The WaterAid paper Water utilities that work for poor people - increasing viability through pro-poor service delivery¹ discussed the need for specific pro-poor measures to ensure water service provision to poor urban populations. This paper follows from that discussion to outline the principles behind, and the application of, social accountability mechanisms as a means to increase the downward accountability and responsiveness of water utilities to poor people. An examination of the provision of sanitation services is beyond the scope of this paper.

Given the proven importance of pro-poor measures for urban water service delivery and viability, the question arises as to why such measures are not undertaken by utilities as normal practice. Although financial constraints matter, they do not constitute the only barrier. WaterAid’s report Bridging the gap - Citizens’ Action for accountability in water and sanitation² argues that the missing ingredient needed in order to reach poor people is accountability to the people, which necessitates the meaningful involvement of users in the planning, delivery and monitoring of water services. This increases the chances of delivering reliable, sustainable and affordable water services to more urban inhabitants.³

The engagement of users in utility reforms and ongoing service improvement processes is crucial, since reforms to improve efficiency (inevitably the main driver for reforms) do not “necessarily translate into geographical equity or a commitment to serve the poor… without incentives, a clear mandate to serve the poor or a ‘champion’, companies chase markets that are ‘easy’, offer the highest returns and do not require subsidies”.⁴ However, user engagement is far from simple and its outcomes far from predictable.

This paper is structured as follows: Section 2 outlines the conceptual framework around accountability; Section 3 discusses the concept of social accountability, followed by an examination of the principles that underlie social accountability mechanisms and tools used by service providers and users to improve the efficiency and pro-poor targeting of reforms. Section 4 provides conclusions. The paper is the third of a set of three WaterAid discussion papers on how to improve urban water and sanitation services for poor people. It was written as part of the preparation for a workshop for training of trainers on civil society participation in urban water reform, organised by WaterAid in Nepal in July 2009. The paper draws on a variety of literature, as well as a series of key-informant interviews.

1. WaterAid 2010
2. WaterAid 2006
3. WB 2009
4. Castro and Morel 2008 p291