Overview IMPACTS FOR CITIZENS, COMMUNITY ORGANISATIONS AND CADRES

ACCESS Phase II Impact Evaluation Page 11

CHAPTER 2: IMPACTS FOR CITIZENS, COMMUNITY ORGANISATIONS AND CADRES

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2.1. Overview

Empowerment within the ACCESS context is best described as a process of enabling poor and marginalised men and women to develop voice and agency so they can participate more fully in community and government processes and have increased control over decisions affecting their lives. E mpowerment is conceived as a continuum of change by which people increasingly develop the awareness, confidence, capacities and social capital needed to organize into groups and act either by doing things for themselves using their own assets and advocating for changes to government policy and practice. Measures of empowerment used in this Report include: access to information, bargaining power through membership in community groups and networks, access to community decision making, access to services, gender equity, inclusion of the poor in development processes, influence for government policy making and sustainability of community engagement mechanisms. The program’s effectiveness is assessed by the extent to which ACCESS realised its goal of strengthening the capacity of citizens and their organisations, particularly poor, women and marginalised groups, to engage with local government to address their priority concerns. Using these parameters, Akatiga’s assessment identifies the following benefits for citizens: i increased access to information on services and rights; ii increased access to health, education and administration services; iii increased solidarity; and ivi increased incomes. The Community Survey shows that 62.4 of respondents feel their involvement in ACCESS‐supported activities gives them better access to information on village programs; 49.3 report they are now able to participate in community meetings and 51.3 report increased self‐confidence to the extent they are now willing to propose activitiesprograms in public fora. For many of ACCESS beneficiaries – poor, women and marginalised groups – who traditionally have not participated in community activities, let alone decision making processes, and find speaking publicly a significant challenge, these changes are seen as highly positive. The survey also found increased incomes 63 of respondents and perceptions of improved service delivery 47.2 including district health services 54.5, administration services 49.8 and education 54.9. Almost half of the respondents agree that village government services are better while 50.8 perceive village governments are more responsive to community suggestions or requests. The majority 70, equally for men and women, feel that the benefits of their involvement in the Program outweigh their investment of time and resources, while 65.9 female and 73.5 male respondents feel optimistic that their activities will continue after ACCESS ends. Furthermore, the majority 84 feel the contribution of community cadres has been highly significant while 89 of the cadres similarly feel that the CSO support has been very useful. 60.2 stated that community organisations such as women’s economic groups, posyandu and farmers’ groups which have been strengthened through ACCESS’ support also better reflect the needs of their members. 7 Cadres refer to community volunteers who facilitate community processes with training and support from CSO partners. ACCESS Phase II Impact Evaluation Page 12 The field work identified a range of constraints and challenges. For example, while the community plans enabled citizens to use their own assets and to engage with government agencies for practical support to meet local demands, a number of issues including the current national budgeting system makes it difficult for citizens to pursue their development objectives through the Musrenbang process. For issues of forest conservation, changes were limited to the extent to which communities have control over those misusing forest resources, bearing in mind that forest conservation is nationally rather than locally regulated while misuse of resources is carried out by powerfully connected people who for the most part are beyond the control of the community. Finally, the study found that the ‘family’ dimension of domestic violence adds to its complexity for community leaders, police and local government to address.

2.2. Effectiveness