GSDRC newsfeed on Voice and accountability

Citizen Mobilisation in Nepal: Building on Nepal�s Tradition of Social Mobilisation to Make Local Governance more Inclusive and Accountable

C. Jha, S. Prasai, M. Hobley and L. Bennett — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

How can citizen mobilisation be supported to make local governance more inclusive and accountable in Nepal? This report from the Local Governance and Community Development Programme (LGCDP) analyses social mobilisation in Nepal. Transformational mobilisation processes are needed to build peoples� capacity to actively participate in their own governance. Lessons learned include providing evidence of change in the 'capability to demand' and addressing obstacles in processes that target the disadvantaged by engaging the elites as �champions of the poor�.

Accountability: The Core Concept and its Subtypes

Staffan Lindberg — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

The concept of accountability has become increasingly popular in diverse fields including development policy. This working paper from the Overseas Development Institute argues that new meanings and dimensions risk diluting its content and creating conceptual confusion - with significant implications for empirical analysis. A classic approach to concept formation is required, which suggests that accountability refers to a class of concepts under the category �methods of limiting power�. It is important to distinguish between accountability and responsiveness.

'Citadel of Women': Strengthening Female Leadership in Rural Cambodia

Thavy Chhoeun, Panha Sok, Clodagh Byrne — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

What opportunities has the decentralisation process given women in Cambodia to participate in political leadership? What obstacles and challenges hinder women's participation and leadership at the local level? This article from Gender & Development discusses the work of Banteay Srei, a Cambodian NGO, in building the capacity of women to participate in leadership. It describes how Banteay Srei's leadership training activities have enabled women in the targeted villages to make the most of leadership opportunities. However, challenges to women's effective political leadership still remain and it is important for NGOs and women leaders to develop strategies to overcome these challenges.

Examining Conditional Cash Transfer Programmes: A Role for Increased Social Inclusion?

Benedicte de la Briere, Laura B. Rawlings — Sun, 01 Jan 2006 00:00:00 GMT

Conditional Cash Transfer programmes (CCTs) provide money to poor families, contingent on specific verifiable actions such as children's school attendance or preventative health care. How successful are CCTs in addressing social inclusion and inter-generational poverty? What is their impact on social accountability relationships between beneficiaries, service providers and governments? This summary focuses on the Social Inclusion section in a World Bank paper. While CCTs hold promise, they are not a panacea against social exclusion. They should form part of comprehensive social and economic policy strategies and be applied carefully in different policy contexts.

Making Reform Work: Institutions, Dispositions and the Improving Health of Bangladesh

Jean-Paul Faguet, Zulfiqar Ali — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

What is the role of social attitudes in supporting institutional reform? This article from World Development explores the institutional and social underpinnings of service provision by comparing decentralised health provision in the Bangladesh upazilas (sub-districts) of Rajnagar and Saturia. Regional variation in health outcomes is explained by the presence or absence of a dense web of relationships that enmeshed reformers in local systems of authority and legitimacy. Policymakers must focus on tailoring service provision to the specific needs and characteristics of the population. This involves increasing local level participation, improving accountability mechanisms, and providing incentives for good performance.

Introduction: From Polycentrism to the Polity

Peter P. Houtzager — Wed, 01 Jan 2003 00:00:00 GMT

What is the nature of the new politics of inclusion? This chapter from Changing Paths: International Development and the New Politics of Inclusion challenges the perception that supporting uncoordinated and decentralised actions in civil society and the market is sufficient to produce improved governance outcomes. Greater inclusion will emerge instead from representative and deliberative institutions through which societal and state actors can negotiate collective solutions across the public-private divide.

The People's Peace? Peace Agreements, Civil Society, and Participatory Democracy

Christine Bell, Catherine O'Rourke — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 00:00:00 GMT

To what extent do peace agreements support participatory democracy? This article from the International Political Science Review analyses the provision made by post-1990 peace agreements for civil society. It demonstrates the importance of peace processes to theories of civil society. It does not, however, draw conclusions about the relationship between provision for civil society and the success of peace agreements. Further research is needed to evaluate the role of civil society organisations in transitions towards peace.

Fearing Africa's Young Men: The Case of Rwanda

Marc Sommers — Sun, 01 Jan 2006 00:00:00 GMT

Do the concentrated numbers of male youths in urban Rwanda threaten social stability? The World Bank investigates this theory, examining the concept that large concentrations of male youths are disconnected from their cultures and prone to violence due to the �youth bulge�. However, interviews with urban male youths in Rwanda indicate that they are constrained by limited opportunities rather than menaces to society. The situation confronting most Rwandan youth and most of their counterparts in Africa remains alarming - a largely silent emergency.

Strengthening Voice and Accountability in the Health Sector

Cathy Green — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

How can greater voice and accountability for citizens bring about improved health services? This Technical Brief from the Partnerships for Transforming Health Systems Programme (PATHS) reviews several voice and accountability initiatives supported by PATHS in selected states in Nigeria. It concludes that the creation of formal mechanisms of voice and accountability can be effective in opening space for citizen-state accountability and improving service responsiveness. Further work is however needed from the government on strengthening accountability mechanisms for these initiatives to be fully successful.

Resources, Citizen Engagements and Democratic Local Governance: A Topic Guide

Thu, 01 Jan 2004 00:00:00 GMT

How can citizens become engaged in local budget policies? This guide from Logolink presents practical examples of local social activist engagement and suggests proposals for what can be done in the future. It argues that budgets are a political tool of government and have far-reaching consequences. They should be planned and implemented in ways that are inclusive, that facilitate political debate, transparency and meaningful participation, that ensure efficient implementation and allow governments to be accountable.

Do Poor People Benefit Less from Decentralisation?

Anirudh Krishna — Wed, 01 Jan 2003 00:00:00 GMT

What safeguards can help facilitate more equitable and participatory decentralisation? This study from Duke University examines the village councils in two states of northern India and finds that participation and influence within the councils do not depend on wealth and social status. However, education and information empower traditionally excluded groups to participate more often and effectively in the processes and benefits of local government. Policies that enable people to educate themselves, particularly about their rights and processes of local governments, should precede or accompany decentralisation.

Improving Transparency, Integrity, and Accountability in Water Supply and Sanitation: Action, Learning, Experiences

John Butterworth, Donald O'Leary, María González de Asís — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

What can individual professionals do to address corruption in the water and sanitation sector? Module 3 of this World Bank book outlines 'Tools for Addressing Corruption in the Water and Sanitation Sector', including how to select appropriate tools for different situations. It focuses on cases from Honduras and Nicaragua. Strategies to improve transparency in decision making, enhance accountability and improve the information available to citizens can help prevent corruption and its negative impacts on service delivery. Diagnosis is essential before planning any anti-corruption actions and actions must be monitored. Strategies must be adapted to each country.

Designing Inclusive and Accountable Local Democratic Institutions: A Practitioner's Guide

Henrik Fredborg Larsen — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

How can fair representation be promoted in societies that are deeply divided along ethnic, religious, caste and class bases? This study from the United Nations Development Programme looks at local democracy in Asia. It argues that evidence from the design of systems for representation and elections in divided societies suggests that an appropriately crafted framework can help nurture the accountability and commitment of political parties, while an inappropriate system can harm the process of democratisation. While focus is often on electoral systems, the choice between direct and indirect representation to higher tiers, the functioning of political parties and other elements usually have a stronger impact on the inclusiveness and accountability of the democratic institutions.

Violence, Power and Participation: Building Citizenship in Contexts of Chronic Violence

Jenny Pearce — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Can civil society organisations play a role in building citizenship and confronting violent actors and acts of violence? This Institute of Development Studies Working Paper argues that they can, and explores civil society participation in Colombia and Gutamela. Building citizenship in chronic violence contexts requires simultaneous attention to citizenship and to violence, and it is also important to clarify the relationship between power and violence.

Participatory Methodologies: Drivers for Change

Robert Chambers — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

How can the transformative potential of participatory methodologies be realised? This concluding chapter from the book 'Revolutions in Development Inquiry' argues that participatory methodologies can provide entry points for confronting and changing relationships and power. They are frontiers for enquiry and drivers for personal, institutional, professional and social transformations, but many obstacles impede their recognition, evolution and adoption. Priorities are to: foster methodological diversity; make time for critical reflection, unlearning and innovation; identify and multiply innovators and facilitators; and make small, flexible grants over longer periods.

Accountability and Voice for Service Delivery at the Local Level

The IDL Group — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

How can service providers and governments become more accountable to citizens? This background paper, published by UNDP and the IDL Group, examines the crucial role of accountability and voice (A&V) and methods for implementing A&V mechanisms. The issue is two-fold: bolstering the responsiveness of service providers and local government, while also enabling poor people to demand promised poverty reduction results. Capacity development should not proceed in an overly technocratic fashion, but should take account of the environment's complex political realities.

The Right to Be Heard: An Overview

Jo Rowlands — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

How can poor and marginalised people become powerful enough to break through the material, organisational, systemic, and psychological barriers and obstacles that prevent them from being heard? This paper from Oxfam argues that the right to be heard is about the right to be an active participant in political processes. It is ultimately about the development of societies that take seriously the active citizenship of all their citizens, not just the most privileged.

'Politics' in Who Answers to Women?

UNIFEM — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

What progress have states made toward increasing political accountability to women and how can that progress be accelerated? This book chapter from UNIFEM argues that increased political accountability to women comes not only from increasing their numbers amongst decision-makers; it must be linked to improved democratic governance overall. While accountability to women is now very much on the agenda of governments around the world, greater efforts are needed to ensure that women are engaged as equal participants in the inclusive, responsive, and accountable management of public affairs.

Who Answers to Women?

UNIFEM — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

How can accountability systems become more gender-responsive? This introductory chapter of a study from UNIFEM examines how women, including the most excluded women, are strengthening their capacity to identify accountability gaps and call for redress. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and other international commitments to women will only be met if gender-responsive accountability systems are put in place both nationally and internationally.

Governance, Taxation and Accountability: Issues and Practices

Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

How can taxation policy help to improve governance and accountability in developing countries? This paper from the OECD's DAC guidelines and reference series argues that taxation systems contribute significantly to shaping accountability relationships and strengthening state capacities. Further coordinated efforts from both developing countries and donors are needed to secure larger tax bases, better tax compliance, and comprehensive tax reform in order to improve state responsiveness and accountability. Donors should combine high-level international efforts with work to improve the enabling environment and with more direct support to organisational changes.