April 2018 - Number 166 INTEGRATING CITIZEN ENGAGEMENT IN PROGRAM DESIGN: EGYPT’S SUSTAINABLE RURAL SANITATION SERVICES PROGRAM EXPERIENCE. delivery solely oriented to investments in Kamila Galeza, Amal Faltas and Lina Abdelghaffar.1 infrastructure. Introduction: Citizen engagement is not a new Lessons learned in Egypt and elsewhere concept in the world of development. Notions of demonstrated that this was not enough and social accountability, citizen participation, voice, institutions and behaviors needed to change. have been around development programs for many years. Adopted in 2014, The Strategic Framework for Mainstreaming Citizen Engagement in World Bank Group operations was developed to systematically mainstream citizen engagement by including beneficiary feedback in WBG-supported operations. The Strategic Framework defines citizen engagement as a two-way interaction between citizens and governments or the private sector within the scope of WBG interventions. This approach gives citizens a stake in decision- making to improve the intermediate and final development outcomes. Evidence suggests that engaging citizens can improve accessibility, coverage and quality of service delivery. Egypt’s Sustainable Rural Sanitation Services Program for Results – aims to strengthen institutions and policies to increase access to and Project Beneficiaries improve rural sanitation services in the Personal Photos by Project Staff governates of Beheira, Dakahlia and Sharkiya. The program also demonstrates an innovative model for WBG’s commitment to citizen Therefore, sanitation service delivery for over engagement. With high level buy-in and 800,000 people in 155 villages under Egypt’s ownership from the Government, the program’s Sustainable Rural Sanitation Services Program design and implementation challenged the for Results, also included a strong reform conventional centralized model of service component to strengthen local operations. The program incorporated robust social 1 The Authors work in the World Bank. Kamila Galeza is in region (GSU05) and Lina Abdelghaffar is in the External the Water Global Program (GWAGP) , Amal Faltas is in the Communications unit of the Middle East and North Africa Social Development Unit in the Middle east and North Africa Region (MNAEC) April 2018 · Number 166· 1 accountability and citizen engagement measures water-related emergencies, and was neither and was one of the first World Bank Program for widely publicized nor widely known. Results (PforRs) to have citizen engagement measures embedded from its very inception. It The program set up local committees as avenues was also the first program to actively implement for discussing community concerns, and to decentralization in all program components. It respond to questions and general inquiries. These also integrated capacity building for government committees are important channels for grievance institutions to make them more accountable to redress. They were provided with forms which citizens. residents can use to report issues, complaints, general concerns or suggestions related to the Within the program’s architecture engaging program. Previously, all types of feedback were citizens and establishing a grievance redress relayed verbally to technicians or local leaders, mechanism were put forward as requirements and were rarely captured or reported. linked to financial disbursements. All these are stored and dealt with using a Citizen engagement was embedded through redesigned complaints management system various channels, including: (CMS), a database which is the backbone of the program’s GRM. Interconnected, Reshaping Institutions: The government has comprehensive, and available to employees at all sent a strong signal of support by creating a levels - from branch offices all the way to the ministry-level committee on citizen engagement. ministry - the database has undergone many The Ministry of Housing, Utilities and Urban improvements. It now stores all different types of Communities (MHUUC) assigned a team from feedback – received through the hotline, within the ministry to be responsible for citizen WhatsApp messages, Facebook, email, or in engagement, and hired social development person. specialists to support the efforts. Representatives from the local Water Service Companies (WSCs), Engaging the Community: Local citizens are which as part of decentralization efforts took now involved in the planning process, for over the responsibility for implementing the example, village residents participate in the program (including planning, budget, and selection of land plots for various facilities, construction) and regularly visited program sites. including pumping stations and treatment The team developed community engagement plants. Land owners and villagers actively play a guidelines and manuals, and training for WSC part in the process of land allocation and land and local staff, the most recent one focused on donations. WSC social officers are getting more citizen report cards (you can read about them closely engaged in the process of documenting here). the land donation process and are actively engaged to ensure that the core principles related For teams involved in the program this meant a to voluntary land donations are fulfilled and that mindset shift, reflected in a remark made by a community members who contribute to the senior MHUUC official: “I’m an engineer; Now I process are not coerced. talk like a social specialist.” Transparency and inclusive practices engender Setting up a Grievance Redress Mechanism trust among residents, assuring them that they (GRM): An active grievance redress mechanism are members of the program team. This was is operational on the local level to capture any especially evident when it came to land program -related impacts, including but not acquisition, which has always been a challenge limited to land-related impacts. It offers multiple with similar programs. With this program, it was options for filing complaints: through a hotline, different. Integrating citizen engagement into the by visiting a branch, online, and via community program design and actively implementing its committees. Before the program, the hotline measures resulted in residents proactively number #125 was mainly used for reporting reaching out to the PMU and donating their land April 2018 · Number 166· 2 for establishing the program facilities (e.g. The program team has put together a report pumping stations and wastewater treatment detailing the citizen engagement experience as a plants). To date over 50 plots of land have been guiding reference to other programs who would donated. like to implement the same approach. Citizen report cards, to be rolled out this year (and When asked about the program’s outreach and repeated annually) to monitor performance will engagement efforts with the community, offer a systematic way for engaging the citizens Mohamed Ibrahim, a member of the Beheira in providing feedback. governorate community committee said “This is the first time the Government comes to us and As the program advances, all these efforts – asked for our contributions. We usually have a lot successes and lessons learned – will help shape of unanswered questions and it is really great to the preparation of its second phase, and inform find someone to answer them in these meetings”. other projects in the region. Next steps: By dedicating resources to carry out the citizen engagement work, operationalizing a robust GRM system, creating a transparent channel of communication with citizens and allowing citizens to participate in the design of various program related activities, the accountability of the service providers has been significantly strengthened. The level of citizens’ trust in the program has been enhanced and a new inclusive and accountable model has emerged for the water and sanitation sector. April 2018 · Number 166· 3