Citizens First
Citizens First was a human security program managed by Oxfam Novib and funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It supported citizens and local civil society organizations (CSOs) in Afghanistan and Pakistan to advocate for essential services in food security, agriculture, education and public health. Through critical but constructive engagement with government authorities, citizens advocated for school buildings, text books or the salaries of teachers; improved seeds, cold storage facilities or irrigation systems; and the access to or quality of medical services.
In this second round in October 2016 (the earlier inquiry is available here), 250 stories were collected from individuals, citizens groups, government officials and CSOs. The stories provide insight into the types of requests made and the respective government’s responses. The program ended in December 2016.
Scroll down to read and listen to the stories of Pakistan, or select both countries or only Afghanistan here:
results both countries
results Afghanistan
Story question: “Could you share a story about a time the government positively or negatively responded to a request that was important to you?”
If you click on a dot, a single story will be highlighted - and remains highlighted in all graphs.
Who made the request
Who made the request to the government?
Type
What type of response did the government give?
Time
In your story, how long did it take before the government gave a response to the request?
Contribution
How important was their contribution to the change reached in this story?
Was this contribution of direct or indirect importance to the above response to the government?
Accessibility
How accessible were government authorities for you during the demand or change process?
Government responses like the one in my story happen...
Story shows
My story shows – in either a positive or negative way...
Tone of story
The tone of this story is...
Government responses like the one in my story happen...
Feelings
This story made me feel...
Next steps
As a next step in my story...
Tone & Next steps
The tone of this story is...
As a next step in my story...