Citizen Participation In Local Governance: A Case Study Of Health And Sanitation Sectors In Gujranwala, Pakistan
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Date
2017-12
Authors
Rafique, Zain
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Universiti Sains Malaysia
Abstract
Contemporary development discourse confers a protuberant role to Citizen Participation (CP). To comply with this developmental demand, the Government of Pakistan introduced CP reforms and decentralization measures to use local governance system as a platform for localizing development and engaging local citizens. This thesis was designed to explore the level of Citizen Participation in the local governance system of Pakistan. The study explored both the subjective factors that include the role of stakeholders (local administrators, local political representatives, Civil Society Organizations and Citizens) and objective factors such as legal and administrative basis of CP. The thesis presented evidence from a case study of the Health and Sanitation sectors in Gujranwala, Pakistan by employing mixed research methods. The techniques involved a literature review and documentary analysis, a survey conducted with stakeholders in Gujranwala as well as in-depth interviews, Focus Group Discussions and Cross Group Discussions. The findings divulged manifold problems that contributed to the ineptitude of CP in current development lexicon. Firstly, the failure of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in Gujranwala local government settings ascertained that Pakistan needs a certain level of political maturity to provide a working space for CSOs to foster CP. Secondly, mechanisms of direct CP is faulty. The legal framework on CP has a very high margin of manipulation. The main policy documents and laws can be easily interpreted and accommodated to different development discourses. In addition, local government administration, the provincial government and political elites are not ready to disseminate their powers. Thirdly, local bureaucrats are more empowered than any other stakeholder which is making CP a distant reality.
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Keywords
Health and sanitation sectors , in Gujranwala, Pakistan