Understanding Incentives within Social Accountability Endeavour Asia Governance Learning Event – CARE International 12 June 2013, Kathmandu Naimur Rahman Chief Operating Officer ANSA-South Asia Region

ANSA aims to create networked synergies among actors and institutions engaged in social accountability and demand-side governance – To incubate, promote & sustain new ideas and approaches – To connect practitioners and researchers for knowledge co-creation and peer- learning Affiliated Network for Social Accountability (ANSA) Towards accomplishing this mandate, ANSA - South Asia Region (ANSA-SAR) supported Social Accountability innovations through small grants in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan to pilot & experiment diverge approaches of citizens’ demanding good governance Experiential learning from these processes and praxis were analyzed and documented to deepen knowledge on social accountability in South Asian context.

What is Social Accountability Social Accountability Should not be looked just as an instrument to increase service delivery efficiencies, but an instrument to reshape power relations

Importance of Context I.Serving as Enabler Values, norms and social institutions that support or inhibit open pluralistic debate The type of political system and how much political freedom is granted Legal, regulatory and policy framework for civic engagement II. Intent and capacity of citizen and Civil Society Actors Coalition building and social mobilization Advocacy and negotiations Context responsive application of tools for citizen-state interactions Economic basis and financial viability of sustained civic engagement III.Capacity and willingness of Government State – Society relations Transparency and information disclosure protocol Culture of listening and constructive engagement

Drivers of Social Accountability Processes Social Accountability Approaches Addressing Deficits of Information Participation Voice & Influence Citizens Public Institutions & Service Providers Government & Policy Makers So what are the Incentives for power-holders to encourage Accountability?

Disclosure of Public Information Dissemination Demystificatio n Access to Information Coalition Building Counting & Measurement Constructive Engagement Collective Action Citizens’ Action Pillars of Social Accountability Processes

Theory of Social Accountability Change If pro-accountability and pro-poor citizens’ networks in society are adequately informed, resourced, and build coalitions for rounds of state-society interactions and collective action If these coalitions are able to: (1) generate sufficient countervailing power to change governing elite incentives; and (2) negotiate changes with anti-change actors to activate legitimate accountability mechanisms then, this might result in: (1) incremental gain in accountability relations and plausibly improvements in developmental outcome; or (2) more fundamental change leading to the formation of a new political settlement or social contract.

Incentivizing Social Accountability induced Change Build coalition of pro-accountability stakeholders – Facilitate collective action through dialogue/information-sharing campaigns and network-building activities across relevant actors – Social Accountability should be seen as shaping, and being shaped by, a locally- defined social contract Work across the supply/demand divide to facilitate effective collective action on locally- defined accountability issues. Complement these with efforts to strengthen institutional capacity at grassroots for fostering / responding to SAcc. ….governance challenges are not fundamentally about one set of people getting another set of people to behave better. They are fundamentally about both sets of people finding ways to act collectively in their own best interests. Word of Caution Citizens’ coalitions take time to emerge and become embedded; and there is a risk of this being captured / co-opted by societal elites. Coalition agenda might get influenced by anti-reformist forces within society

Incentivizing Social Accountability induced Changes Think politically in designing and implementing Social Accountability – devise SAc activities in a way that is linked with political processes. – Analyze the context and underlying politics before designing identified accountability approach / programme.. Take a multipronged approach Different aspects of accountability—information, answerability, and enforcement—are most often needed together to drive change. Recognise disincentives for the poorest to engage in SAc – the absence of immediate economic gains and/or further risk to survival strategies may discourage their longer- term participation. Words of caution There is no magic bullet solutions exist, but political strategizing can meaningfully complement a more technical approach to SAc initiative Political dynamics can play themselves out in complex and sometimes unpredictable ways.