A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO SOCIAL AUDIT AS A PARTICIPATORY TOOL TO STRENGTHEN DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE, TRANSPARENCY, AND ACCOUNTABILITY A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO SOCIAL AUDIT AS A PARTICIPATORY TOOL TO STRENGTHEN DEMOCRATIC 2 GOVERNANCE, TRANSPARENCY, AND ACCOUNTABILITY A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO SOCIAL AUDIT AS A PARTICIPATORY TOOL TO STRENGTHEN DEMOCRATIC 3 GOVERNANCE, TRANSPARENCY, AND ACCOUNTABILITY A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO SOCIAL AUDIT AS A PARTICIPATORY TOOL TO STRENGTHEN DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE, TRANSPARENCY, AND ACCOUNTABILITY Author: Gerardo Berthin A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO SOCIAL AUDIT AS A PARTICIPATORY TOOL TO STRENGTHEN DEMOCRATIC 4 GOVERNANCE, TRANSPARENCY, AND ACCOUNTABILITY A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO SOCIAL AUDIT AS A PARTICIPATORY TOOL TO STRENGTHEN DEMOCRATIC 5 GOVERNANCE, TRANSPARENCY, AND ACCOUNTABILITY UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME UNDP REGIONAL CENTRE PANAMA Freddy Justiniano DIRECTOR a.i. UNDP REGIONAL SERVICE CENTRE FOR LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN Gerardo Berthin GOVERNANCE AND DECENTRALIZATION POLICY ADVISOR Maria Angelica Vásquez CONSULTANT- DECENTRALIZATION AND LOCAL GOVERNANCE Charlotta Sandin VOLUNTEER/RESEARCH ASSISTANT -- DECENTRALIZATION AND LOCAL GOVERNANCE Mónica Fernandez Álvarez de Lugo INTERN –LOCAL GOVERNANCE AND DECENTRALIZATION AREA UNDP REGIONAL BUREAU FOR LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN – NEW YORK Álvaro Pinto COORDINATOR DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE CLUSTER AUTHOR Gerardo Berthin SEPTEMBER 2011 The views expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO SOCIAL AUDIT AS A PARTICIPATORY TOOL TO STRENGTHEN DEMOCRATIC 6 GOVERNANCE, TRANSPARENCY, AND ACCOUNTABILITY A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO SOCIAL AUDIT AS A PARTICIPATORY TOOL TO STRENGTHEN DEMOCRATIC 7 GOVERNANCE, TRANSPARENCY, AND ACCOUNTABILITY Contents Acronyms ...................................................................................................................................................... 9 Presentation ................................................................................................................................................ 11 Preface ........................................................................................................................................................ 13 Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................................... 15 I. Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 19 II. Social Auditing: Origins and Evolution .................................................................................................... 25 III. Social Auditing as a Mechanism of Accountability and External Oversight ........................................... 31 IV. Key Conditions for Effective Social Audit Initiatives .............................................................................. 39 V. Social Auditing Initiatives ........................................................................................................................ 47 VI. Step-by-step Approach to Design and Conduct Social Audits ............................................................... 61 VI. Lessons Learned ..................................................................................................................................... 69 VIII. Programmatic Implications and Potential Entry Points ....................................................................... 75 In Summary ................................................................................................................................................. 83 Annexes ....................................................................................................................................................... 87 References .................................................................................................................................................. 91 Resources and Further Reading .................................................................................................................. 95 A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO SOCIAL AUDIT AS A PARTICIPATORY TOOL TO STRENGTHEN DEMOCRATIC 8 GOVERNANCE, TRANSPARENCY, AND ACCOUNTABILITY A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO SOCIAL AUDIT AS A PARTICIPATORY TOOL TO STRENGTHEN DEMOCRATIC 9 GOVERNANCE, TRANSPARENCY, AND ACCOUNTABILITY Acronyms ANDE National Association of Entrepreneurs, Ecuador APRM African Peer Review Mechanism BAI Board of Audit, South Korea CAD Informed Citizens (Ciudadanos al Día), Peru CBMS Community Based Monitoring System CCAGG Concerned Citizens of Abra for Good Governance, the Philippines CDL Local Development Committee COA National Commission on Audit, Philippines CRCs Citizens Report Cards CSO Civil Society Organization CTC Coalition for Transparency-Cambodia FOIL Freedom of Information Law IACC Inter-American Convention against Corruption IC Integrity Circles IFMS Integrated Financial Management System IWA Integrity Watch Afghanistan MDG Millennium Development Goals MKSS Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan, India NGO Non-governmental organization NREGS National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, India PAC Public Affairs Centre, India PETS Public Expenditure Tracking Surveys SAI Supreme Audit Institutions A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO SOCIAL AUDIT AS A PARTICIPATORY TOOL TO STRENGTHEN DEMOCRATIC 10 GOVERNANCE, TRANSPARENCY, AND ACCOUNTABILITY UACI Institutional Procurement and Contracts Unit UNCAC United Nations Convention against Corruption UNDP United Nations Development Programme VSA Village Social Auditors, Village Social Auditors, India A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO SOCIAL AUDIT AS A PARTICIPATORY TOOL TO STRENGTHEN DEMOCRATIC 11 GOVERNANCE, TRANSPARENCY, AND ACCOUNTABILITY Presentation The Transparency and Accountability in Local Governments (TRAALOG) regional initiative started in April 2010. The TRAALOG has been supported by the Democratic Governance Thematic Trust Fund (DGTTF), the Global Thematic Programme on Anti-Corruption for Development Effectiveness (PACDE), and the United Nations Development Progamme (UNDP) Spanish Trust Fund. The TRAALOG is an initiative of the UNDP Democratic Governance Practice Area of the Regional Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean (RBLAC), and is implemented from the UNDP Regional Centre for Latin America and the Caribbean in Panama. The TRAALOG targets small initiatives at the local level that can be scaled up through policy support and capacity development and partnerships. One of the key activities of TRAALOG is to promote the development and systematization of knowledge products and tools, focusing on specific initiatives aimed at increasing transparency and accountability, as well as to mainstream anti-corruption issues into other areas, such as access to information, ethics, climate change, health, Millennium Development Objectives and social audit. The idea is for these knowledge products to serve as means, to generate interest and discussion among UNDP Country Offices in and outside the region, regional service centers and other units of UNDP and the wider United Nations System, as well as development and democratic governance practitioners. Similarly, it is hoped that these knowledge products could serve as reference in pursuing initiatives and in seeking opportunities for replication. These can also be used to develop and support projects and programs, as well as regional activities. These knowledge products are the result of partnerships with a number of UNDP Country Offices, donors, consultants and associate experts, academic institutions and civil society organizations. All helped to identify experiences that provide valuable practical information relative to improving democratic governance and increasing transparency and accountability. These knowledge products are not meant to be prescriptive. Rather, their aim is to: Provide examples of transparency and accountability activities; Generate discussion and policy dialogue; Illustrate practices; Present tools, methodologies, approaches and frameworks; Highlight case studies; Direct readers to additional resources. Gerardo Berthin Policy Adviser Democratic Governance Area Latin America and Caribbean Regional Service Centre, UNDP A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO SOCIAL AUDIT AS A PARTICIPATORY TOOL TO STRENGTHEN DEMOCRATIC 12 GOVERNANCE, TRANSPARENCY, AND ACCOUNTABILITY A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO SOCIAL AUDIT AS A PARTICIPATORY TOOL TO STRENGTHEN DEMOCRATIC 13 GOVERNANCE, TRANSPARENCY, AND ACCOUNTABILITY Preface In this first decade of the XXI Century we are witnessing the strong necessity to realize what the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in earlier publications has called a Democracy of Citizens. During the last years we have seen how citizens worldwide have empowered themselves and have become actively involved in a more direct way in monitoring and performing oversight activities of public authorities, and demanding better politics and policies. Both in 2004 and later in 2010 with the report entitled Our Democracy, UNDP highlighted that Latin American democracies face the following three challenges in order to exercise effective democratic power: 1) they must envisage new forms of political participation to counter the representation crisis; 2) they must reinforce the State’s republican structure, that is to say, the independence of powers, their mutual control and their accountability;