KARACHI, June 21: The best way to ensure accountability of the government was through collective efforts, as people could not expect to change things or properly monitor the state’s performance individually.

This was one of the points highlighted by Professor Dr Bernadette Dean, team leader of the Aga Khan University’s Institute for Educational Development’s (AKU-IED) Citizenship Rights and Responsibilities Pakistan (CRRP) programme. She was speaking at a workshop titled “Civic participation: government accountability to citizens” held at the AKU-IED on Saturday.

“We’re trying to solve personal problems. We’re not trying to handle issues collectively. Individual actions do not put pressure on the government. The fortunate must help the less fortunate. Mere criticism will not change things, but action will. Active citizens need to be informed,” she said.

The workshop, which was attended by students from various educational institutions, teachers as well as other professionals, is part of a series of sessions in a twofold programme. The first part was conducted before the February 18, 2008 general elections and targeted around 10,000 youths across Pakistan. Promoting citizenship education in schools and universities is the programme’s long-term goal.

“The second phase basically consists of following up on the manifestos of political parties. If the youths are not old enough to vote, we discuss with them how they can participate instead,” a CRRP team member told Dawn.

The workshop participants were quizzed on their knowledge of the different branches of government. An interesting debate took place when a question about the number of years Pakistan has been under military rule resulted in a discussion questioning whether President Pervez Musharraf’s “military rule” ended with the Feb 18 general elections or if it was continuing.

Differences in the political spectrum were also discussed, with Dr Dean commenting that most parties in the country were moving towards the centre.

Regarding the nature of civil disobedience, the CRRP team leader was of the opinion that some aspects of the lawyers’ movement came under the definition of civil disobedience, as did the transporters’ strikes.

She added that local organizations such as the citizens community boards had not been formed as was envisioned under the devolution of power programme.

The participants also discussed the role of community and it was said that identity was linked to the community; however, there was no single identity as an individual identified with multiple identities influenced by family, religious, social, ethnic, linguistic, professional and other factors.

The community issues being faced at the local and national levels were listed as corruption, choice and selection of leaders, economics, the food crisis, and Pakistan’s relations with other countries. Some students felt that political parties could not be trusted to deliver change and that alternative institutions should be formed.

When it came to advocacy skills, the participants were told that petitions and signature campaigns could be used to express the community’s views about a certain issue, while the media could also be used to promote causes.