Social Accountability
in the
Context of Transition in Arab States
UNDP Regional Governance Week
Cairo, November 2012
Jeff Thindwa
World Bank Institute
Ways to Enhance Government Accountability?
1. Rules and Regulations –
administrative procedures,
audits,…
2. Market Principles –
privatization or contracting out
to private sector and NGOs
3. Independent Agencies –
ombudsman, vigilance
commissions,…
4. “Social Accountability”
Varying success
with these. What
key lesson is
success often
depends on direct
participation of the
people
Defining
Social Accountability
“an approach towards building accountability that
relies on civic engagement”
** ordinary citizens & CSOs participate in exacting accountability
Social Accountability and Other Accountability
Forms
HORIZONTAL
Within government/checks and balances
institutions
VERTICAL
Citizens and
other non-state
actors directly
seeking/enforcin
g accountability
of government
Organizing Framework for
SOCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY
Transparency
Participation
Collaboration
Openness,
accessibility of
government at all
levels.
Stakeholder
influence and
control. Ensures
ownership,
sustainability, risk
mitigation, public
support of
reforms
mechanisms for
answerability and
collaborative
action
Demystifying and
visualizing budget
data; Disclosure
mechanisms; Access to
Information;
stakeholder capacity
building for users
Support for nonexecutive
participation and
monitoring
- Parliaments
- Media
- CSOs
ACCOUNTABILITY
Joint solutions
Multi-stakeholder
coalitions
Collaborative
leadership teams
ANSA Arab world
Oversight by Non-State Actors: A Multi-Stakeholder Perspective
•Service Delivery
Monitoring Tools:
Citizen report card,
citizen score card,
social audit,
procurement &
contract monitoring
•Public Accounts Committees
(PACs)
•Oversee implementation to
guarantee proper budget
execution
Parliam
ents
Civil
Society
Multistakeholder
oversight
•Budget Oversight
•Public Hearing
•Social Audits to
oversees the
processes
Media
Think
Tanks
•Independent
Budget Analysis
Supreme
Audit
Institutions
•External audit & budget
oversight
Improve enabling environment for
citizen engagement in governance
and public decision-making
State
Politicians /
Policymakers
Independent
Accountability
Agencies
Increase capacity of state to
respond to public needs and
effective oversight and
redress
Citizens/Clients
Formal and Informal
Social
Intermediaries
Improve capability
of citizens to engage
in governance
Providers/Agencies
Client Power
Enhance capacity of social
intermediaries to provide effective
participation and oversight (to
inform, monitor, and improve
service provision)
Willingness & Capacity to Demand
(political, socio-cultural, legal, and economic factors)
Willingness & Capacity to Respond and Account
(political, socio-cultural, legal, and economic factors)
Focus on citizen engagement in accountability
relationships
7
Citizen Engagement in Public Financial Management
Budget Formulation
Participatory Budgeting
Porto Alegre, Brazil
Performance
Monitoring
Zambia service delivery
monitoring
Nepal Social Audits
Philippines CheckMySchool
Procurement Monitoring
Citizen
Engagement
Budget Review &
Analysis
DISHA, India
IDASA, S. Africa
Budget/Expenditure
Tracking (Including Public
Procurement)
Uganda PETS ( Education and
Health Sectors) – Philippines
Procurement Watch
8
2.
Framework & Measurement: Examples
The Power of Transparency and Monitoring:
Primary Education in Uganda
US$ per
Student
3.5
3.0
2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
1990
1991
1993
Intended Grant Amount
1994
1995
Received by School (mean)
1999
How Social Accountability Works
Legal Framework
Bridging
mechanisms
• Negotiation: Effective
•Transparency and
Disclosure: pro-actively
disclose and disseminate
information to citizens /
Maximize citizen access
to publicly held
information (ATI laws)
Information
Government
Civil Society
Political
conditions
engagement to create
avenues for negotiating and
for channeling citizen
feedback to government
(dialogues and
consultations on
procurement reform along
with mechanisms for
resolving disagreements).
Technology
• Monitor: monitoring and
oversight of the public sector
through mixed methods (social
audits; procurement
monitoring, independent
budget and policy analysis
• Information from this will
inform stakeholder demand –
and the cycle continues.
• Response: Actions
Government
Society
Voice
Strengthened Capacity of
Government and Civil Society
for SA
to respond specifically
to expressed demand
(procurement
monitoring reports);
incentives to public
officials linked to how
they respond.
Framework for WBG support for Social Accountability in MENA
Strategic Level
Social Accountability
mainstreamed into Country
Strategies (Tunisia, Yemen, Egypt)
Scope of SA interventions and
outcomes in strategies
Political economy analysis
Capacity-building
Better understanding of SA by civil society,
governments, media and the private sector
is enhanced (Morocco, Jordan,Lebanon,
Tunisia
Operational Level
Mainstreaming Social
accountability into Bank
operations (Tunisia, Morocco,
Egypt, Lebanon etc)
Access to Information:
ANSA-Arab World as a network of
SA practitioners in MNA
Use budget transparency, third party
monitoring, grievance redress
mechanisms, ICT, etc in operations
Organize SA Clinics to support Task
Teams and help mainstream SA across
operations
CIVIL SOCIETY AND SOCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY
Stakeholder Consultations in programs, projects and AAA with two-way
communication mechanisms
Regional Network of Social Accountability Practitioners – ANSA-Arab
World (Affiliated Network for Social Accountability)
STAKEHOLDERS: CSOs,
government, media, private
sector
7 COUNTRIES: Egypt, Yemen, Tunisia, Jordan,
Morocco, Lebanon,
West Bank & Gaza
Platform for  Awareness raising, Capacity Building and Networking
Objectives expected/Outcomes
4 Strategic Pillars : Access to information, freedom of associations, budget
transparency and participatory M&E of service delivery




Officially launched network (March 2012)
7 SA Country Profiles
ATI CoP – Jordan, Lebanon, Tunisia and Morocco
Baseline survey
•Information is the oxygen of accountability. It is at the center of government accountability, and without it the fou
•One of the most important contributions to improving governance in this region as it makes slow but steady trans
ACCESS TO INFORMATION
ATI is central to government accountability,
Key priority in MENA is supporting governments with adoption
and implementation of ATI legislation, and with disclosure
laws/policies/practices
Key priority for ANSA Arab World
ANSA and World Bank Institute: support for ATO coalitions in
Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia , working for adoption
and effective implementation of ATI reforms, supported by
country action plans
Partnerships with UNESCO and Open Society
Open Government Partnership:P Potential to expand access to
informaton and citizen engagement in the context of the Open
Government Partnership – ongoing Knowledge exchanges
generated demand in current member countries (AFR and LCR)
and other countries interested in joining OGP (Morocco,
Tunisia)
Lessons about Social Accountability from other Countries in
Transition: the Philippines, Indonesia, and Turkey
– Active citizen engagement requires
enabling conditions: access to
information; freedoms of association,
assembly
– Government outreach to civil society is
critical to building trust
– Proactive disclosure of information by
the government about its plans during
transitions helps manage expectations
of citizens
– Important to invest in improving service
delivery through partnership with civil
society and service users
– Engaging with a broader range of
stakeholders during transitions
increases the legitimacy of the new
government and increases
sustainability of reforms
Lessons
Philippines: From People Power revolution - to pro-accountability citizen
engagement – e.g. in public finance management, public procurement,
education.
Indonesia: New legislation on freedom of association , expression created
enabling conditions for citizen-based accountability e.g. community-driven
development, natural resource management, education, local government.
Turkey: Despite difficult transition and setbacks, broadly progressive reforms
created a better environment for civil society and guarantees of civil and
political rights.
Some MNA examples
Morocco: Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation for Education Service
Improvement initiative has coalition of parent associations and school
staff, to share knowledge and establish partnerships with local community
leaders. Resulted in improved student reading and comprehension skills,
enrolment , retention, and community maintenance of public schools.
Egypt: Community score card (CSC) pilot is supporting the Ministry of Education’s
National Strategic Plan; has citizens monitoring school performance to increase
accountability of school management for academic learning.
Tunisia: Social and Economic Recovery Program promotes participatory monitoring of
health, education, and social assistance services, and to strengthen legal framework
for civil society participation; promotes transparency and independent monitoring by
facilitating access to data.
Yemen: Water User Associations (WUAs) use community-based water management as
channel for response to community priorities and citizen participation in decision
making. The Social Accountability for Service Improvement initiative uses this
mechanism to improve the performance of the Sana'a water utility.
Lessons from MENA
• Active citizen participation in public affairs requires an enabling environment.
• Government outreach to civil society is critical to building confidence and trust.
• Supply- and demand-side approaches can work in a complementary way.
• Reform = long process based on credibility & effectiveness of formal/informal institutions.
• Invest in improving service delivery through partnership with civil society and citizens.
• Bottom-up processes through decentralization & CDD enable citizen participation,
empowerment & improvement of services.
• Proactive disclosure by government of information about its plans during transitions helps
manage expectations of citizens.
• Engaging with a broader range of stakeholders during transitions increases the legitimacy
of the new government and increases sustainability of reforms.
• Effective, efficient and responsive delivery of basic social services through government
can help rebuild and restore stability in the country.
Thanks!
Jeff Thindwa
jthindwa@worldbank.org
World Bank Institute