Emerging Experiences in the Practice of Social

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Emerging Experiences in the Practice of Social
Public Accountability
Institute for Policy Alternatives Parliament
Civic Engagement in Community Monitoring of
Poverty
Dr. Sulley Gariba Institute for Policy
Alternatives Tamale, Ghana www.ipaghana.org gariba
_at_africaonline.com.gh Panel Presentation at
ISTR Conference on Contesting Citizenship and
Civil Society in a Divided World Ryerson
University, Toronto, July 11-14, 2004
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Accountability acontabuo in Akan language of
Ghana, is the process of answering for your
performance of a public responsibility.
Source of Supply Govt, Office Bearers
Accountability
Source of Demand Public, civil society
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• This means
• A task was assigned, and the public knows about
  it may refer to the task assigned a ruling
  government to make policies
• Answers are demanded from those who perform this
  task
• One to whom the task was assigned has an
  obligation to provide adequate and satisfactory
  answers
• Even when a task was not assigned directly,
  acontabuo can still be demanded, as long as the
  task being performed is in the public interest
  and affects the public
• There are heavy sanctions for any one who refuses
  to be accountable in traditional society

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Governance Crises

• Is more about weak capacity and low willingness
  of Office Bearers to Supply Accountability than
  it is a problem of Citizen Demand for
  Accountability
• Poor Access to Public Services affect mainly the
  poor Inefficiency in planning service
  delivery itself
• Indifference, Collusion with vested Groups - Non
  Responsiveness of public institutions and office
  bearers
• Rampant corruption, Extortion by Agents
  Middlemen
• - Loose systems, weak integrity, abuse of
  discretion
• Low or no Accountability to Parliaments -
  Dominance of the Executive Branch
• Weak capacity of citizen groups to engage with
  Parliament and Public policy processes in a
  systematic manner

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BIGGEST CHALLENGES

• Initiatives are Focusing on DEMAND for
  Accountability but the SUPPLY-side remains weak
  and is not pro-poor nor is it pro-citizen
  engagement
• Solution --- Target Parliament as well as the
  Executive with capacity building that focus on
  techniques for citizen engagement.

The Tanzania Parliament works closely with The
Executive in Poverty Monitoring So they had staff
from the Vice- Presidents office participate in
the training
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Some Basic Principles Underpinning Action

• Parliaments and Civil Society Groups have a
  shared interest and commitment to the poorest
  sections of their society
• Capacity Building to increase their awareness
  and skills will result in improved performance of
  oversight
• Increasing resources is not the only solution,
  but how these are targeted at structural problems
  of Poverty and Growth, in response to citizen
  demands and not just by Executive or Government
  prerogatives

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Training MPs and CSOs on Shared Commitment to
Poverty Reduction

• Understanding the context of Public Policies
  that focus on Poverty Reduction and Growth
• Techniques and processes for engaging the poor
  in decision-making, including consultations with
  the poor on budget making
• Parliament and Civic Engagement in legislation
• Linkages between Parliament and CSOs through
  regular seminars and community visits, exposing
  MPs to challenges faced by stakeholders of the
  poor

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MPs Training on Community Monitoring of Poverty
Reduction Wellbeing

• Understanding the basic principles of Social
  Public Accountability in the context of
  policies, programmes and budgets targeted at
  growth and poverty reduction
• Tools for citizen engagement in community
  monitoring efforts, including Public Expenditure
  Tracking (PET), Citizen Report Card (CRC),
  Community Score Card (CSC)
• Techniques for feedback and citizen engagement in
  using monitoring results for policy reform and
  also holder the Executive Accountable for
  decisions, budgets and policy outcomes

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Training for Staff of Parliament and Civil
Society Advocates

• An Important Challenge is one of Implementation
• Staff of Parliament are central to the long-term
  retention of capacity in Parliament
• They understand the procedures, possess corporate
  knowledge and have the potential to
  operationalize tools
• Engagement with civil society advocates may be
  best handled by the staff
• Training capacity building at this level
  focuses on detailed application of tools and
  skills for citizen engagement

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Bringing it all Together Pilot Initiatives

• At the end of the Training Capacity Development
  Efforts
• Internships are arranged whereby Parliamentary
  staff spend some time doing work in the field
  with civil society and CSO advocates assume
  positions within Parliament
• MPs and their staff collaborate to develop a
  common pilot initiative to exemplify partnership
  for community-based poverty monitoring, using
  social and public accountability tools
• Networks and relationships that promote trust and
  mutual respect are established between Parliament
  and Civil Society

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Towards a Consensual Approach in Building
Capacity for Accountability
Civil Society leverages Parliaments, establishing
a partnership for demanding accountability but
both Parliament the Executive need to have the
capacity to respond to citizen demand for
accountability
Benefits
Government
Parliamentary Oversight of Policies,
Expenditure Programs
Civil Society Civic Mobilization Advocacy for
oversight
Growth Poverty Reduction
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Emerging Experiences

• Malawi Economic Justice Network is Collaborating
  with Budget Finance Committee to Assess impacts
  of Budgets on poorest sections of society
• IDASA in South Africa routinely engages
  Parliament and Provincial Governments in advocacy
  for pro-poor and gender-inclusive budgeting
• In Ghana, Parliamentary Committee on Children
  Gender is teaming up with a range of civic
  organizations to assess the performance of public
  policies affecting vulnerable women and children

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• Parliaments Remain Polarized on Partisan Lines
  therefore issues of oversight are politicized
  Solution Use of more transparent tools reduce
  likelihood that outcomes will be politicized
• Outcome of Citizen Engagements in Policy
  Monitoring often not felt in Policy Reform
  Measures Solution Interface Sessions are
  useful in specifying what actions Parliament
  the Executive are contemplating to address
  citizen concerns