NOWSPAR Director Matilda Mwaba and General Secretary Lombe Mwambwa participated in training on social accountability held in February and April by the Public Service Accountability Monitor at Rhodes University in South Africa. The key elements of the training included theoretical and practical elements of the principles and systems of social accountability. The aim was to equip civil society working on policy engagement to advocate for citizens rights to receive the best quality services from the state according to the resources available. The course also aims to strengthen organisation capacity to mobilise citizens to appreciate and act on their right to participate in social accountability.
Within the area of sport, NOWSPAR engages with accountability processes related to planning, resource allocation and expenditure of resources. Our concern is how national resources in general benefit the sport community and in particular how resources allocated to sport benefit girls and women in the context of gender inequality.
Some examples of our actions include:
Our engagement with the sport community, we are propagating the principles of duty bearers providing information on their responsibilities and actions. We facilitate platforms for dialogue with stakeholders such as sport associations and government. We provide information and opinion on issues that we suggest should be addressed by the various actors in sport. In May this year, we will be hosting the 2nd Integrity of Sport Conference in line with this.
Through the media, we continual to communicate to the public and the sport community about the role we have collectively to participate in accountability at various levels of service delivery and resource management as relates to sport. We regularly participate in TV and radio interviews and discussions to share this information.
We are networking and interacting with other organisations around Social Accountability to develop our own capacity as well as to contribute to national action around issues affecting children and, women on themes including protection and resource allocation.
The training was provided by the Zambian Governance Foundation as part of its capacity support to its partners. As a step forward, the CSO participants also have an opportunity to develop joint advocacy projects within the framework of social accountability towards policy change.