“Le Présimètre” – political and socio-economic accountability of public policies through civil society

“Le Présimètre” is a multifunctional programme established in Burkina Faso to consolidate democracy, strengthen good governance and promote political accountability by leveraging new technologies and effective participation of civil society.

It is used as a tool to increase transparency and foster dialogue and cooperation between the State and civil society. To do so, the programme includes an online platform monitoring government policies in the fields of healthcare, education, food security, water and sanitation, along with other emerging issues such as employment, gender, environment and security. It relies on various experts’ thorough and continuous analyses of public policies. This political and socio-economic accountability system also hosts radio and televised episodes where the President himself and other members of the Government respond to citizens’ questions and take stock of promises and progress achieved.

The program was created at the initiative of various civil society organizations, in particular Diakonia, a Swedish non-governmental organization. As for its implementation, it relies on the collaboration of 13 partners, and receives  funding from Sweden and the European Union. Daily management is assured  by INGENIA Consulting.

The program benefits from the active participation of the President of Burkina Faso, as it is in line with the government’s national plan for economic and social development (PNDES) and its desire to strengthen governance, increase the political and socio-economic accountability of public authorities and fight corruption. This program furthermore allowed the government to strengthen its national tools for monitoring and evaluating policies and programs, including, the ASCE LC, AG SE, and AG EPE.

As of 31 December 2017, 745 citizens registered on the platform, which was visited 52000 times. Civil society is embracing the project, in particular the young and male citizens, Extensive work is presently being conducted to identify the causes behind the low participation of women, in order to enhance their level of participation.

The Présimètre initiative has also been the focus of international attention, as it enabled Burkina Faso to participate in the Open Government Partnership. It has also been asked to share its expertise with Mali, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Madagascar, Kenya, France (in the context of PAGOF) and the World Bank to bring more transparency and accountability to its social safety net programs. Finally, the Présimètre initiative  received the TI and CFI awards for digital transparency and sparked the creation of other local platforms such as the REN LAC platform on corruption with the support of the European Union.