Promoting youth and female participation in the delivery of public infrastructure

The workshops combined theoretical and practical activities covering access to project information and data portals, infrastructure transparency as means to ensure accountability and mechanisms of citizen participation. A practical ‘outdoor’ experience allowed the young social auditors to apply the new skills, carrying out project visits and completing a model questionnaire on key project information. The questionnaire was aimed at understanding the level of project transparency, based on the data points of the CoST Infrastructure Data Standard that applies to all procuring entities in Guatemala, and issues of performance identified during project implementation such as poor design and a lack of competitive bidding. Attendees were trained to prepare a final report on the findings of their social audits, this used a similar methodology to the CoST assurance which interprets issues in the project data. Attendees were encouraged to use the reports as a means to begin constructive dialogue between the communities and project stakeholders, and also to stimulate discussions within the communities. To further strengthen the practice, attendees met with the independent evaluators who conduct the CoST assurance process where they discussed how to mitigate challenges in project monitoring and how to constructively engage with authorities. The activities contributed to CoST’s monitoring, evaluation and learning framework, particularly in relation to inclusive infrastructure through the collection of gender-related data. USAID funding to the practice was USD 9,645.39. CoST Guatemala provided in-kind contribution to deliver the training and funding of USD 4,675.32 to the workshop logistics. Since 2020 workshops were held online only CoST in-kind contribution was required.