No one would argue that ensuring social accountability approaches are inclusive is critical. Many of us are familiar with examples that illustrate the opposite, such as the community forum where only men speak up (or even attend), or the online feedback tool that is accessible only to those with regular access to the internet. We are colleagues from four organisations that facilitate a range of social accountability interventions – Accountability Lab, Armavir Development Centre, Integrity Action, and Restless Development – …
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On our way towards #ACTing4Delivery (Part 6) Our initial efforts to focus on practice as a way to address blind spots in research and evaluation have produced a good initial agenda, lots of questions to ponder with a wonderful, diverse group. What are the next steps for our emerging group? Connect existing practice and practitioners: We are finding that there is lots of relevant practice already going on, so we need to pull that together and see what patterns/lessons …
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Social accountability’s future has to climb a steep hill. It has to figure out how to transition from ‘going alone’ to ‘being embedded in cross-sector change making. The sectoral agendas already have good entry points for social accountability. Practitioners working in the middle do not always need to put participation on the agenda. It is often already accepted (particularly in sectors like healthcare). They start from a different place – what role can social accountability play and what capacity can …
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The 2030 Agenda recognizes that the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can only be successful with strong global partnerships and cooperation. Civil society organizations (CSOs), due to their direct connection with poor, vulnerable and marginalized communities, are recognized as key partners in the successful implementation and monitoring of the SDGs. In the face of this increasingly urgent agenda, the Task Team on CSO Development Effectiveness and Enabling Environment commissioned a research study with the following research question: “What …
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Shortly after the WHO declared Covid19 a global pandemic, community leaders in Bangladesh realized the need to organize to limit its spread and ensure social protection for the most vulnerable. They began enrolling volunteers to form Village Development Teams for taking action, including sewing masks, making hand sanitizers and distributing flyers with information about COVID-19. Where government-supported safety net programs exist, these local leaders ensure that the aid reaches the right people. Similarly, in India, during the first five days …
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Social accountability is about relationships. Many of the stories about doing social accountability in the “middle” route focused on building, nurturing and sustaining relationships with different stakeholders. Innovative evaluations in the field are starting to point to the significance of these relationships to mobilize voluntary citizens, catalyze collective action, mobilize resources for solving problems (here) and strengthen delivery systems (here, here). Even studies with null findings are pointing towards the importance of nurturing semi-institutionalized trust and new relationships, step by …
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This blog post is being cross-published by World Vision. Billions are now being distributed to citizens by governments1 to stave off rising poverty from COVID-19. The unprecedented pandemic demands an unprecedented government response. More than 126 countries have already introduced or adapted social protection or labour policies to assist those in need. The World Bank, which has played a key role in building infant social protection systems in many developing countries, has urged countries, including Bangladesh, to increase safety nets …
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Final evaluation The present evaluation report, carried out in the last year of the project implementation, presents the main outcomes and the impact of the social accountability tools in the beneficiary schools. At the same time, the evaluation analyzed the extent to which the results of the “My School” project validate the theory of change promoted by the Global Partnership for Social Accountability and its adaptation to the context of education and governance in the Republic of Moldova. “My School” …
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This blog post series is an invitation to consider how we might get unstuck. We need new narratives of social accountability for service delivery. In a previous blog post I explained why many colleagues seem frustrated with current frameworks that fail to tell what we collectively are doing to lever participation for service delivery, i.e. the everyday politics of accountability. As a consequence, much about what we do is left un-said. We need to make this practice glamorous like never …
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Many in the social accountability practice feel stuck in the middle of debates that do not reflect the way they go about their efforts. In a recent event, a diverse group of colleagues discussed why we do not talk about what we do. Here are additional insights from the conversation. The spotlight is on some of the enabling factors that could help us to move forward: collective narratives, a new shared language, meaningful indicators, realistic benchmarks, and as importantly, spaces …
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