Capacity.org: Accountability relationships for development success

In this issue of Capacity.org the focus is on the question: what initiatives citizens can take to hold decision makers, service providers and development practitioners accountable to their commitment to reduce poverty? The articles in this issue deal primarily with two specific relationships: that between governments and their citizens; and that between national governments and the international donor community.

The feature article reviews the definitions and elements of accountability in order to ensure that we all have the same understanding of the term. The author, Thomas Theisohn, policy advisor for the UNDP and co-author of Ownership, Leadership and Transformation: Can we do Better for Capacity Development?, introduces the idea which this entire issue will support: that promoting accountability provides a fundamental contribution to capacity development.

Civil society advocacy
Holding those in power accountable is quite a challenge especially in societies characterised by authoritarian styles of governance. Many civil society organisations around the world have started monitoring and trying to influence government budget policies in order to ensure public spending accountability. Paolo de Renzio and Warren Krafchik review case studies in six countries. The study was undertaken by the International Budget Project, a US-based organisation which has expanded its independent budget advocacy work to developing countries around the world.

A specific example of a civil society organisation's success in ensuring government accountability is described by Samuel Paul and Gopakumar Thampi. In 1994, the Public Affairs Centre, an NGO in Bangalore, southern India, started generating information about the quality of the city's public services through citizen report cards. These reports are similar to the customer feedback reports that are common in the private sector. Confronted with very low ratings, service providers improved their performance. The Bangalore scorecard has become a model for many other users around the world.

Other initiatives, such as the Institute of Public Finance (IPF) in Croatia, focus on budget tracking in order to advocate for government financial accountability. In some countries, governments support budget advocacy organisations; they recognise the potential of such advocacy work in changing the way public institutions are run. In Tanzania, for example, the central government has endorsed an NGO's initiative to build capacity in public expenditure tracking and in monitoring government service delivery.

Finally, Craig A. Schwabe describes how the Affiliated Network for Social Accountability in Africa is seeking to pool knowledge and experiences in order to boost the effectiveness of civil society advocacy projects across the continent.

Mutual accountability
The other focus of this issue of Capacity.org is the concept of mutual accountability between countries receiving aid and the international donor community. For a specific example of how this mutual accountability can work, His Excellency Chhieng Yanara, Secretary-General of the Cambodian Rehabilitation and Development Board (CRDB) was interviewed to find out how the Cambodian government has tackled the process of promoting mutual accountability.

Guest columnist Alnoor Ebrahim highlights the fact that capacity training in developing countries cannot be successful if donors do not accept the fact that they are also accountable to the recipients of aid. Knowledge cannot be transferred; it has to be learned and applied. Donors are thus accountable to assisting this long-term process.

The authors of all these articles share the view that accountability is necessary for capacity development, and that effective rights and responsibility structures are what strengthen societies from within.

The magazine can be downloaded here: http://www.capacity.org/en/content/view/full/2
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