KARACHI, Dec 7: The City District Government Karachi is set to kick-start an ADB-funded project to revitalise citizen community boards (CCBs) that have been dormant for the last four years, CDGK officials told Dawn.

Under the Sindh Local Government Ordinance-2001, 25 percent of the annual development funds of every town and district government are to be utilised for various development projects through the CCBs.

“Currently, there are large un-disbursed funds of the CDGK and towns that has accumulated over the past four years because the CCBs were either not activated or not formed,” said an official. The officials said the project would undertake a review of current literature on the methodologies for activating CCBs and identify the lessons learned.

“The CDGK will conduct a detailed business process mapping exercise of the procedures to approve funding releases for CCB projects. It will conduct a civic education campaign involving training and capacity-building activities in the implementation, monitoring and financial management of CCB projects and CCB formation, registration and community contribution,” said an official document.

The project’s civic education campaign will target CCBs, communities, and the staff at the district and town levels. The project will also assist in establishing 10 pilot CCB sub-projects for demonstration in low and medium income communities to test different methods of 20 percent community contribution and to document those experiences as evidence of strengths and weakness of development through CCBs.

Discussing the outcome of the project, a document said fully established and operational CCBs that are more active would be established and better and more efficient utilisation of past, current and future funding would be ensured.

It said the CCBs would ensure improved services at the community level, a stronger voice would be raised for the poor and other vulnerable populations in policy development, programme implementation and service delivery.

The objective of activating CCBs has been framed around the need to strengthen community participation, cost sharing and appropriate operation and maintenance of development projects, thus ensuring greater decision making for the people, enhanced accountability, reduced corruption and delivering results that improve the lives of local people and effectively utilise millions of unspent rupees that otherwise would have remained unspent.

The deliverables of the project include a study on best practices and methods for CCB activation, civic education campaign and a series of training and establishment of 10 pilot CCB sub-projects for demonstration.

Officials said the 30-month project would be conducted through a consortium of local consultant firms and NGOs familiar with and experienced in community development, especially in infrastructure projects in the areas of water, sanitation, health and education.

An official said a mechanism will be established to ensure women’s involvement and representation in the decision-making and implementation process of the programme. This $255,000 project will include $75,000 foreign and $180,000 local costs.