This was presented as part of a research workshop held at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) on 30 April 2015, in partnership with the Global Partnership for Social Accountability (GPSA) and the Transparency Accountability Initiative (TAI). The focus of the workshop was on "the quest for citizen-led accountability - looking into the state." This presentation examined a framework to assess the contextual drivers for state action in social accountability initiatives.

1. Helene Grandvoinnet
Governance Global Practice
World Bank
Opening the Black Box,
Contextual Drivers of
Social Accountability:
Engaging the State
IDS, April 30 2015
1

2. Outline
1. Understanding State Action for Social
Accountability
2. A framework to assess contextual drivers for
State action
3. Social Accountability in challenging contexts:
what role for the State?
2

3. 3
SA as the interplay of 5 constitutive elements: 3 takeaways
for state action.
1. Both citizen and state actions
matter – yet power imbalance
2. Mobilization must also look at
state actors
3. Neither State nor citizens are
homogenous or exclusive
categories

4. Underlying socio-political factors: 4 messages
4
1. To make accountability
claims, there must be an
assumption about
responsibilities of the
state, as well as the
entitlements of citizens.
2. Important to look at
commitment and capacity
of bureaucrats and
elected officials
separately
3. State structure provides
entry points: check and
balance institutions,
central-decentralized
administration, regulatory
agencies
4. Individual's layered
identities

5. 5
InstitutionalInstrumental
State
State-society
relationships
Social
actors
Responsive public
officials
Reduced corruption Institutional
channels for
interaction
Improved provision
of public goods
Better policy design
Good governance
State-building
Democratic
Deepening
Legitimacy
Trust Construction of
Citizenship
Empowered citizens
Inclusive Social
Norms
Expectations of SA go beyond instrumental outcomes

6. 6
Iterative nature of SA has implications for time horizon and M&E

7. 7
Analytical framework to assess context for SA:
drivers of State Action

8. 8
Guiding tables for State action
Cultural or political
norms can shape
the awareness
Capacity,
responsibility and
authority to act on
the issue

9. 9
Sector
characteristics
matter
Guiding tables for State action (continued)

10. 10
SA in challenging contexts: what role for the State?
1. Social Accountability and State action in states where
space for citizen-state engagement is formally
constrained
2. Social Accountability in Fragile and Conflict-affected
Situations: rebuilding trust in Khyber Pakhtunkwa
province, Pakistan.

11. 11
Archetypical Institutional Landscape in countries where
space for Citizen-State Engagement is formally constrained

12. Overcoming constraints to action:
To Information:
Secrecy and asymmetry of information fundamental attributes of these states, often
compounded by heavily regulated, state-owned, or state-controlled media.
Identify areas where government seeks information generated by citizens.
In the absence of an enabling framework, work with lower level regulations and maximize
use of information that is available thus opening up spaces for citizen-state interface.
To Interface:
Some representative institutions that provide some form of state-society interface.
Important to understand historical and political context of the interface.
Space and nature of the interface may differ greatly depending on the sector or between
the national and local levels.
Evidence seems to suggest that effective state-society interface channels are most often
non-confrontational in such contexts.
To Civic Mobilization:
Governments might be interested in supporting associations that mobilize citizens to help
the state address deficiencies in service delivery.
12

13. Implications for support in countries where space for state-
citizen engagement is formally constrained:
5 Entry points
1. appealing to personal or professional integrity of public officials
2. appealing to a government’s existing instrumental interest in
improving service delivery and efficiency;
3. linking SA mechanisms to improve effectiveness of the state’s own
“horizontal” accountability framework;
4. using existing divisions within state institutions; and
5. working within the boundaries of government-endorsed, donor-
financed initiatives.
On the whole, the evidence in these polities shows that SA activity may
be possible, but its scope and mechanisms are constrained, with its
impact often limited to the domains in which it operates.
SA under conditions acceptable to government - efforts run the risk of
further strengthening existing power structures.
13

14. 14
Using the framework to support SA to rebuild citizen trust in
Government, the case of the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,
Pakistan
Case study
Done in partnership with the
“Governance Support
Project”, World Bank
supported project which
supports State Government
initiative to rebuild citizen
trust after 2009 military
offensive against Islamist
militants.

15. 15
State Action
• Awareness of the issue
• Ability to resolve the issue
• Official attitude toward
engaging with civil society
demands or voice
• Intrinsic motivation
driving action
• Incentives and costs
linked to inaction for
nonelected officials
• Incentives and costs
linked to inaction for
elected officials
Dichotomy top level politicians (perceiving lack
of accountability as threat for stability) vs. lower
level bureaucrats (low capacity and mixed
incentives -patronage, political interference)
History of repression of civil society
Unclear immediate cost for inaction
“They (government officials) think it is a privilege
for citizens to get the service” (Rural Support
Manager, Swat)
Bottlenecks and Opportunities for State action

16. 16
Citizen action
• Awareness of the issue
• Salience of the issue
• Intrinsic motivation
• Efficacy
• Capacity for collective
action
• Costs of inaction
Citizens mostly unaware of their entitlements and
do not trust government:
Low sense of efficacy
Capacity for collective action badly eroded by
conflict - violence and targeting of mobilizers
“Government is only in the name; they never
listen to us.” (Woman participant in an FGD in
Swat)
“Everyone is concerned with their own business
no one cares about the country so who will
question the state?” (Male youth Focus Group
Discussion: FGD, Haripur).
Bottlenecks and Opportunities for Citizen action

17. 17
Citizen-state interface
Linked to the Interface:
• Type of existing interface
• Awareness of the
interface
• Credibility of interface
• Accessibility of interface
Linked to Interlocution
for Interface:
• Existence of interlocutors
• Effectiveness of
interlocutors in mediating
citizens and state officials
on the issue
Some interfaces exist, but citizens do not know
about them (for instance, Provincial
Ombudsman)
Citizens interact through intermediaries: ‘jirga”,
“references” – which is costly and negates direct
citizen-state relationship
“A common man always needs a well-known
person to put forward his case ... There is a lot of
discrimination between rich and poor” (FGD with
men, urban Peshawar).
Bottlenecks and Opportunities for Citizen State interface

18. Civic mobilization
• Existence of mobilizers
• Capacity of mobilizers
(agents and organizations)
• Effectiveness in mobilizing
citizens
• Effectiveness in mobilizing
state officials
18
Mobilize state officials for social accountability
using top level public pronouncements.
“As a group (we) can be heard” (FGD with men,
urban Haripur)
“If anyone comes to me [and invites me to participate in
a committee] I would not believe them because of
security reason.” (FGD with men, Peshawar)
Bottlenecks and Opportunities for Civic Mobilization

19. 19
Information
Linked to citizen and
state action:
• Accessibility
• Framing of the information
• Trustworthiness
Linked to citizen-state
engagement:
• Information on existence
and accessibility of the
interface
• Information strengthening
credibility of interface
with key stakeholders
Citizens lack information about their own rights,
and do not understand the workings of the
government.
Yet media has become more independent and
more vibrant
Bottlenecks and Opportunities for Information

20. Thank you!
You can download the book on the World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
20