During the height of COVID-19, G-Watch was one of the few (if not the only) organizations that conducted monitoring of government programs and services. G-Watch has sustained its citizen monitoring, covering critical pandemic services and democratic processes, namely the social amelioration program, vaccination, COVID loans, education and conduct of elections.
G-Watch’s capacity to sustain its multi-level monitoring is mainly in account of its accountability frontliners. Accountability frontliners are “citizen monitors who are physically at the frontlines - interviewing beneficiaries, observing the actual delivery of public services or the implementation of a government program, or engaging government face-to-face. They face real risks of getting infected, yet they continue coming out of their homes to monitor government. Accountability frontliners are also citizens demanding accountability through various means, including online, who face the threat of repression and assault by authorities simply by "speaking truth to power.”
Last March 3-8 this year, G-Watch held its National Meeting and Learning Exchange with the theme ‘Learning With, For and About Accountability Frontliners.’ Thirty-five (35) G-Watch leaders and accountability frontliners from 12 sites attended the event. In recent months, several local learning exchanges in G-Watch sites were conducted, convening more accountability frontliners and learning with, from and about them.
This audio visual presentation was prepared to share the highlights of the G-Watch 2022 national meeting and learning exchange, particularly showcasing the perspectives and stories of G-Watch accountability frontliners themselves and sharing the significance of their work and what they stand for in the context of a pandemic and closing civic spaces. The development of this AVP forms part of an action-learning collaborative project with Accountability Research Center that aims to learn from, with and for frontline accountability defenders. It is G-Watch's first attempt in over a decade now to share our work in an alternative format, on video form.
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