The blame game goes on,the opposition never rests and we the people remain at the center of it all. But what we now need, is to widen our understanding of how a democracy can work better for all of us. Any governance crises express a full contradiction between the citizenship and the state. The entire sense of the relationship between the two parties is a result of power exercised by the state in the form of law,coercion and administration of public resources.
The smaller the extent to which citizen's feel represented and serviced by public institutions, the bigger the governance crisis.
Social accountability in particular bridges this gap and tries to resolve these crises by empowering the citizens. With better governance comes a better way of living for each individual. Once the citizens are empowered, they can adopt better governance by enriching the systems they adhere to each day. When these systems are efficient and approachable, we will know that we are only heading towards better lives.
What is Social Accountability and Why is it important?
In democratic states, the principal means by which citizens hold the state to account is Elections which however, have proved to be a weak and blunt instrument with which to hold government accountable. Social accountability is about affirming and operationalizing direct accountability relationships between citizens and the state.
Social Accountability refers to the broad range of actions and mechanisms beyond voting that citizens can use to hold the state to account, as well as actions on the part of government, civil society, media and other societal actors that promote or facilitate these efforts.
The 2004 World Development Report (World Dev Report) argues that the key to making services work for poor people is to strengthen relationships of accountability between policymakers, service providers and citizens.
According to the World Development Report 2004 framework , successful service delivery requires relationships in which citizens can have a strong voice in policy making with politicians and bureaucrats.The social accountability mechanisms described offer concrete examples of ways in which each of these accountability relationships can be operationalized. By enhancing citizen information and voice, introducing incentives for downward accountability and creating mechanisms for participatory monitoring and citizen-state dialogue and negotiation, social accountability mechanisms can make an important contribution to more informed policy design and improved public service delivery.
The main channel through which citizens are being empowered to demand accountability is through creation of, and access to, more information. So the idea is : more information means more empowerment, which in the context of greater participation means more voice, which means greater accountability.
The smaller the extent to which citizen's feel represented and serviced by public institutions, the bigger the governance crisis.
Social accountability in particular bridges this gap and tries to resolve these crises by empowering the citizens. With better governance comes a better way of living for each individual. Once the citizens are empowered, they can adopt better governance by enriching the systems they adhere to each day. When these systems are efficient and approachable, we will know that we are only heading towards better lives.
What is Social Accountability and Why is it important?
In democratic states, the principal means by which citizens hold the state to account is Elections which however, have proved to be a weak and blunt instrument with which to hold government accountable. Social accountability is about affirming and operationalizing direct accountability relationships between citizens and the state.
Social Accountability refers to the broad range of actions and mechanisms beyond voting that citizens can use to hold the state to account, as well as actions on the part of government, civil society, media and other societal actors that promote or facilitate these efforts.
The 2004 World Development Report (World Dev Report) argues that the key to making services work for poor people is to strengthen relationships of accountability between policymakers, service providers and citizens.
According to the World Development Report 2004 framework , successful service delivery requires relationships in which citizens can have a strong voice in policy making with politicians and bureaucrats.The social accountability mechanisms described offer concrete examples of ways in which each of these accountability relationships can be operationalized. By enhancing citizen information and voice, introducing incentives for downward accountability and creating mechanisms for participatory monitoring and citizen-state dialogue and negotiation, social accountability mechanisms can make an important contribution to more informed policy design and improved public service delivery.
The main channel through which citizens are being empowered to demand accountability is through creation of, and access to, more information. So the idea is : more information means more empowerment, which in the context of greater participation means more voice, which means greater accountability.
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