IIS contributes to Workshop on Engaging Citizens and Civil Society Organizations to Promote Effectiveness, Accountability and Transparency in Reconstruction and Recovery Strategies after Natural Disasters (Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, 21–22 June 2011)
The workshop "Engaging Citizens and Civil Society Organizations to Promote Effectiveness, Accountability and Transparency in Reconstruction and Recovery Strategies after Natural Disasters" took place within the 2011 United Nations and Africa Public Service Forum on 21–22 June 2011.
The workshop consisted of six sessions that looked at a number of issues:
Session One: Engaging Citizens and Civil Society Organizations in Reconstruction and Recovery Strategies after Natural Disasters: Approaches, Trends and Challenges
Is there a relationship between citizen engagement and disaster preparedness?
What is the role of civil society vs. the role of government in reconstruction and recovery strategies after natural disasters?
What functions and interventions before, during and after a disaster are typically carried out by government agencies, ministries, and commissions currently?
What are the citizen-centric approaches in reconstruction and recovery strategies after natural disasters?
What basic conditions must be taken into consideration when planning strategies to engage citizens and civil society organizations in reconstruction and recovery strategies after natural disasters?
What are some of the most important opportunities in engaging citizens and civil society organizations in reconstruction and recovery strategies after natural disasters?
What are the challenges in furthering the engagement of citizens and civil society organizations in reconstruction and recovery strategies after natural disasters and how they can be overcome?
Session Two: Engaging Citizens and Civil Society Organizations in Reconstruction and Recovery Strategies after Natural Disasters: Methodologies and Tools for Improvement
What constitutes as effective citizen engagement in reconstruction and recovery situations?
How can citizens or civil society help in preparing emergency plans, zoning, building codes, school preparedness, planning for individuals with disabilities and other access and functional needs, farmers/agriculture?
How can specific populations/groups (i.e. farmers, parents, education leaders, disabled) be engaged to improve resiliency, response capacity, and recovery?
How to ensure the engagement of the most vulnerable groups of people?
How can government agencies engage NGOs and civilians in both response and recovery scenarios?
What is the role of independent citizen or civil society oversight, monitoring and evaluation?
How can citizens and civil society ensure that alert systems are working and effective?
How can citizen engagement after natural disasters and its outcomes be measured?
Session Three: Engaging Citizens in Recovery Strategy Development to Promote What government policies facilitate a stronger civil society? (transparency/access to information, accountability, whistle-blower protections, open-government, citizen committees, public hearings)
What are good models for rules/regulations/policy for involving citizens before, during, and after disasters?
Are there practices that governments should consider to ensure citizens are adequately engaged?
How can a strong civil society absorb surges of outside influence that follow a disaster?
How to monitor the use of services and assess whether expectations are met in terms of quality and impact of services.
Session Four: The Role of Social Media and Communication in Engaging Citizens
and Civil Society Organizations in Reconstruction and Recovery
Strategies after Natural Disasters to Promote Effectiveness,
Accountability and Transparency
To what extent has web 2.0 and social media strategies
contributed to better engagement of citizens and civil society
organizations in reconstruction and recovery strategies?
What are the barriers to further web 2.0 adoption and how can
they be addressed especially in the developing countries where the
internet may not be accessible and its use further hindered by a natural
disaster?
Use of mobiles to engage citizens in post-natural disaster situations?
What is the role of traditional websites like the UN Reliefweb
and new social media like Facebook and Twitter as well as Google in
managing post-natural disaster crises and engaging both local population
and the global community in a meaningful way?
What kind of information and frequency of information is needed?
Do major humanitarian NGOs responding to disasters provide sufficient
information for other sectors including the local government and civil
society?
Session Five: Engaging Citizens and Civil Society Organizations in Reconstruction
and Recovery Strategies after Natural Disasters: Innovations, Best
Practices and Uses of ICT
What can we learn from existing citizen engagement strategies
around the world, in relation to reconstruction and recovery situations?
Post-disaster examples of strong and weak civil society in disaster situations and what was the result in each case?
What are best practices and tools that can be used in developing countries before, during, and after disasters?
Session Six: The Way Forward and Recommendations for Future Action
What can governments do to best encourage/support civil society in relation to natural disasters?
What capacities must countries have to design and implement citizen engagement strategies for reconstruction and recovery situations?
