About

The Community Empowerment and Social Inclusion (CESI) Learning and Technical Assistance Program helps diverse stakeholders in client countries create the conditions that enable the poor and excluded to shape their own development.  It does this by working to strengthen the voices of the poor in policy making, project design and implementation.  Supporting both the supply and demand sides of good governance, the program offers a range of learning and knowledge activities and country-focused technical assistance for policy, institutional and sustained capacity development.  Its aim is to make societies and their institutions more inclusive, cohesive and accountable to the needs of poor people.

CESI assesses local needs, develops learning materials, provides technical assistance to operations, delivers guidance on good practice in new areas of Bank assistance, conducts workshops and other capacity enhancement activities, and builds and supports communities of practice.  Representatives from local government, central government, community organizations/civil society, media and the private sector are included in country-specific activities plus international events to facilitate knowledge sharing among practitioners.  All activities are delivered in collaboration with local partners. Approximately 50 percent of training activities are delivered using distance learning technologies.

CESI activities also include technical assistance to introduce significant reforms in voice and media in Africa, Asiaand MENA, particularly in the broadcasting sector, which is most accessible to poor illiterate populations. Coupled with improving the legal and regulatory framework for broadcasting, such as removing tight government controls over licensing and content, a major effort is being put on enabling and developing the capacities of participatory community radio. Whenever feasible, the program forges alliances between community radio stations/networks and legal empowerment CSOs that, together, build poor communities’ ability to exert their rights, give feedback to local government and negotiate effectively with government officials.