Meeting Date- 4th December Sunday 2011

Time- 4 30 PM

Venue- Besant Nagar Beach next to the Police Booth!!

In the build up to the local ward councilor elections that was held in October of this year, Transparent Chennai conducted what it called its ‘Ward Accountability Experiment’ which was a citizen driven initiative where data was collected and visualized through maps that addressed issues concerning surface garbage, walkability and public sanitation in Ward 176 (Besant Nagar).

The core group for this experiment consisted primarily of students from 8 institutions in Chennai who were responsible not only for data collection but also with digitization and logistic support.

The data that we collected was disseminated through a public meeting which was attended by around 100 people (maybe more). Those in attendance included councilor candidates from the BJP, AIDMK and DMK (the AIDMK candidate eventually won).

There was a lot of positive energy post the public meeting and a number of us have been talking about continuing such citizen driven efforts at improving accountability and citizen participation in governance through the formation of a democratic forum.

I really hope that you will be able to attend this planning meeting. Agenda is as follows-

- Discuss the nature and mandate of this forum.

- Deliberate on a name.

- – Discuss possible interventions and follow up with the Ward Counselor of Ward 176.

Please spread the word- the more the merrier!! I will be bringing  a white board and maybe some chart paper to help focus our thoughts a bit as well :)

Please spread it amongst your student groups/ friends as well. It is a great opportunity for college and school students to engage with these kinds of issues!

Looking forward to seeing all of you! Please spread the word through Facebook/Orkut/Twitter etc as well!!!

Here are a few links to the Ward Accountability Experiment details and press coverage–

http://www.transparentchennai.com/2011/09/05/transparent-chennais-ward-accountability-experiment-general-info/
The times of India 9th October 2011- Well-prepared residents pin down candidates on specifics

The Hindu 9th October 2011- Getting to grips with governance

The Indian Express 9th October 2011- Its hollow promises in ward 176

TV Coverage:

NDTV Hindu 9th October 2011- News Tonight

NDTV Hindu 9th October 2011- Headlines Now

- Siddharth Hande

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