In May 2004 Norwegians and USAID joined in with the existing cost sharing donors. DTCE embarked upon its field operations in 13 districts across the country for Citizens Community Boards (CCBs) mobilization, formation, and project execution through local government funding.
In January 2005 DFID joined in with the existing pool of cost sharing donors. DTCE had two review processes one was the Internal Policy Review beginning June 2005, and an external Mid-Term Review beginning November 2005. DTCE program expansion was made in another 24 districts in December 2005 and in early 2006 bringing the total to 37 districts across the country.
In June 2007 DFID extended its support under the Improved Citizens Engagement through Devolution (ICED) program. The same year in November, due to National Elections a moratorium was placed on DTCE activities and the company’s operations remained at halt till July 2009. Unfortunately during this period DTCE also faced a tragic bomb blast causing severe damage to the DTCE office located opposite the Royal Danish Embassy.
In August 2009 DTCE resumed its operations and in addition to its regular program activities also expanded its program operations to Malakand Division of KP and Bordering districts of Baluchistan. DTCE is currently covering 45 districts, 141 Tehsils and 2230 Union Councils across the country.
In 2010, DTCE led a broad-based advocacy movement in support of the devolved local government system, bringing to bear its experience and knowledge in the sector, its linkages with civil society, government and citizenry, and its considerable media expertise and resources. As a direct result the 18th Amendment explicitly maintained the constitutional cover of local governments. DTCE also turned its attention to the nationwide floods, providing relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction services that would have been impossible for an organization without the outreach and experience that DTCE enjoys.
It is pertinent to mention here that DTCE had under gone with nine external audits and all the reports were clean. Apart from external audits different policy and program reviews have also been carried out by cost sharing donors including DFID and UNDP. The successful results of these reviews clearly depict the performance of DTCE.
Despite changes in government policies and regimes, national security risks, and diversity of working environments DTCE has been able to respond effectively to rapidly changing scenarios through its flexible networked approach that bridges the divide between government, elected representatives and community-based organizations.
DTCE current implementation model is the result of extensive consultations with stakeholders and years of experience in the field. It comprises of eight program components, which are all mutually inclusive and attributed to the domains of local governance. The model has inbuilt flexibility to condition itself in accordance with any form of local governance aiming at the promotion of citizens engagement for improving service delivery, access to citizens entitlement, improving public accountability and many other subjects pertaining to local governance. Social Audit information in all districts is a key element of learning process as part of an ends-oriented evaluation of devolution, police, justice, health, educations, rights, service delivery, and corruption.
A comprehensive geographic information system (GIS) based monitoring and evaluation system managed by the Information, Monitoring and Evaluation (IM&E) Directorate is in place to review the program implementation at regular intervals. DTCE IME systems an inter-relational database and GIS application not only monitors progress in the field but also help create an organizational culture of information sharing and provides a source of knowledge to support the strategic and policy level decision making for future adaptation. MS Project based action planning is followed by all functional teams at the headquarters and field level to track individual progress and performance on real time basis, as well as to facilitate the decision making process at strategic management level.
All of the consultative and participatory mechanisms of DTCE allows for policy, systemic, and methodological differentiation in the territory and adaptations across time, as part of a learning, knowledge-based approach.