Blog: Why social accountablity is essential to the success of post 2015 goals

At a side event of the Open Working Group (OWG) in New York this week, World Vision will explore how the post 2015 framework can incorporate citizen led accountability. World Vision's manager of local advocacy, Jeff Hall, explains the Citizen Voice and Action approach.

Citizen Voice and Action (CVA) empowers communities to engage with their government in order to hold them accountable for services provided at places like schools and medical clinics.

The approach works by educating citizens about their rights and equipping them with a simple set of tools to protect and enforce those rights.

In the 34 countries where we’ve applied CVA, we’re finding when communities, governments, and service providers come together to examine services from an evidence-based perspective, they can collectively solve the problems they face.

First, communities learn about thier rights, and how those rights are articulated under local law. Next, communities work collaboratively with government and service providers to compare reality against their government’s own commitments using a 'social audit' tool.

Communities also have the opportunity to rate government’s performance against criteria they themselves generate, using a form of 'community score card'.

Finally, communities work  to influence decision-makers to improve services, using a simple set of advocacy tools.

External evaluations of CVA and similar approaches have shown that social accountability can generate significant development outcomes. One study documented a 33 per cent drop in child mortality; another showed a 9 per cent rise in primary school test scores in communities using accountability approaches.

The great thing about CVA is it's a flexible approach that can be applied to any sector for which government has made measurable commitments. While most of our CVA work has focused on health and education, we also have examples from the field showing CVA being used successfully for improvements in sanation, nutrition, HIV/AIDS, child protection and livelihoods.

It's important to note that CVA is a collaborative, not confrontational approach. Citizen Voice and Action is designed to improve, rather than obstruct, relationships between communities, government and service providers.

By working to integrate accountability methods like Citizen Voice and Action into future sustainable development goals, we can ensure the next development framework is driven by and for the people to whom it matters the most.