Asian Development Bank

Guide Questions To Civil Society And Governance

Objective (for the whole section):

To assess the capability of of civil society to organize and its ability to scrutinize the operations and activities of government.

Overall assessment (for the whole section):

• What is the capacity of the institutions of civil society to exert effective pressure for beneficial change?
• Are there active and honest public debates on improving the performance of the government (the executive, legislature, judiciary)?
• Are minority interests and particularly the interests of the poor and oppressed freely and well represented?
• How effective are on-going reforms efforts in addressing weaknesses in the judiciary?
• Is there political commitment to reforms and if so which areas are the most promising?
• How can ADB contribute (or further contribute) to the design and implementation of the reform process?

Guide Questions:

A. Freedom of elections:

• Are elections free?
• Were any electoral candidates murdered or assaulted in the last election?
• Are any politicians imprisoned for their political beliefs?

B. Freedom of Speech:

• Is there a free press and other media?
• Is a majority of the press and other media owned by interests not aligned with the government? Is the press regulated or censured by the government?
• Do citizens have power to sue the media for libel?
• Is there freedom of information enabling private citizens and the media to gain access to information concerning the exercise of power by state officials?
• Does the press regularly report issues critical of the government? Does the press regularly report the findings of NGOs like Amnesty International and Transparency International?
• Are all court hearings held in public? Is the press able to report and comment on court cases without censorship?
• Have any media outlets been closed down in the last 5 years? Has a journalist been murdered in the last 5 years? Has a journalist been imprisoned in the last 5 years for something he or she has written?
• Are there prison inmates convicted for their political beliefs?
• Is there academic freedom? Are academic posts controlled by the Government? Are citizens freely able to assemble and protest matters of public interest?

C. Organizational Arrangements:

• Does the local Chamber of Commerce belong to the International Chamber of Commerces?
• Is there a peak organisation for NGOs and if so does it have a set of rules which NGOs have to meet to belong to the peak organisation?
• Are there formal arrangements whereby the Government regularly consults with NGOs about issues of mutual interest?
• Are the majority of NGOs not owned by government interests? Is the greater part of the activities of these NGOs in activities other than the implementation of donor assisted projects?
• Is the broad NGO movement unpopular with the bureaucracy?
• Are international NGOs able to operate without restriction in the country?
• Are there independent organizations representing workers? Are workers free to strike?
• Is there an official independent organization which investigates complaints against the police?