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Policy discussion of social accountability initiatives has increasingly focused on questions about their tangible development impacts. The empirical evidence is mixed. This meta-analysis rethinks some of the most influential evaluations through a new lens: the distinction between tactical and strategic approaches to the promotion of citizen voice t...
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Empirical evidence of tangible impacts of social accountability initiatives is mixed. This meta-analysis reinterprets evaluations through a new lens: the distinction between tactical and strategic approaches to the promotion of citizen voice to contribute to improved public sector performance. Field experiments study bounded, tactical interventions...
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... This framework takes into account both collaboration and conflict across the state-society dividein contrast to literatures that address one or the other. 7 This genre of enabling openings from above can be called "sandwich strategies" (Fox, 1992(Fox, , 2015. "Strategy" emphasizes the role of agency from within the state, in contrast to a model based purely on external pressure leading to government response. ...
... analysis of official efforts to induce participation, which concludes that successful community-led development at scale requires robust support from governmental accountability institutions (2013: 287). These distinctions underscore the relevance of strategic approaches to governance reform to enable citizen action, in contrast to the much less intensive, tactical interventions that are the main focus of field experiments (Fox 2015). ...
Policy reformers often make bold promises to improve government responsiveness to citizen demands. Yet such proclaimed openings from above often fall short, get diverted, or are blocked. This study uses the state-society synergy approach to analyze exceptional cases when reformers within the state managed to deliver openings for citizen action that tangibly empowered otherwise excluded or marginalized groups. What happens when these reform strategies are attempted? We used process tracing, combined with qualitative comparative analysis, to identify patterns across 19 cases in the global South where state actors created a more enabling environment for citizens’ collective action. The study compares the triggers and scope of enabling state actions, the breadth and intensity of collective action, roadblocks within the state, and whether or not these interactive processes led to substantive power shifts in favor of the excluded. We find that half of these openings led to shifts towards greater power for either citizens or reformist actors within public institutions, in spite of both structural obstacles and governmental roadblocks. Notably, power shifts occurred where reformers’ initiatives to enable collective action were themselves most intensive (often but not always backed by political change). Windows of opportunity were often open only briefly, until reformers lost power, and the pathways that led to power shifts combined collaborative and adversarial relationships. The power shifts identified were all incremental and uneven, and many were limited to subnational arenas. Though some later stalled or were partly rolled back, from the point of view of socially and politically excluded groups they represented tangible improvements in the balance of power. While tangible openings from above are rare and conventional theory would expect little institutional change, the state-society synergy framework shows how state actions to reduce the risks or costs of collective action can enable pathways to power shifts.
... 1 A re social accountability mechanisms, such as policy councils, effective tools for curbing corruption? Empirical evidence of tangible impacts of these initiatives is mixed and context-dependent (Fox, 2015;O'Meally, 2013). The public integrity is both a valuable common good to be achieved and a complex social problem to be solved. ...
Introduction
This article assesses the impact of social accountability, implemented through municipal public policy councils in the fields of health, education, and social assistance, on corruption.
Materials and methods
The study adopts a quasi-experimental research design within a robust causal inference framework. A set of estimation techniques, such as regression, propensity score matching, and instrumental variables, is employed to establish a counterfactual for analyzing a random sample of 1,223 municipalities independently audited between 2006 and 2015 as part of the Municipal Oversight Program of the Brazilian Office of the Comptroller General.
Findings
Statistically significant effects of social accountability, carried out through public policy councils, on corruption in Brazilian municipalities are observed. When these councils are operational and active, and effectively exercising their legally mandated roles, a statistically significant reduction in the occurrence of corruption cases is evident.
Discussion
Findings align with the international literature, emphasizing the positive impact of social accountability in the fight against corruption. The proposed theoretical model elucidates how operational public policy councils, through monitoring, regulation, consultation, and decision-making on local programs, play a key role in promoting social accountability while overcoming the ‘social fence dilemma,' bolstering the necessary collective action for public integrity. However, corruption is a complex problem that demands a multifaceted approach, and further research is required to delve into strategies for optimizing the performance of public policy councils. The study contributes to a more evidence-based design of democratic anticorruption policies.
Keywords
corruption; public policy councils; social accountability; public integrity; public governance
... They are not accountable for the environment, which is the centre of good governance, and are not environmentally responsible, thinking that environmental responsibility is a government duty, particularly the local authority (Requejo-Castro et al. 2017). The government has also the responsibility and ability to create and enforce environmental legislation (Fox 2015) to influence all other levels (individuals, communities, and industries) to control, treat, and reduce their effluent-causing environmental pollution. ...
... However, they did not undertake actions or measures to save the environment from pollution because of the absence of a well-established water pollution monitoring system (Alemayehu 2006;San et al. 2018). Governmental institutions lack strong leadership, commitment, and support at national and regional levels, and weak judicial accountability (Fox 2015) is a problem. Executive leader's knowledge of wastewater issues is needed to allocate required resources to the sector, and act as project champions and sponsors. ...
With the growing competition for water, demand for food, and the decline of freshwater resources, wastewater and polluted river waters have been increasingly used for agriculture in Ethiopia. The findings of this study show that untreated wastewater discharged from industries into the environment has been polluting rivers and the surrounding environment. Regulatory bodies did little to enforce rules, regulations, and directives provided for the regulation of wastewater. This paper examines the factors that explain weaknesses with respect to the accountability of institutions meant for wastewater governance. In doing so, it discusses task overlaps, corruption, and the absence of environmental courts that significantly affect environmental protection activities. The study found that due to poor implementation of laws and regulations, and lack of relevant information, including poor evidence of the pollution load, enforcement activities are under a great challenge. The paper concludes that urban agriculture has been expanding without concern for its negative health and socioeconomic impacts. The positive economic impacts of wastewater agriculture also need to be reassessed and improved as one livelihood option for the farming communities and calls for awareness creation and other measures to fully understand the existing benefits and impacts of wastewater on human health and the environment.
... The 'ultimate principals' are citizens, and they have two 'routes' for holding public servants to account (Meijer, 2014). First, they can exert pressure on public agencies and front-line service deliverers directly, which represents the short route (Meijer, 2014), also known as social accountability in development studies (Fox, 2015). Second, citizens can exercise pressure on elected officials (electoral/political accountability), which in turn hold implementers/public servants/bureaucrats to account (bureaucratic accountability). ...
... Second, citizens can exercise pressure on elected officials (electoral/political accountability), which in turn hold implementers/public servants/bureaucrats to account (bureaucratic accountability). This is known as the long route, or vertical accountability (Fox, 2015). Government transparency enables the public to access more and better information about what officials do. ...
... However, in high-corruption countries, these institutions do not function well (Ferry & Eckersley, 2015;Samaratunge & Alam, 2021). Yet, this is where transparency has most often been prescribed as a cure against corruption -often in the form of 'social accountability' or 'transparency and accountability initiatives' (SAIs/TAIs) (Fox, 2015;Gaventa & McGee, 2013;Kosack & Fung, 2014;Tsai et al., 2019). ...
Transparency is expected to reduce corruption by enabling the public to uncover it and thus hold officials accountable. This assumes citizens care about corruption and have mechanisms for enacting accountability. Yet, paradoxically, transparency has been prescribed as a cure against corruption precisely in contexts where such mechanisms are weak. This article integrates research from different disciplines to better understand when and how transparency reduces corruption. It finds that citizens do react to information about corruption even in countries with weak institutions and wide-spread corruption, especially if the information is widely shared, corruption is a salient issue, and there are some expectations of sanctions for malfeasance. Furthermore, even partial compliance with transparency policies can make a difference. More research should explore when and why bureaucrats comply with accountability pressures from above and below, how expectations about sanctions are formed and lead to ‘indignation rather than resignation,’ as well what the systemic effects of transparency policies are and how they evolve over time.
... Evidence regarding these assumptions remains limited. Faced with heterogeneous findings, which are often coming from small-scale qualitative research, the literature has turned to exploring the contextual elements that make the community governance of services effective [3][4][5][6][7][8]. Such endeavours have often remained theoretical or focused on macro-level features. ...
... There is, however, a strong difference between South Kivu and Burundi: a simple training intervention on rights and tools did make the HFC a more influential player at the HF and even affected management indicators. This brings nuance to some of the recent literature on social accountability, which stresses that information and basic training are not enough to provoke changes [6]. In the context of South Kivu, basic training was associated with a change in HF management and the overall balance of power at the HF. ...
... The findings bring nuance to the debates on community governance in healthcare and basic social services more generally. They confirm evidence on the limits [29] and the heterogeneous nature of bottom-up accountability mechanisms [6]. Our findings are slightly more optimistic than Humphreys et al.'s study of participatory development committees set up by international aid in Eastern DRC [60], whether this is due to looking at different sectors or different institutions-the HFCs are old institutions that pre-date committees set up by international aid as part of community-driven reconstruction initiatives-will need to be explored further. ...
Community governance, the direct (co-)management of public services by community members, is a popular approach to improve the quality of, and access to, healthcare services-including in so-called 'fragile' states. The effectiveness of such approach is, however, debated, and scholars and practitioners have emphasised the need to properly reflect on the contextual features that may influence social accountability interventions. We study a randomised intervention during which community-elected health facility committee members were trained on their roles and rights in the co-management of primary healthcare facilities. 328 publicly-funded health facilities of Burundi and Sud Kivu in DR Congo were followed over a period of one year. In Kivu, but not in Burundi, the intervention strengthened the position of the committee vis-à-vis the health facility nurses and affected the management of the facility. HFC members mostly focused on improving the elements most accessible to them: hiring staff and engaging in basic construction and maintenance work. Using survey data and interviews, we argue that part of the discrepancy in results between the two contexts can be explained by differences in health facilities' management (whether they primarily depend on a local church or more distant authorities) as well as different local histories of relationship to public service providers. The former affects the room available for change, while the latter affects the relevance of the citizens' committee as an acceptable way to interact with healthcare providers. No effect was found on the perceived quality of and access to services, and the committees, even when strengthened, appear disconnected from the citizens. The findings are an invitation to re-think the conditions under which bottom-up accountability mechanisms such as citizens committees can be effective in 'fragile' settings.
... Overall, both the qualitative and experimental literature paint a mixed picture of the impact of CDD on service delivery, governance, and social welfare (Cook and Kothari, 2001;Henkel and Stirrat, 2001;Reed, 2008;Mansuri and Rao, 2012;Joshi and Houtzager, 2012;Fox, 2015;Arkedis et al., 2021;Wong and Guggenheim, 2018;Olken, 2019). The literature on these interventions highlights the crucial factors of local conditions, how intervention designs can vary wildly, and how CDD works best when it is part of a broader strategy that includes reforms to governance, investments in productivity, and improvements in service delivery. ...
... Over time, the Mitanin program has developed a proactive strategy that enables Mitanins to undertake multi-issue advocacy beyond healthcare and enable sustained action on public accountability (Garg and Pande 2018). Many of the actions of Mitanins can be viewed as what Fox (2015) calls "strategic approaches" to accountability: multiple, coordinated tactics that simultaneously involve iterative cycles of monitoring and advocacy, covering broad geographic areas and social inclusion. ...
... The involvement of citizens in health policymaking has the potential to reshape the delivery of public services. Advocates of participatory processes hope that direct, ongoing engagement will lead to more effective use of public resources and also help public health officials to connect with hard-to-reach populations (Farmer et al. 2013;Mansuri and Rao 2013;Fox 2015;Wampler 2015). Since the 1978 Alma Ata Declaration, many public health officials have shifted toward preventive care and greater involvement of community members in the design and delivery of services (World Health Organization 1978). ...
This research note assesses participatory health governance practices for HIV and AIDS in Brazil. By extension, we also evaluate municipal democratic governance to public health outcomes. We draw from a unique dataset on municipal HIV/AIDS prevalence and participatory health governance from 2006–17 for all 5,570 Brazilian municipalities. We use negative binomial regression and coarsened exact matching with treatment effects to estimate the influence of community health governance institutions on HIV/AIDS prevalence. Municipalities with participatory health councils experience 14% lower HIV/AIDS prevalence than other municipalities, all else equal. Family Health Program coverage, municipal state capacity, and municipal per capita health spending are also associated with systematically lower HIV/AIDS prevalence. We conclude that participatory health governance may combat HIV and AIDS through municipal spending, education, and community mobilization. Municipal health councils can facilitate these strategies and offer opportunities for improving well-being around the world.
... For more discussion of the differences between tactical and strategic approaches to social accountability, seeFox (2015). For a contrast between the limits of a formally evaluated field experiment and a broader campaign strategy, seeBailey and Mujune (2021). ...
... The extensive ethnographic research literature on local health committees in India underscores the significance of power imbalances both within communities, and between communities and health service providers (see, for example,Madon andKrishna 2017, andScott et al. 2017a).6 Note that the CBMP's early intensive focus on building grassroots capacity contrasts with more widely studied social accountability efforts whose capacity-building inputs were limited to brief "light touch" visits by facilitators, and information-sharing meetings(Fox 2015).7 International donors used to promote 'constructive engagement' to describe government-civil society collaborations to promote social accountability(Fox 2022). ...
New Working Paper: social accountability in public health, Maharashtra, India.
The Community-Based Monitoring and Planning program (CBMP) was a large-scale, government-funded participatory health systems monitoring initiative. Implemented by SATHI PUNE, it nurtured civil society networks that re-invented themselves during Covid.
In the new paper, Abhay Shukla, Shweta Marathe, Deepali Yakkundi, Trupti Malti and Jonathan Fox discuss what stood out from this experience.
... Local governments must disclose "actionable" information to citizens to hold the government accountable (Fox, 2015). Institutionalization of discussion and debate spaces between citizens and local authorities can bring a positive impact on accountability as it promotes dialogue to be more constructive and collaborative (Schillemans et al., 2013), meaning that collective action from citizens to influence service providers can be taken through research groups, public opinion surveys, or recall petitions. ...
