IfE’s Field Hearings partners in Nepal met recently to elect a Country Coordinator for the next 2 years (selecting Bhola Bhattarai), and to set priorities for their work. They are organizing a citizen’s monitoring network to watch over the relief effort following recent large earthquakes there. Allegations of corruption, politics, and delays due to red tape have caused mistrust and raised concerns about the adequacy of the relief effort. This participatory monitoring & accountability (PMA) initiative will work through local citizens to track the promises made and actual results on the ground in various communities, using this information to hold government and international agencies accountable.
Under the coordination of Field Hearings partners Bhola Bhattarai (National Forum for Advocacy – Nepal) and Purna Nepali (Consortium for Land Research and Policy Dialogue), IfE partners will gather information from citizens in communities across the country, and pressure government and international agencies for proper management of earthquake relief funds.