Social Accountability in the

Context of Transition in Arab States

UNDP Regional Governance WeekCairo, November 2012

Jeff ThindwaWorld 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

** ordinary citizens & CSOs participate in exacting accountability

Social Accountability

“an approach towards building accountability that relies on civic engagement”

Social Accountability and Other Accountability Forms

VERTICALCitizens and

other non-state actors directly

seeking/enforcing accountability of government

DIAGONAL

Citize

ns dire

ctly

enga

ged in

horizont

al

acco

untab

ility

institu

tions

HORIZONTALWithin government/checks and balances

institutions

TransparencyOpenness, accessibility of government at all levels.

ParticipationStakeholder influence and control. Ensures ownership, sustainability, risk mitigation, public support of reforms

Collaboration mechanisms for answerability and collaborative action

Demystifying and visualizing budget data; Disclosure mechanisms; Access to Information; stakeholder capacity building for users

Support for non-executive participation and monitoring - Parliaments- Media- CSOs

Joint solutionsMulti-stakeholder coalitionsCollaborative leadership teamsANSA Arab world

Organizing Framework for SOCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY

ACCOUNTABILITY

Parliaments

Think Tanks

Supreme Audit

InstitutionsMedia

Civil Society

Oversight by Non-State Actors: A Multi-Stakeholder Perspective

Multi-stakeholder oversight

•Public Accounts Committees (PACs)•Oversee implementation to guarantee proper budget execution

•Independent Budget Analysis

•External audit & budget oversight

•Budget Oversight•Public Hearing•Social Audits to oversees the processes

•Service Delivery Monitoring Tools: Citizen report card, citizen score card, social audit, procurement & contract monitoring

Independent Accountability

Agencies

Politicians / Policymakers

State

Providers/AgenciesFormal and Informal Social

Intermediaries

Citizens/Clients

Voice

Focus on citizen engagement in accountability relationships

7

Improve capability of citizens to engage in governance

Enhance capacity of social intermediaries to provide effective participation and oversight (to inform, monitor, and improve service provision)

Improve enabling environment for citizen engagement in governance and public decision-making

Will

ingn

ess &

Cap

acity

to R

espo

nd a

nd A

ccou

nt

(pol

itica

l, so

cio-

cultu

ral,

lega

l, an

d ec

onom

ic fa

ctor

s)

Willingness & Capacity to Demand (political, socio-cultural, legal, and economic factors)

Increase capacity of state to respond to public needs and effective oversight and redress

Compact

Client Power

8

Citizen Engagement in Public Financial Management

Citizen Engagement

Budget FormulationParticipatory Budgeting

Porto Alegre, Brazil

Performance MonitoringZambia service delivery monitoringNepal Social AuditsPhilippines CheckMySchool Procurement Monitoring

Budget/Expenditure Tracking (Including Public

Procurement)Uganda PETS ( Education and Health Sectors) – Philippines

Procurement Watch

Budget Review & Analysis

DISHA, IndiaIDASA, S. Africa

The Power of Transparency and Monitoring: Primary Education in Uganda

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

1990 1991 1993 1994 1995

US$ per Student

Intended Grant Amount Received by School (mean)

1999

2. Framework & Measurement: Examples

• Transparency and Disclosure: pro-actively disclose and disseminate information to citizens / Maximize citizen access to publicly held information (ATI laws)

• Negotiation: Effective 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).

Government Civil Society

SocietyGovernment

Technology

Strengthened Capacity of Government and Civil Society

for SA

Legal Framework

Political conditions

Information

Voice

• 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 to respond specifically to expressed demand (procurement monitoring reports); incentives to public officials linked to how they respond.

Bridgingmechanisms

How Social Accountability Works

Strategic LevelSocial Accountability mainstreamed into Country Strategies (Tunisia, Yemen, Egypt)

Political economy analysis

Scope of SA interventions and outcomes in strategies

Framework for WBG support for Social Accountability in MENA

Capacity-buildingBetter understanding of SA by civil society, governments, media and the private sector is enhanced (Morocco, Jordan,Lebanon, Tunisia

ANSA-Arab World as a network of SA practitioners in MNA

Operational LevelMainstreaming Social accountability into Bank operations (Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, Lebanon etc)

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

Access to Information:

CIVIL SOCIETY AND SOCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY

Stakeholder Consultations in programs, projects and AAA with two-way communication mechanisms

STAKEHOLDERS: CSOs, government, media, private

sector

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

Regional Network of Social Accountability Practitioners – ANSA-Arab World (Affiliated Network for Social Accountability)

7 COUNTRIES: Egypt, Yemen, Tunisia, Jordan, Morocco, Lebanon, West Bank & Gaza

Platform for Awareness raising, Capacity Building and Networking

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 exchangesgenerated demand in current member countries (AFR and LCR) and other countries interested in joining OGP (Morocco, Tunisia)

•Information is the oxygen of accountability. It is at the center of government accountability, and without it the foundations for citizen driven accountability are completely undermined. •One of the most important contributions to improving governance in this region as it makes slow but steady transition is therefore to support transparency and disclosure efforts including adoption of ATI legislation.

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 examplesMorocco: Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation for Education ServiceImprovement initiative has coalition of parent associations and schoolstaff, to share knowledge and establish partnerships with local communityleaders. 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’sNational 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 ofhealth, education, and social assistance services, and to strengthen legal frameworkfor civil society participation; promotes transparency and independent monitoring byfacilitating access to data. Yemen: Water User Associations (WUAs) use community-based water management aschannel for response to community priorities and citizen participation in decisionmaking. The Social Accountability for Service Improvement initiative uses thismechanism 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.orgWorld Bank Institute