USAID Governance for Local Development (USAID/GOLD) Quarterly Report April 1 – June 30, 2018

The initiative focuses on three key results: increasing the capacity of local government to respond to citizen demand, mobilizing and managing local public resources, and enhancing community participation in service delivery management. In the first quarter of 2018, USAID/GOLD made significant progress toward achieving its objectives. The initiative's Dakar office and regional offices worked together to implement various activities, including training programs for local government officials and community leaders. The USAID/GOLD team also established partnerships with several organizations, including USAID/Neema, RSS+, and PMI, to leverage resources and expertise. One of the key achievements of the first quarter was the improvement in the leadership capacity of community councilors as elected representatives. The initiative's training programs helped to enhance the skills and knowledge of these officials, enabling them to better respond to citizen demands. Additionally, the initiative made progress in improving public financial management and oversight of public expenditures, with a focus on increasing transparency and accountability. The initiative also made significant progress in mobilizing and managing local public resources. The local resource mobilization approach, which involves working with local governments to identify and leverage resources, resulted in an increase in own-source revenue for community territories. Furthermore, the initiative made progress in establishing a social accountability mechanism for service delivery transparency, which aims to increase citizen engagement and participation in service delivery. In terms of community participation, the initiative made progress in enhancing the skills of civil society organizations (CSOs) to take collective action in priority public needs. The initiative also facilitated dialogue among stakeholders, including government officials, NGOs, and donors, to engage in discussions on public needs and priorities. The USAID/GOLD initiative has established a grants program to support local governments and community organizations in implementing projects and activities that align with the initiative's objectives. The initiative has also established a cost-sharing mechanism to leverage resources from local governments and other stakeholders. The initiative's collaboration, learning, and adapting (CLA) approach involves operationalizing the monitoring and evaluation system, collaboration and learning activities, and quantitative and qualitative analysis of progress toward objectives, results, and targets. The initiative has established a summary table of indicators, targets, and results, which provides a snapshot of progress toward achieving the initiative's objectives. The USAID/GOLD initiative has made significant progress in the first quarter of 2018, with achievements in leadership capacity, public financial management, local resource mobilization, community participation, and collaboration and learning. The initiative continues to work towards achieving its objectives and improving service delivery in Senegal.