of democracy is altering power between state and society; improving politicians and administrators; acting as an intermediary between state and society; promoting the values of liberal democracy. In a public opinion pole taken on democracy, only 27% rated as essential elements of democracy as regular elections and 48% said that the equal access to houses, jobs and a decent income essential to democracy; therefore the most important role that institutions have to play is teaching people to value democratic institutions and processes more for their own sake than for what they may deliver in terms of immediate and tangible benefits. In conclusion, there are four main objectives for civil society participation. The first objective is to establish interest groups operating at the local level to monitor financial and policy decisions. An example would be teachers and parent’s groups, which have played such an important role in resuscitating primary education in Uganda. These could form a network to track how expenditures earmarked for education are spent. The second objective is to broaden society’s participation in public policy formulation, opening up the political culture to public debate on important economic and political questions. The donors’ third objective is to support interest groups to lobby legislature. USAID wants to strengthen CSOs in each of its five program areas; agricultural and business development, health, environment, education and legal/human rights. Fourth, human rights and law-oriented CSOs increase the public’s knowledge of their constitutional and legal rights. They raise issues in the national arena when they think individual rights or constitutional guarantees are being threatened. They also increase access to the law by running legal aid clinics and paralegal training. Therefore, the most important aid that western countries can bring is not the immediate help such as supplying houses, job...
