Every Voice Counts
Every day, we see women living in fragile settings across the globe demonstrating great power and resilience. We know these women have ideas that will change their communities for the better. However, few have the opportunity to be involved in decisions that affect their lives. CARE’s Every Voice Counts (EVC) programme, which ran from 2016-2020 in six countries, aimed to change that status quo. EVC placed collaboration and dialogue at its core, bringing together men and women, citizens and local leaders.
In cooperation with CARE country offices and partners, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Hague Academy for Local Governance and RNW Media, we fought to shift discriminatory social norms, supported women and youth to use their voice, and trained local authorities and civil society organisations to influence and implement more inclusive governance processes. From village elders agreeing to include women in local elections to civil society organisations helping to improve laws protecting women from violence, the impact of this programme was undisputable.
Core Models
The core models, or evidence-based examples, of how the Every Voice Counts programme promotes inclusive governance can be grouped into five main programmatic areas:
- Empowered Women and Youth
- Strengthened Civil Society
- Responsive Powerholders
- Spaces for Dialogue (temporarily unavailable)
- Shifts in Social Norms
Main Results
- 727 community advocacy groups were established with more than 10,000 members
- 238 civil society organisations (CSOs) were strengthened
- 55,326 people were capacitated on lobby and advocacy
- 221 public authorities were trained and they implemented 54 action plans as a result
- 68 different laws and policies were implemented, positively affecting the lives of women and youth
EVC Publications
Inclusive Governance
Community Score Card Approach
- Making Every Voice Count through the Community Score Card Approach (2017).
- Case study: Community Score Card Approach in Rwanda (2017).
Responsive Powerholders
Shifting Social Norms
- Enhancing Inclusive Governance in Fragile & (Post) Conflict-Affected Settings. An exploration of social norms related practices affecting public authorities (2019):
