Participatory governance: the political ground
The People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria, through the Ministry of Interior (MICLAT), has recently started to implement new forms of participatory democracy and concerted governance with the launch of the CapDeL Programme. The European Commission and UNDP are partners of the initiative.
The programme aims at strengthening the role of local actors – locally elected representatives (man and women), economic actors and organizations of the civil society – in participatory governance and strategic planning processes.
CapDel involves 8 pilot municipalities and pursues 4 main goals
- • Strengthening of strategic planning at Community level
- • The involvement of local actors in local development participatory processes
- • The modernization and simplification of administrative services
- • The improvement of risk management
The training: method, goals and targets
The training activity is the core component of the CapDeL Programme. The contribution of our team – Federico Ciani, Caterina Arciprete and Marta Russo – focused on the development of the training plan, together with MICLAT, and in the elaboration of the training material, that is adapted to the needs and characteristics of the institutional and socio-economic context.
The training plan includes a curriculum designed for institutional actors, and another one that targets the civil society organizations. It also features a specific focus for the locally elected women.
The methodology combines theoretical approach and practical experience, embracing the “learning by doing” method. Therefore, with respect to the training material, the manuals for the trainers include some theoretical information while those for the local actors are more accessible and designed based on the users’ competences and capacities.
The training plan takes into account all the dimensions of the local development, ranging from the social, to the economic, urban and cultural dimensions. The courses aims at improving:
- >the local participatory governance processes
- >the integration in the decision-making process of the different dimensions of the local development
- >the elaboration of inclusive and sustainable local public policies
- >the balance between urban and rural areas and among different neighborhoods
A focus on the locally elected women
With the aim of giving women a leading role in the dialogue between the civil society and the public administration, the CapDeL training course includes activities to strengthen their ability to understand the local development processes and elaborate strategic planning proposals. The course focuses also on communication techniques and on the identification of the needs of women and young people as well as and on the design of public services.
Below you can find a photo of our colleagues from Algeria holding a course on participatory governance and gender approach, after having attended Caterina’s inclusive planning course.
