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Generating genuine demand with social accountability mechanisms
November 2007
World Bank
The World Bank’s Communication for Governance and Accountability Program (CommGAP) held a workshop entitled Generating Genuine Demand with Social Accountability Mechanisms in Paris, France, in November 2007.
Workshop participants included practitioners from around the world who have used these tools in their own as well as other countries; leading scholars and researchers in the fields of communication, political science, social development, social marketing, media development, and governance; and representatives from developing country governments and donor organizations.1
The workshop explored the following broad questions:
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How can we use social accountability (SA) mechanisms more effectively and selectively to ensure greater impact and generate genuine demand?
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What is needed (at both the policy and practice levels) to help ensure that SA tools create the behavior change they intend (change the behavior of public authorities or agencies in some positive way)?
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What can the fields of communication and the allied social sciences (including research into social movements and other forms of collective action) teach us?
The workshop was organized around the following five process stages of SA mechanisms:
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Analyzing the public sphere/political context
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Features of political context that affect the feasibility and efficiency of SA mechanisms, such as the degree of media freedom, and freedom of speech, information, and assembly.
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Gaining official support in using SA tools
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Approaches and techniques that have proven successful in gaining permission of public officials to allow the SA mechanism to be introduced.
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Building Citizen Competence (informed citizenry)
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How to meet citizens’ information needs (including those who are marginalized, remote, and illiterate), so that SA tools can work effectively.
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Mobilizing public will and inspiring citizen activism (engaged citizenry)
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Approaches and techniques for overcoming obstacles to engagement, such as cynicism, despair, lack of perceived self-efficacy.
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Achieving behavior change in public officials through mobilized public opinion
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Approaches and techniques used to mobilize public opinion in order to ensure the preceding stages result in behavior change of public officials and thereby lead to more accountable government.
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During the workshop, competing and converging conceptions of SA were discussed, ranging from instances when non-governmental actors hold governments accountable when internal systems of
accountability fail in specific areas of service delivery and with specific SA tools, to the idea that governments should be compelled to be responsive to the public’s needs and preferences and that the
potency of civic engagement is often neutered through technocratic initiatives. Within this wide definitional spectrum, participants were tasked to present evidence of good practice and applied research, and deliberate on key topics that contribute to the success or failure of SA initiatives.
The workshop concluded with a final session that addressed the following questions: What next steps will move the work forward? What constitutes good practice? How can we use SA tools better to bridge supply- and demand-side accountability interventions?
This report is organized in five sections corresponding to the five process stages around which the workshop was organized. Each section of this report has the following components: a summary of panel presentations and plenary discussion, a digest of each presentation, and descriptions of approaches and techniques pertaining to each session.
Approaches and techniques were drawn from panelist papers, presentations, and discussions. For the purpose of this report, approaches and techniques are defined as follows:
Approach - A general way of addressing an issue or problem
Technique - A particular method of accomplishing a desired objective
The final section of this report includes recommendations and action steps based on main ideas distilled from each discussion topic.
Footnote:
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This learning event is the basis for a formal publication with several participants contributing case studies and reflections. In addition to this report, knowledge gaps will be identified that can be filled through further research conducted by CommGAP. Participants will continue to help to shape this research agenda.
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