Opening the Black Box: the Contextual Drivers of Social Accountability
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Opening the Black B Opening the Black The Con new fronTiers of s oCial PoliCy Citizens across the world are calling for greater citizen-state engagement. Social accountability (SA) has steadily gained prominence for its intrinsic value as well as for its potential to bring about a range of development outcomes. But how and when does social T accountability support service delivery as well as institutional outcomes such as state ex T legitimacy and citizen trust? This book provides a framework to assess the contextual ual Drivers of drivers of social accountability effectiveness based on a definition of SA as the interplay of citizen action and state action, supported by civic mobilization, interface, and information. The proposed framework provides practitioners with a systematic way to assess context for SA in order to design, implement, and monitor SA approaches tailored to a specific context and issue. The book also applies the framework to challenging country contexts. In doing so, it addresses key knowledge gaps on how policy makers, practitioners, and development O institutions can best support development outcomes through social accountability and s o citizen engagement. x C ial “At last, we have in one place, a comprehensive picture of our current knowledge about Acc social accountability! This book presents cutting-edge analysis, provides a synthesis of the evidence, and advances our thinking on three key fronts. Foremost, the authors take oun the whole issue of context seriously, examine in micro detail the various contextual T factors that matter for social accountability work, what we know about them, and how abili they unfold in a variety of empirical cases. Further, they amplify the range of potential impacts of social accountability work and show how tracing each impact, however small, T is important, as a small impact today provides the starting point for a greater impact in y the future. Finally, no blueprints are offered for how to do accountability—rather this is a rich set of key operational questions and signposts that will guide practitioners, researchers, and policy makers alike. This book is bound to shape accountability work for years to come.” – Anuradha Joshi Fellow and Cluster Leader, Governance Team, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, U.K. Grandvoinnet, Grandvoinnet, “The social accountability book builds on the latest research to develop a comprehensive Opening the Black BOx new conceptual framework, including original case studies of remarkable new citizen engagement initiatives in places where one might least expect to find them. Opening the Black Box will help both analysts and practitioners to identify and understand the moving The ConTexTual Drivers parts involved in strategies to build pro-accountability state-society partnerships.” of soCial AccounTabiliTy a – Jonathan Fox slam, Professor, School of International Service, American University, Washington DC r helene Grandvoinnet, Ghazia aslam, and shomikho raha aha ISBN 978-1-4648-0481-6 90000 9781464 804816 SKU 210481 OPENING THE BLACK BOX NEw FrONTIErs OF Social POLICy OPENING THE BLACK BOX THE CONTEXTUAL DRIVERS OF SOCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY Helene Grandvoinnet, Ghazia Aslam, and Shomikho Raha © 2015 International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank 1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433 Telephone: 202-473-1000 Internet: www.worldbank.org Some rights reserved 1 2 3 4 18 17 16 15 This work is a product of the staff of The World Bank with external contributions. 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All queries on rights and licenses should be addressed to the Publishing and Knowledge Division, The World Bank, 1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433, USA; fax: 202-522-2625; e-mail: pubrights@ worldbank.org. ISBN (paper): 978-1-4648-0481-6 ISBN (electronic): 10.1596/978-1-4648-0482-3 DOI: 10.1596/978-1-4648-0481-6 Cover image: Bill Pragluski, Critical Stages LLC. Cover design: Naylor Design, Inc. Library of Congress Cataloging-in Publication Data has been requested. NEW FRONTIERS OF SOCIAL POLICY In many developing countries, the mixed record of state effectiveness, market imperfections, and persistent structural inequities has undermined the effectiveness of social policy. To overcome these constraints, social policy needs to move beyond conventional social service approaches toward development’s goals of equitable opportunity and social justice. This series has been created to promote debate among the development community, policy makers, and academia, and to broaden understand- ing of social policy challenges in developing country contexts. The books in the series are linked to the World Bank’s Social Development Strategy. The strategy is aimed at empowering people by transforming insti- tutions to make them more inclusive, responsive, and accountable. This involves the transformation of subjects and beneficiaries into citizens with rights and responsibilities. Themes in this series include equity and devel- opment, assets and livelihoods, citizenship and rights-based social policy, and the social dimensions of infrastructure and climate change. Titles in the series: • Assets, Livelihoods, and Social Policy • Building Equality and Opportunity through Social Guarantees: New Approaches to Public Policy and the Realization of Rights • Delivering Services in Multicultural Societies • Inclusion Matters: The Foundation for Shared Prosperity • Inclusive States: Social Policy and Structural Inequalities • Institutional Pathways to Equity: Addressing Inequality Traps • Institutions Taking Root: Building State Capacity in Challenging Contexts • Living through Crises: How the Food, Fuel, and Financial Shocks Affect the Poor v vi • NEW FRONTIERS OF SOCIAL POLICY • Opening the Black Box: The Contextual Drivers of Social Accountability • Social Dimensions of Climate Change: Equity and Vulnerability in a Warming World • Societal Dynamics and Fragility: Engaging Societies in Responding to Fragile Situations All books in the New Frontiers of Social Policy series are available for free at: https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/2170 Contents Foreword xvii Preface xix Acknowledgments xxv About the Authors xxvii Abbreviations xxix Overview 1 Origin of SA and Common Biases 1 SA as the Interplay of Five Constitutive Elements 3 Neither State Nor Citizens Are Homogenous or Exclusive Categories 6 The Iterative Nature of the SA Process 7 The Puzzling Evidence 7 SA and a Country’s Social and Political Characteristics 9 The Analytical Framework: Contextual Drivers of SA Effectiveness 11 SA in Countries Where Space for Citizen-State Engagement Is Formally Constrained 12 SA in Fragile and Conflict-Affected Situations 14 Application of the Framework to Concrete Cases: Sierra Leone, Pakistan, the Republic of Yemen, and the Kyrgyz Republic 16 Conclusion 18 References 19 Chapter 1 Social Accountability: A Popular yet Fuzzy Concept