What We Do
The overall objective of ESAP is to strengthen the SA systems and mechanism for enhanced service delivery in Ethiopia. To that end, it focuses on five pro-poor sectors, namely Education, Health, Rural Roads, Agriculture and Water and Sanitation (WASH), and other identified sectors that are fundamental for a delivery of these primary sectors ( e.g., electricity).
The program is implemented based on SA cycle, which consists of five distinct but interrelated steps that are intended to facilitate a conscious, deliberate, and collaborative engagement process between citizens and service providers for improved delivery.
ESAP3, now running until May 2024, focuses on creating the structures and mechanisms that allow citizens and government to engage in constructive dialogue about the priority sectors and sector-specific problems that citizens identified. The platform where such dialogue can be most productive and that allows government to tangibly respond, is at a woreda level, as this is the lowest administrative level where planning and budgeting takes place. Following is a summary of our current strategy; a complete version of the strategy can be found here.
Summary of ESAP3 Strategy
In the previous two phases, ESAP activities were mostly on the demand side, i.e. working with citizens and communities to establish the structures, systems, mechanisms and tools that allow them to voice their concerns. Much of this work was done at lower administrative levels, such kebele and facility.
The third phase of ESAP brings new features to upscale social accountability and to ensure its institutionalization. More concretely, it expands the benefits of social accountability to a growing number of citizens by increasing the coverage from the 223 woredas to 416 woredas. The program also continues to support the demand for better services by improving awareness and voice of citizen, helping communities articulate their demands and facilitating a constructive dialogue with service providers. In complement, ESAP3 is expected to strengthen government’s responsiveness to citizen’s demands by mainstreaming social accountability approaches within regular government processes, including the budget cycle, and by working more closely with the local governments, councils and sector bureaus.
The Management Agency (MA), comprising VNG International, GOPA-Consultants and Yem Consultant Institute PLC, is responsible for capacitating the CSOs, monitoring and evaluating outcomes, and ensuring adequate financial management.
COVID-19, the political transition in the country, and the need to make a more effective use of technology were also reasons for the MA to ‘update’ its strategy. Please see here (link) for the current ESAP strategy.
ESAP Core Expertise
What we do…
At ESAP, we are experts in establishing, improving and maintaining SA structures, systems, processes and tools. We develop the pathways and platforms for citizens and local governments to connect and get into dialogue on concerns, problems and priorities regarding service delivery. We make sure that the dialogue between citizens and government is constructive, leading to action by the government.
We pay specific attention to vulnerable groups in the communities where we operate to ensure that their voices are heard and acted upon. These groups include women and children, people living with disabilities, those affected by HIV/AIDS, and the poor. Gender is mainstreamed in all that we do, and we expect our partners to demonstrate gender-balanced approaches and hiring practices as much as we expect them to integrate gender in the implementation of their program activities.
And what we not do…
At ESAP, we are not experts in the service delivery sectors that citizens may have concerns about, although some of our implementing partners may have expertise in a particular area. Generally, we cannot solve the specific problems in health, agriculture, education, or any other sector. We are also not experts in the implementation of the Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP).