Getting it together

This Guidance Note suggests concrete ways to enable the people in a country to influence thework of government and public agencies - and in that way ensure democratic developmentresults. While both the Paris Declaration and the Accra Agenda for Action point to the need forbetter use of communication, it has become increasingly apparent that good communication isan inextricable component of good development practice.The point of departure is to propose how a public agency should provide information to thecitizens and its representatives, and what kind of initiatives the agency should aim at to createconditions for public participation, interaction and collaboration. Different policy and practiceperspectives are combined with the purpose of guiding Sida in supporting partners to get ittogether with the public – in other words, to take advantage of communication for increasingaccountability, transparency, participation and non-discrimination.