Since the last few decades, terms like community governance, community participation and democratic decentralization have become buzz words of development. Within the gamut of issues that can be explored in this sector, GRAAM’s current interests lie in experimenting and exploring the relationships between governance structures, citizen participation and development outcomes. GRAAM believes in principle that decentralization and community involvement in governance should be fostered, deeper understanding is essential for practical realization of these ideals. The starting point of GRAAM’s endeavors in this thematic area includes assessment of the institutional frameworks, levels of community participation & inclusiveness, measures of social accountability & quality of services & development outcomes and impacts. GRAAM is working on building community accountability frameworks and indices for the Panchayath Raj system in India.

GRAAM’s governance projects have won international accolades and created platforms to facilitate the grassroots voices to reach the policy makers.