The Participatory Initiative for Social Accountability (PISA)

The Participatory Initiative for Social Accountability (PISA) is a civic education programme that aims to promote an informed and active citizenry.

 

Project overview and objectives

The Participatory Initiative for Social Accountability (PISA) was implemented in two phases between 2016 and 2022.

The specific objective of PISA I was to contribute to increasing citizens' awareness of governance matters and to their capacity to engage in democratic and developmental processes. PISA II aimed to promote, deepen and consolidate its civic education approaches from PISA I by strengthening the collaborative local responses of citizens, community formations, service providers, state representatives and traditional authorities to improve service delivery. It further aimed to consolidate its work towards the sustainable institutionalisation of the programme. It targeted communities identified in the first phase as having little access to information.

Activities under PISA I were undertaken between June 2016 and May 2019 while activities under PISA II were undertaken from June 2019 - May 2022.

Partners

The Participatory Initiative for Social Accountability (PISA) includes state institutions, such as line ministries at national and district level, local governments at district and council level, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) and traditional authorities, as well as civil society organisations and church-based organisations, including the Lesotho Council of NGOs (LCN) and its member organisations.

Slogan

Boikarabello ke ba Bohle (Sesotho for “Responsibility is for all of us”).

Context

The Constitution of Lesotho entrenches the right of citizens to participate in public affairs. However, at present, there is limited awareness and capacity on the part of citizens with regard to their participation in democratic structures and processes. Citizens, especially in rural areas of Lesotho, find it difficult to know what their rights are and where to voice their needs. The citizenry is neither sufficiently informed nor strategically organised to exercise its civic rights. There are limited platforms for citizens to participate in the implementation of national policies and development initiatives. As a result, there is also an emerging cynicism, especially among young people, about the failure of democracy. 

For Lesotho's development, it is deemed important that citizens exercise their democratic rights by duly taking part in public life. Both state and non-state stakeholders, as well as ordinary citizens, require more knowledge and information and greater awareness of development and governance issues. Likewise, elected representatives and civil servants require skills training in the efficient provision of information to Basotho on government policies and service delivery, important for the alleviation of poverty in the country.

PISA Activities

In the first years of implementation, PISA reached several milestones. It undertook activities such as Meet your MP, which gave constituents the opportunity to engage with their representatives in Parliament. 66 Lipitso were held in 50 Constituencies and reached 8,849 citizens (4.401 male/ 4.448 female) in 2018. The first phase also included the development of a National Civic Education Curriculum and the kick-off of a Public Finance Management Campaign titled Let's Keep Our Books In Order. PISA I established itself in all districts and implemented activities in all councils across the country, generating a footprint in communities.

Rather than aiming for full coverage of the citizenry, PISA II worked in selected councils. The target councils included up to 11 urban councils (all but Maseru City Council) and up to 28 rural councils. The choice was based on the rationale that PISA should target those communities that have little access to information due to their remote geographical location, poor infrastructure and a lack of platforms of citizen participation. Further, PISA activities were complementary to those of other civic education initiatives by local civil society organisations. Therefore, based on experience from the first phase, PISA II aimed to reach up to 15% of the population aged 14 years and above in the selected councils, which brings the total number of Basotho in the target population to up to 90,000. 

The target audience for PISA II’s civic education programmes and dialogue activities was were both citizens and citizen representatives, specifically local councillors and chiefs.

The final beneficiaries of PISA II were the population aged 14 years and above in all districts of Lesotho. PISA II therefore, targeted adults of voting age as well as youth, who often have dropped out of school and did not receive civic education through the formal curriculum.

Impacts

Civic education campaigns were held in PISA centres in each of the ten districts of the country. PISA established itself as a trusted, reliable and neutral actor. After implementation and support by the EU ended, the project was absorbed by the Lesotho Council of Non-Governmental Organisations, which receives support from the Independent Electoral Commission. The project’s sustainability is secured through ongoing activities, which are implemented by local civil society organisations.

Contributions from partner

BMZ

1,165, 000


See Also

Lesotho
€ 6 million
Ongoing
Human Rights & Democracy
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)
European Development Fund (EDF)