Voice, Eyes and ars A Social Accountability in Latin Am rica Public Disclosure Authorized Case Studi s on Mechanisms of Participatory Monitoring and Eval ation Public Disclosure Authorized 30413 Public Disclosure Authorized | | ~~~~FILE COPY- Public Disclosure Authorized civil Society Tearm LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN REGION THE WORLD BANK - : 7 A Voice, Eyes and Ears Social Accountability in Latin America Case Studies on Mechanisms of Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation Civil Sodiety Team LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN REGION THE WORLD BANK I I~-4~.] Ojos y Oldos We would like to thank those who were responsible for the careful reading and selection of the case studies presented in this book, namely Jairo Acunia-Alfaro, Carmen M6nico, M6nica Peniuela and Patti Petesch. Special thanks is given to Jairo Acuna-Alfaro who performed an excellent job in revising and editing the cases and accompanying the authors during the entire process of their elaboration and presentation during the Workshop on Mechanisms for Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation. Finally, we would like to congratulate the authors who produced high-quality case studies, fruit of notable and important work. 1U Second Regional Meeting Participation and Poverty Reduction Social Accountability and Participatory Mechanisms for Monitoring and Evaluation Punta Cana, Dominican Republic June 16- 19, 2003 This publication was developed and produced by the Latin America and the Caribbean Civil Society Team of the World Bank and the World Bank Institute. Papers in the Civil Society series are not formal publications of the World Bank. They are published informally and circulated to encourage discussions and comment within the development community. The findings, interpretations, judgments and conclusions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the World Bank, to its affiliated organization, or to members of the Board of Executive Directors or the governments they represent. This publication was produced by Indu John-Abraham and Roby Senderowitsch. Ana Marfa Origone was responsible for the design of the cover and text with the valuable support of Mariela Guillen Velarde in the oversight of the production. Copies of this publication are available from: Latin America and the Caribbean Region Civil Society Team The World Bank 1818 H Street, NW Washington, DC 20433 USA http://www.worldbank.org/laccs E-mail: [email protected] Tel: 202-473-9230 Fax: 202-524-0054 Table of Contents Foreword 9 Preliminary Lessons from Case Studies - Dr. Alberto J. Olvera 11 Monitoring and the Use of Public Information * Citizen Initiative for Freedom of Information in Guatemala. Citizen Action - Edgar Alfredo Pape-Yalibat 19 * Social Audit in the Argentine Legislature: Obtaining and Publishing the Affidavits of National Senators. Center for the Implementation of Public Policies for Equity and Growth - Transparency Division - Maria Baron 27 Monitoring of Public Works * Participatory Mechanisms in the Formulation, Monitoring and Oversight of Cantonal Public Works Budgets in Costa Rica. Transparency International Costa Rica - Roxana Salazar 37 * Social Audit Program for the Local Road Construction Project. Municipality of San Antonio del Monte, Sonsonate, El Salvador - Otto Eric Vidaurre 43 Monitoring and Evaluation of Services * Community Information System for Primary Health Care in the Municipality of Arismendi. State of Sucre, Venezuela - Paria Project Foundation - losefina Bruni Celli 51 * From Beneficiaries to Clients: Application of the "Report Card" to Social Programs in Peru. Instituto CUANTO - Multistakeholder Roundtable on Poverty Reduction - PCM - Miguel Antonio Rodriguez Cevallos 59 Monitoring of Public Policy * Participatory Monitoring of Land and Housing Policy in the Municipality of Quilmes, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. Community Council on Land and Housing Policy - Maria Andrea Castagnola 67 * Evaluation of Changes in the Quality of Life in Bogota, Colombia from a Civil Society Perspective. Bogota C6mo Vamos - Maria Fernanda Sanchez 77 8 VOICE, EYES AND EARS 8 SOCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY IN LATIN AMERICA Monitoring of Public Budgets * Independent Analysis of the General Budget of the Republic, Peru. Economic and Social Research Consortium - Pedro Andres Francke Balive 85 * The Experience of the Transparency Process in the Municipality of Santa Rosa de Copan, Honduras. Citizen Commission for Transparency in Public Administration - Jorge Armando Calix 91 Monitoring and Social Mobilization * A Traditional Peasant Organization Engaged in Social Monitoring in the Municipality of Totora. Carrasco Province, Cochabamba Department, Bolivia -Juan Carlos Escalera L6pez 99 * Towards Greater Transparency in the Salvadoran State Counsel. Association for the Organization and Education of Women in Business of El Salvador - Carlos Miguel SAenz Rojas 105 * Citizen Audit of the Quality of Democracy in Costa Rica. State of the Nation Project - Miguel Guti6rrez Saxe 111 Governance and Social Accountability in Latin America: Challenges of Implementation and Replicability. World Bank Institute - Jairo Acunia-Alfaro and Maria GonzAlez de Asis 121 Foreword Over the past several years, Latin America and the served as discussion material for the Second Regional Caribbean have been witnesses to the emergence Meeting on Participation and Poverty Reduction, of a number of important experiences in social which was attended by over 100 participants from accountability, in which citizens play an important civil society, government and international coop- role in the definition, monitoring and evaluation of eration institutions from ten countries in the Latin government activities. Mechanisms such as partici- American and Caribbean region. patory budgeting at the municipal level, evaluation of public services by users and the free access and The challenges that remain are many: How can analyses of the State's financial information have the necessary capacities of the different actors be become more common throughout the continent. developed so that these mechanisms are success- ful? How is it possible to ensure greater sustainability The growing level of citizen participation in the of innovative experiences that have shown good continent, accompanied by a marked process of results in the pilot phase? How can greater coordi- democratization in our countries as well as the lack nation be promoted between accountability mecha- of confidence in the institutions controlled by the nisms of the State itself and this new universe of State, has produced a range of experiences of mechanisms emerging from civil society? These and varied importance that today are the focus of atten- other questions should be the basis of a conceptual tion of the international development community. exchange to which we would like to contribute with the publication of this book, gathered from a This type of experience is reflected in the strategy of number of rich experiences and whose backdrop is the World Bank for engaging with civil society in our region. Latin America and the Caribbean, which focuses on the empowerment of the poor and the promotion of social accountability mechanisms. Of special inter- est has been the development of social control Ernesto May mechanisms that support strategies, policies and Director LAC-PREM concrete actions to reduce poverty in our countries. The experiences that are presented in this book Preliminary Lessons from Case Studies Instituto de Investigaciones Hist6rico-Sociales Universidad Veracruzana-Mexico Dr. Alberto J. Olvera In this section we wish to employ certain analytical ensure accountability or to require that the govern- concepts applicable to all the cases in order to frame mentdo so; and that, in addition to checks and bal- a debate that incorporates conceptually all of the ances, the branches of government share a common experiences analyzed. We will divide this section obligation to citizens to open themselves up to scru- into three areas: contextual elements, elements in- tiny and evaluation. ternal to civil society, and theoretical conclusions. It is clear from the case studies that laws enacted in This thematic division corresponds to three core several Latin American countries require account- aspects of an analysis of experiences with account- ability from government agencies and facilitate the ability and for the evaluation of potential innova- creation of mixed entities for that purpose. While tions in this area: the nature of the regime and the case studies do not provide many specifics on political actors, which we refer to as contextual ele- the legal set-up, it is clear that the most successful ments; the nature of civil society, which plays a de- ones have appealed to laws regulating constitutional cisive role in the success or fai lure of accountabi lity principles to ensure their development and survival. initiatives; and the theory we use to interpret these At minimum they have appealed to the right to peti- phenomena, and which is still evolving. tion and the right to information, or to freedom of information. In some cases they invoke a right to Contextual elements participation which may or may not be legally regu- lated. The only cases that fall into this category are: 1. The existence of innovative constitutionaland a) Participatory Monitoring of Land and Housing legal frameworks promotes and facilitates experi- Policies in the Municipality of Quilmes, Buenos mentation with socialaudits. Aires. In