Affiliated Network for Social Accountability (ANSA-Africa)

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Figuring Out Accountability: Selected uses of official statistics by civil society to improve public sector performance
June 2007

Q-squared, Centre For International Studies, University Of Toronto

Executive Summary

The aim of this paper is to explore by means of selected case-studies how official statistics have been used by civil society organizations to hold public agencies accountable for service delivery or for the effective use of public resources. It does not claim to be a comprehensive study of the use by CSOs of official statistics to monitor public sector performance.

The report has three distinguishing features: (i) the focus is on recent initiatives and what can be learnt from them; (ii) an accountability matrix is developed to provide a framework for presenting the case-studies, and (iii) several case-studies were selected as pairs with a common theme which allows the experiences of each member of the pair to be compared and contrasted.

The methodological contributions of the paper are (i) to distinguish between bottom-up and top-down forms of vertical accountability in the public sector, and between three types of societal accountability; (ii) to classify CSOs according to the depth of their statistical analysis and the level of spatial aggregation at which they operate, and (iii) to summarise and integrate all these analytical elements into a single accountability matrix.

The material reviewed in this report suggests several lessons regarding the use of official statistics by CSOs for accountability purposes. Where national or local governments are committed to increasing the accountability of the public sector to citizens, it may be necessary to create new institutions and/or pass new legislation in order to raise the demand for data. Without the establishment of parents’ councils in Parana, it is unlikely that the information generated by the school report cards would have fed into the policy process at local and state level. The passage of the Promotion of Access to Information Act in South Africa has prompted a large increase in demand for data by civil society.

The use of official statistics by civil society organisations does not need to involve sophisticated analysis, nor require complex technology, in order to increase the accountability of those using public resources. PETS in Uganda and social audits in India have had a large impact on government performance merely by comparing publicly two sets of figures.

Where citizens are offered a choice in service delivery, this stimulates demand for regular, accurate, timely, relevant and credible statistics on outcomes. The introduction of a national system of education vouchers in Chile has led to a sustained demand for test score data by households across the income distribution.

In several instances, CSOs have added significant ‘accountability value’ to official statistics by combining these data with quantitative and/or qualitative information they have collected themselves. BCV complements its analysis of local authority statistics with the results of its annual opinion poll of citizens. WaterAid developed the EDI using Population Census data, GPS information and the results of its own improved community water point survey. The Colombian chapter of Transparency International developed its Public Institutions Integrity Index by combining official data which public agencies are obliged to provide, with its own information on how well these agencies meet the standards set by the law. Therefore, it is useful if those charged with the collection of official statistics are informed about the methodologies of data gathering by CSOs, and vice-versa. It is important that both sides maintain a positive dialogue in order to exploit opportunities for synergy.

Developing an information system with official statistics and providing a supporting institutional environment to promote dialogue between citizen-users and government-producers of data is not the exclusive preserve of non-profit organisations in civil society. The BCV example demonstrates that a media company which invests in a project to promote societal accountability at the city level may find that it is also good for its newspaper and TV businesses.

The BCV case also demonstrates how an increase in the demand for official statistics at the local level can improve the quality of data. As the number of users rose, so more and more questions were raised about the methodology and sources of the data. This revealed the strengths and weaknesses of particular series, encouraged more dialogue between producers and consumers of data, and led to improvements in data quality over time.

Some innovations in the use of official data, such as the public expenditure tracking surveys (PETS) in Uganda, the social audits pioneered by MKSS in India, and the pilot schemes of the Tanzania Essential Health Interventions Project (TEHIP) have a quick pay-off. Other initiatives, particularly those requiring significant behavioural changes by stakeholders, may take longer to have an impact on welfare outcomes. Therefore, it is important that such initiatives be sustained long enough for a proper evaluation to be conducted. School record cards in Paraná were discontinued before their long-run effects on learning outcomes could be observed.

If central government launches an initiative which requires local authorities to master data management skills to meet the demands of civil society, then it is important that local governments receive technical and financial support from central government to acquire and practice these skills. This is illustrated by the experience of the BEPER project in Turkey.

In principle, the introduction of client service charters in Tanzania is a positive development because CSCs set transparent standards of service delivery which provide the basis for holding public agencies to account. In practice, there is no evidence to date that the charters have improved public sector performance, as measured by the timeliness of service delivery. Three conditions are necessary for CSCs to have a greater impact: (i) information about the charters needs to be more widely disseminated in the local language(s); (ii) citizens and CSOs need to use the charters more vigorously; and (iii) politicians and public officials must be made more responsive to any failures to meet charter standards.