Through our experience in Ethiopia, Myanmar, and Ukraine, we have developed a proven approach to strenghening social accountability mechanisms that lead to better service delivery. Social accountability enables citizens to hold service providers and local governments to account. By facilitating dialogue and feedback between service users and providers, we help create joint action plans to enhance service quality and accessibility.
Innovative tools and digital solutions
To support this process, we use tools such as Citizen’s Scorecards, Community Report Cards, and Participatory Budgeting. We have also digitized the social accountability process with mobile technology for data collection, Business Intelligence (BI) dashboards, and exchange platforms. These digital solutions make communication more efficient and promote transparency and responsiveness in service delivery.
The Ethiopia Social Accountability Programme (ESAP)
Our flagship project, the Ethiopia Social Accountability Programme (ESAP), has worked for over a decade to improve local service delivery in Ethiopia. ESAP defines social accountability as a means to build trust between civil society, citizen and the government in participative planning and budgeting of local service delivery. ESAP’s programmatic features are designed to produce supply-side and demand-side change, both independently and interactively.
Local institutions at the centre
ESAP builds on existing woreda-level* institutions and citizen representative organizations. These include woreda councils, local administrations, sector offices, the Financial Transparency and Accountability (FTA) program, traditional citizen forums, organizations representing minority groups, and other Community-Based Organizations (CBOs). Woreda Social Accountability Committees (WSACs) also constitute the backbone of the program. Currently, 410 WSACs with 5,086 members (of whom 1,803 are women) are active across the country.
A structured and collaborative process
The programme is built around the Social Accountability Cycle, which consists of five distinct but interrelated steps. These steps are intended to facilitate conscious, deliberate, and collaborative engagement between citizens and service providers, ultimately for improved service delivery.
*Woredas are the third-level administrative divisions in Ethiopia, following zones and regional states.