The OGI initiative provided new opportunities and communication channels for citizens to hold government to account for its policies, programs, actions and performance. The questionnaires demonstrate the participants` satisfactions in participating in the open, direct discussions and holding central authority to account for actions taken on their behalf. UNDP notes that a responsive government acknowledge people`s needs and concerns and utilize them in an “impartial way in the design and implementation of policies and practices.”xviii The findings of the questionnaires and the independent evaluation suggest that

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the government has taken some actions towards promises that it made during the OGI activities. However, the evaluation report notes that government accountability is further strengthened by creating forum and channels to communicate the government actions back to the communities. This circle of communication should take place through investigation by independent sources such as civil society organizations and communication through media so that the community members are not left unsure about the results of government promises.xix The initiative has made improvements in this area by utilizing local radio stations to facilitate discussions on OGI and government achievement and actions during parliamentary and judiciary town hall meetings. OGI also facilitated press conferences with the civil society organizations and print and broadcast media after town halls on the content of discussions. This paper has introduced activities of the Open Government Initiative (OGI) between 2008 and 2009 focusing on contributions it has made towards government transparency and accountability as well as citizen participation in public life. Through town halls with government officials including the President, ministers, parliamentarians, judiciary and local councilors, and through the interactive radio/TV discussion forum, OGI has provided new channels for free flow of information in Sierra Leone. OGI has so far shown that meaningful dialogue between the government and citizens are possible through simple yet innovative means. Ultimately, sustainability and expansion of these and additional channels of information and communication, at national, district, chiefdom and village levels will lead to further enhancement of citizen participation in the public sphere as well as government transparency and accountability.

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ANNEX 1: Photos from OGI 2008-2009

Top left: Innocent, a popular musician, performs OGI theme song during town hall meeting to encourage youth and women to participate

Top right: Parliamentary town hall meeting in Kabala, Koinadugu District, brought together a large number of community members including youth, children and women

Bottom left: Pujehun residents ask questions to Members of Parliament during a town hall meeting

Bottom right: Residents of Kenema District listen to their parliamentarians

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Top left: The President`s visit to the Teko rice farms in Makeni Top right : One out of five lamps at this operating table was found to be in working condition during a parliamentary field visit in Kenema Government Hospital

Bottom left: OGI team and the government delegation inspect the Mattru Jong Prison facility in Bonthe District

Bottom right : “OGI Hour – Have Your Say in Governance” on Land Reform

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ANNEX 2: Sample questionnaire OGI Town Hall Meeting Feedback Survey

Kambia Town, Kambia District

31 October 2009

Participant’s occupation: _____________________________

Gender: _______________ Age: _____________________

Your opinion is very important to us. Please assist us in evaluating this town hall

meeting. The information collected will be used in planning future activities. Please

be brief in your responses.

1. Where did you hear about this OGI town hall meeting in Kabala? (circle all that apply)

• Radio (please specify what radio and the time/day)

• Newspaper

• Street announcement

• Poster

• Friend/colleague

• Other (please specify)

2. How did you benefit from this town hall meeting? (provide a brief response in the space below)

3. What topics discussed during the meeting were you interested in the most? (provide a brief

response in the space below)

4. How did this meeting change your perception towards the justice sector?

5. How can the community ensure that the justice system within the community is improved?

(provide a brief response in the space below)

6. This town hall meeting contributed to transparency in the justice system. (circle one)

Agree Neither agree nor disagree Disagree

7. This town hall meeting improved my understanding of the legal and justice system. (circle one)

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Agree Neither agree nor disagree Disagree

8. Based on your experiences from this event, what can OGI do to improve your trust in the justice

system? (provide a brief response in the space below)

9. Overall, how would you evaluate this town hall meeting? (circle one option)

Excellent Good Fair Poor

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ANNEX 3: List of Past “ OGI Hour – Have Your Say in Governance” 12 live TV and radio programs were completed on the following topics between June and August 2009: 1) Topic: Politics today Panelists: Secretary Generals of APC, SLPP, PMDC. 2) Topic: “Bumbuna Hydro – why the hold-up?”

Panelists: Minister of Energy and Water Resources, Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee for Energy and Water Resources, President of the Coalition of Civil societies

3) Topic: Explaining OGI Concept

Panelist: Karamoh Kabba, National Coordinator for OGI and Umarr Sesay, OGI Focal Person

4) Topic: Youth Unemployment

Panelists: Minister of Education, Youth and Sports, Chairman: Minister of Education, Youth and Sports, President of Coalition of Civil Societies (CSOs), Sierra Leone Youth Ambassador

5) Topic: Functions of the Parliament

Panelists: Clerk of Parliament, Deputy Chair of Legislative Committee, and CSO representative (Campaign for Good Governance)

6) Topic: “When I become President” Panelists: Apex International School essay finalists 7) Topic: The 5th Region and the Office of Diaspora Panelists: Executive Director of the Office of Diaspora (ODA) 8) Topic: Gender Rights and Laws

Panelists: Minister of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs and Judiciary, President of 50/50

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9) Topic: RERUN of Gender Rights and Laws Panelists: Minister of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs and Judiciary, President of 50/50

10) Topic: Land Reform

Panelist: Minister of Lands, Deputy Administrator and Registrar General, CSO Representative (National Youth Awareness Forum)

11) Topic: Foreign exchange and price increase

Panelists: Minister Trade and Industry; Commissioner for Consumer Affairs, and Bank Governor

12) Topic: Traffic Safety

Panelists: Assistant Inspector General of Police, Executive Director of SLRTA, President of Drivers’ Union

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ENDNOTE i UNDP (2010). “Human Development Report 2010 – Real Wealth of Nations: Pathways to Human Development.” UNDP. Home page on-line. Available from http://hdr.undp.org/en/reports/global/hdr2010/; Internet; accessed January 29, 2011. ii Mo Ibrahim Foundation (2010). “2010 Edition of the Ibrahim Index of African Governance.” Mo Ibrahim Foundation. Home page on-line. Available from http://www.moibrahimfoundation.org/en/section/the-ibrahim-index; Internet; accessed January 29, 2011. iii Transparency International. “Corruption Perceptions Index.” Transparency International. Home page on-line. Available from http://www.transparency.org/policy_research/surveys_indices/cpi; Internet; accessed January 29, 2011. iv The Republic of Sierra Leone (2009) “An Agenda for Change: Second Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRSP) 2008-2012.” Sierra Leone Conference 2009. Home page on-line. Available from http://sierraleoneconference2009.org/; Internet; accessed January 13, 2011. v UNDP (2002). “Human Development Report 2002 – Deepening Democracy in a Fragmented World.” UNDP. Home page on-line. Available from http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/HDR_2002_EN_Complete.pdf; Internet; accessed January 13, 2011. vi Amartya Sen. Development as Freedom (New York: Anchor Books, 1999), 153. vii UNDP (2003). “Access to Information Practice Note.” UNDP. Home page on-line. Available from http://www.undp.org/oslocentre/overview/pub_acc_2i.html; Internet; accesses January 13. 2011 viii Article 19 (2007). “Access to information: An Instrumental Right for Empowerment.” Article 19. Home page on-line. Available from http://www.article19.org/pdfs/publications/ati-empowerment-right.pdf; Internet; accessed January 13, 2011. ix UNDP (2003). x Sen. 1999, 151. xi DFID (2006). “Eliminating World Poverty: Making Governance Work for the Poor. DFID.” DFID. Home page on-line. Available from www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/cm68/6876/6876.pdf; Internet; accessed January 29, 2011. xii UNDP (2003) xiii Sina Odugbemi & Thomas Jacobson, “Governance Reform under Real-World Conditions,” in Governance Reform under Real-world conditions: Citizens, Stakeholders, and Voice, ed. S. Odugbemi and T. Jacobson (Washington DC: The World Bank, 2008), 4. xiv Fondation Hirondelle. “2010 Media Use Survey Sierra Leone.” Fondation Hirondelle. Home page on-line. Available from http://www.hirondelleusa.org/news/new-sierra-leone-survey-results/; Internet; accessed January 29, 2011. xv UNDP. “UNDP and Civil Society Organizations: A Practice Note on Engagement.” UNDP. Home page on-line. Available from http://www.undp.org/partners/civil_society/publications/policies_and_strategic_documents/UNDP_and_Civil_Society_Organizations_A_Policy_of_Engagement_2001.pdf; Internet; accessed January 13, 2011. xvi Michelle Delaney, How Can Communication Process Strengthen Democracy in Post-conflict settings? (United Kingdom: Unpublished, 2009), 45-46. xvii Delaney. 2009, 45. xviii UNDP (2003) xix Delaney. 2009, 52-53.