1. Social accountability: Lessons learned and next steps
UNICEF webinar
May 2, 2018
Prof. Jonathan Fox
Director, Accountability Research Center
American University School of International Service

2. What is social accountability?
Social accountability strategies try to improve institutional performance
by bolstering both:
Citizen engagement (voice) and
Public responsiveness of governments and corporations (teeth)
In practice, what does this mean?
May 2, 2018

3. SAcc is an evolving umbrella category
Citizen monitoring/oversight/feedback on public sector performance
User-centered public information access/dissemination
Public complaint & grievance redress mechanisms
Citizen participation in resource allocation decisions, such as participatory budgeting
May 2, 2018

4. What does the evidence of SAcc impact tell us?
Large int’l orgs begin promoting SAcc in 2002 (CARE’s CSC)
National initiatives came first (e.g., Mexico, Brazil)
2004 WDR on service delivery recognizes citizen voice
After many excellent literature reviews…
The evidence is mixed - now what?
Rethink the evidence to address the “what next?” question…
May 2, 2018

5. Low impact SAcc experiences show that…
Information provision is not enough
Light touch interventions rarely sustain collective action
Community-based monitoring often lacks bite
Induced participation in local development is vulnerable to elite capture
May 2, 2018

6. Rethink what the evals evaluate…
exper
Rethink what the evals evaluate…
SAcc includes two very distinct approaches:
Tactical
Strategic
May 2, 2018

7. Tactical SAcc approaches involve:
exper
Tactical SAcc approaches involve:
Bounded interventions
Citizen voice as the sole driver
Assumption that information provision alone will inspire collective action with sufficient power to influence public sector performance
Exclusive focus on local arenas
Therefore more straightforward to evaluate
May 2, 2018

8. Strategic SAcc approaches involve:
exper
Strategic SAcc approaches involve:
Multi-pronged: Multiple, coordinated tactics
Enabling environments for voice: To reduce perceived risks of collective action
Governmental reforms that bolster public sector responsiveness
Taking scale into account: Vertical integration of monitoring & advocacy, plus geographic & social inclusion
Realistic assessment measures: Because building accountability involves iterative, contested & therefore uneven processes
May 2, 2018

9. To follow up, links include:
exper
To follow up, links include:
On tactical vs strategic approaches: See 2015 open source article in World Development: “SAcc: What does the evidence really say?”
On multi-level strategies (“vertical integration”), see U4 Report “Doing Accountability Differently,” & IDS report “Scaling Accountability,” plus G-Watch reports from the Philippines
On lessons from civic tech experiments, see Peixoto & Fox, WDR Background Paper
On the political construction of “accountability keywords,” see recent TICTeC talk
May 2, 2018

10. Looking ahead, SAcc 2.0 questions include:
exper
Looking ahead, SAcc 2.0 questions include:
What kind of info is power?
User-centered design needed for perceived ‘actionability’
How to apply open government to SAcc?
Proactive disclosure w targeted transparency
What makes feedback loops really close?
Do GRMs have autonomy & capacity?
How to address the fear factor?
Legal empowerment? Meaningful protection from reprisals?
May 2, 2018

11. Summary
The “what works” question needs to distinguish between tactical & strategic approaches
Tactical approaches assume problems are local and information is power
Neither hold up
Strategic approaches work at multiple levels, scale up collective action & bolster state capacity to respond
Promising but hard to evaluate
May 2, 2018

12. Voice needs teeth to have bite…
Takeaway:
Voice needs teeth to have bite…
…. but teeth may not bite without voice
May 2, 2018

13. Comments welcome - thanks
Jonathan Fox
School of International Service
American University