Sound decentralization needs a strong civil society to protect it, as it is the sector that is able to monitor the various parties of local government, and it is able to play the role of support and mediator between citizens on the one hand and the elected and executive local government agencies on the other hand, and civil society organizations can play a pivotal role in Evaluate the quality of services provided by local bodies to the citizen. They can also provide a complaint mechanism and monitor and document violations of economic and social rights that this citizen is exposed to.
In this context, the training workshop held by Maat Foundation under the title “Enhancing the response of NGOs to citizens’ rights in light of decentralization ”came during the period from 30 to 31 October 2010 in Fayed, Ismailia Governorate, in which (25) cadres of partner NGOs participated in Implementing the activities of the Citizen's Voice project. The participants were representatives of board members, executives, and officials of managing citizen support centers in eight NGOs in six governorates.
The training workshop comes in the context of the activities of the Citizen's Voice (2) project implemented by the Maat Foundation for Peace, Development and Human Rights with funding from the Future Foundation, which seeks to build the capacities of different community parties in dealing with decentralization, and to develop effective and innovative mechanisms to monitor citizens' needs and evaluate the quality of public services provided by Before the executive authorities, the project will also work to spread the culture of decentralization in the Egyptian society and the effective employment of local and mass media in support of decentralization and monitoring the needs of citizens
The training workshop aimed to raise the awareness of activists and members of partner NGOs on decentralization and good local governance, and to build the capacity of partner NGOs with regard to helping citizens access their economic and social rights in light of decentralization.
The training workshop began with an opening session that included a speech by Professor Ayman Aqil, President of Maat Foundation for Peace, Development and Human Rights, where he gave a presentation on the activities of the Maat Foundation from 2005 until now, as well as the importance of the decentralization and good local governance support program that the Foundation has developed and implemented since 2008, and presented the most important projects. Those implemented within the framework of this program, including the Voter's Voice Project, the Citizen's Voice (1) project, and the project to empower women to govern in the Egyptian village.
Then, Walaa Jad Al-Karim, Director of the Citizen's Voice project, gave a presentation of the project in its first two phases that ended in January 2010, and the second phase that began in September 2010, where the presentation included the project’s objectives, target areas, activities to be held in its context, and the results that the project seeks to achieve.
After that, two consecutive sessions were held, in which Prof. Dr. Saleh Al-Sheikh, Professor of Political Science and Adviser to the Minister of Local Development, lectured, and the first session came under the title of decentralization and the roles of different community parties within its framework, as this session included discussions of several sub-topics, the most important of which is the conceptual framework of decentralization, good local governance and types of systems The different political aspects are the relationship between elected and executive councils in light of decentralization. Dr. Saleh Al-Sheikh also presented in the session the steps that have been taken in support of decentralization in Egypt.
The second session came under the title Presentation of the experience of decentralization in Egypt (reality and the future), during which the “Sheikh” presented the experience of the Ministry of Local Development in implementing financial decentralization since the last fiscal year, and explained how the financial resources are distributed among the different local units and the criteria on which to be relied upon, As well as the distribution and functions of the various local administration parties, and discussions during the session were subject to the expected amendments to the Local Administration Law 43 of 1979.
On the second training day, four working sessions were held, including three training sessions, during which Professor Saeed Abdel Hafez, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Dialogue Forum for Development and Human Rights and a human rights activist lectured, and the first session came under the title of assessing the quality of public services provided to citizens, and it included three sub-topics, namely, the concept of Evaluating the quality and importance of services, how do we evaluate the quality of services, and means of evaluating the quality of services.
As for the second session, it came under the heading of economic and social rights for the local citizen, which included standards for the economic and social rights of the citizen and the instruments contained therein, as well as how to monitor and document violations of economic and social rights. Report preparation, types of reports, and how to systematically monitor and document citizen complaints.
After that, a closing session was held, during which officials of partner NGOs were educated on how to prepare complaints forms submitted by citizens regarding violations of their economic and social rights, and how to prepare periodic reports on activities that these organizations will participate in holding, and during which inquiries and questions of officials of Citizens Support Centers were answered. And cadres of civil partner organizations