reflections on social accountability in south asia
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Reflections on Social Accountability in South Asia Asia Governance Learning Event – CARE International 12 June 2013, Kathmandu Naimur Rahman Chief Operating Officer ANSA -South Asia Region. ANSA – South Asia Region (ANSA-SAR). - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Reflections on Social Accountability in South AsiaAsia Governance Learning Event – CARE International
12 June 2013, Kathmandu
Naimur RahmanChief Operating Officer
ANSA-South Asia Region
ANSA – South Asia Region (ANSA-SAR)• ANSA - South Asia Region (ANSA-SAR) was launched in 2009 with a three
year seed funding from World Bank Institute. Positioned as connector to build bridges between scattered social accountability
practitioners & knowledge sources in South Asia incubator of new ideas and approaches – to help co-create innovation;
and develop new process and mechanisms for accountability
• Supported Social Accountability innovations through small grants in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Pakistan to pilot & experiment diverge social accountability approaches
• Helped deepen knowledge on social accountability processes and praxis by harvesting experiential learning, building capacity of practitioners and mainstreaming
• Engaging a broader membership at the regional level through thematic Communities of Practice (CoPs)
A Timeline of ANSA SAR Engagement
2009-2010Piloting Social Accountability InitiativesFocused on supporting Social Accountability innovations through small grants
2011 – 12Harvesting Lessons, Mainstreaming & Scaling UpEmphasized scaling up pilot projects and engaging a broader membership at the regional level through thematic Communities of Practice (CoPs).
2013 Deepening Country-Level WorkComplementing pilot experiences, the focus is on entry points for deepening engagement at the country level while continuing to leverage regional knowledge sharing role.
Social Accountability – Examples from South Asia• Raising Community Voices to seek their entitlements
under MGNREGA – Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh• Enabling Community Monitoring of Rural Roads (PMGSY)
– Orissa, India• People’s Initiative for Accountability and Transparency in
Health and Education – Dewas, Madhya Pradesh• Community Score Card in Primary Education and Social
Safety-net Project – Bangladesh • Mobile based Citizens’ Feedback on public service
delivery and social sector programmes – Bangladesh• Role of Governance against Climate Change Induced
Migration – Bangladesh• People and the Land: Empowering Communities for
Social Justice in Rural Karachi – Pakistan • Reports from The Other India - Social Accountability
through Media Oversight
Uttar Pradesh: Empowering rural people for seeking their entitlements under MNREGA to ensure livelihood and food security
Location: 99 villages in 30 gram Panchayats of Mirzapur districtSector: Livelihood and Food SecurityCSO Partner: Centre for Rural Education and Development Action
Project Objective• Sensitize the poor and marginalized community members about their rights under
MGNREGA, and empower them to demand their legal entitlements• Build the capacity of rural youth volunteers and women SHGs members to equip them
with needed inputs for helping people to seek their entitlements• Constructive interaction between the government and the communityInitial Results• Facilitated 7500 poor households belonging to scheduled caste and other vulnerable
groups to overcome social barriers and get their job cards registered • Unique inclusive approach involving women (especially widows), and physically and
visually handicapped people• Meaningful engagement with Panchayat functionaries to streamline discrepancies• Helped create a pool of informed citizen leaders at the village level, who along with
growing personally are also becoming an asset to the community
Orissa : Enabling Community Monitoring of Rural Roads under PMGSY
Location: Rayagada and Gosani blocks of Gajapati districtSector: Rural road construction under PMGSY schemeCSO Partner: Youth for Social Development (YSD)Project Objective• Enable community monitoring of PMGSY roads through dissemination and
demystification of information.• Pilot a set of instruments for community monitoring of bidding process; identify reform
and advocacy agenda for transparent and accountable bidding processInitial Results• 20 rural roads in 30 villages successfully monitored – both at pre and post bidding
stages:• Pre-bidding: Comprehensive checklist to appraise adherence to PMGSY guidelines and
transparency in the bidding process. • Post-bidding: Citizen monitors keep watch on road construction quality bench-marks
• Perceptible improvement of rural connectivity with improved quality roads in these villages
• A cadre of 32 young and enthusiastic community members trained as citizen monitors; and also to spread awareness on PMGSY and RTI to the rest of the community. An ethos of demanding information with is gradually emerging within the community
Madhya Pradesh: Peoples Initiative for Accountability and Transparency in Health and Education
Location: 30 Gram Panchayats of Dewas and Ujjain district Sector: Rural health and primary educationCSO Partner: Jan Sahas Social Development Society
Project Objective• Increase community participation and stake in implementation and monitoring of SSA
and NRHM• Build capacities of various stakeholders and advocate at policy level to promote the
use of social accountability tools in implementation and monitoring of these schemesInitial Results• Enhanced awareness of health and education related entitlements among dalit
community members• Positive momentum towards mitigating caste based discrimination:
• New school buildings; increased teacher strength in primary school; and tacking the issue of teacher absenteeism. Increase in School enrolment of children from Dalit families.
• Health services related discrimination getting addressed with access vaccination and regular distribution of medicines in the villages
• Auxiliary Nurse Midwife (ANM) now visits the dalit villages regularly and is more responsive in her interactions with villagers
CSC in Primary Education & Social Safety Net
Sector District Upazilla Unions Partner NGO
Social Safety Net
Sathkhira Tala 05 AgrogotiSangstha
Bagerhat Fakirhat 05 Jagrata Juba Sangha (JJS)
Sector District Upazilla Schools Partner NGOPrimary Education
Rangpur Badarganj 02 RDRS Bangladesh
Kurigram Ulipur 02Bhurungamary
01
Gaibandha Fulchhari 05 Dhaka Ahsania Mission
CSC in Social Safety Net
Mobile Based System for Citizens’ Feedback
Role of Governance against Climate Change Induced Migration
Improved management of mass migration pressures
on land and resources
A clear recognition (policies, rules/regulations and procedures) and development of rural hinterland as an ‘Agro-urban’ land use zone
Fulfillment of demand for housing
/services
Land is no longer
controlled and divided along ethnic
lines
Sanction and political support of
key planning recommendations
Planning authority capable of exercising
control over land development – financing and
regulation
Investment in resource (e.g.
water) management and renewal
Investment in
developing agro support
industries and facilities
Housing/ Services provided
informally by use of political capital
Informal settlement
of land along
ethnically defined
lines
Effective regulation of land development (urban sprawl) - zoning violations and
land use conversion
Rehabilitation of natural resource base and provision of agriculture
support services
Rural Karachi land use as a viable Agro-Urban Complex secured
Protection and sustainable growth of Karachi’s rural hinterland and associated
livelihoods
Diagram of Objectives
Cause
Effect
Reports from the Other India - Social Accountability through Media Oversight
Location: Bihar, West Bengal, Orissa and South Rajasthan Sector: Pro-poor development and welfare programmesMedia Partner: Governance Now
Project ObjectiveSustained media tracking of state efforts with development at
the grassroots – modeled around Saranda Governance Laboratory experiment
Initial Results• Governance Now journalists have been stationed at Nalanda
(Bihar), Ganjam (Orrisa), Sirohi (Rajasthan) and West Medinapur (West Bengal) to monitor the implementation of four or five priority welfare schemes • Mirrors and complements CSO led accountability work of that
area• These reports are published regularly in the fortnightly
GovernanceNow magazine under the banner Reports from The Other India. The entire series of fortnightly reports are available in a e-book form at http://governancenow.com/ansa-sar-book.pdf
Key Lessons, Issues & Emerging Challenges - I
• Social Accountability processes tend to be complex, nonlinear, and embedded in broader political and societal context– Inequality and exclusion need to be central within accountability agenda– The "tools-based" approach risks obscuring the underlying social and political
processes that really explain why a given tool is, or is not effective
• Social Accountability processes appear to be more likely to bring about change when they support existing pressures for change together with a number of enabling factors: – deepening of democracy, appropriate legal frameworks, – enhanced ability of citizens for informed engagement with state actors, and – proliferation of new technologies especially mobile phones
• The use of high-quality and relevant information happens to be a key ingredient for accountability change; however information alone is not sufficient – pro accountability collective action is often needed.
Key Lessons, Issues & Emerging Challenges - II
• Need for scaling social accountability endeavors to demonstrate tangible outcome with regard to governance responsiveness especially in countries like India; but there are major challenges: – How to transplant one successful model from one context to another– How to embed social accountability praxis across the hierarchy of public
institution or government
• Calls for considerable Knowledge & Research investments to create adaptable paradigms for taking successful social accountability initiatives to scale– across large and diverge contextual scenarios; and potentially across the
decision hierarchy of public institutions and the government
• Need for co-creating research framework for rigorous and evidence based mapping of social accountability results influencing attributable impact with regard to development effectiveness and outcome.