Information sharing and social accountability

Information sharing framework

Matrix organization- a smaller organizational framework made on top of

an existing organization.

Promoting ethical governance

Promoting an ethical quality of governance depends upon a strong

alignment between mechanisms that are external as well as internal to
administration. The internal mechanisms seek to strengthen
accountability and inculcate an element of responsibility within the
administration. The external mechanism promote citizen participation and
develop a participatory culture within administration. The common factor
in both these mechanisms is increased transparency and better
information sharing.

Transparency and information sharing

Transparency refers to the availability of information not only to the

citizens but also to the agencies involved in service delivery. For the
public, this enables easy access to information which is presented in a
simplified form. For the agencies it establishes clarity and consensus
regarding the intended outcomes, the scope of the service and the
responsibilities involved.

In a traditional sense, information sharing by the government was

restricted to a unidirectional flow from the government towards the
citizens with no provision for a feedback mechanism. This was justified on
the basis of the expertise of the government as compared to the relative
ignorance and prejudices in the society. How every the inability to
adequately understand the citizen expectations and concerns resulted in
poor service delivery, often because of resistance from the citizens
themselves.

Therefore, the next paradigm that emerged included provisions for

seeking citizen feedback. However, the quality of services did not improve
as expected. The reason was a lack of coordination among the various
agencies involved in service delivery.

Therefore, the contemporary paradigm of information sharing includes an

emphasis on better information sharing within the government itself. This

creates an information sharing framework across three dimensions and
three maturity stages.

Social accountability
Social accountability tools

1. Design of service delivery- participatory planning, participatory

budgeting, citizens charter

2. Implementation and monitoring- citizen monitoring, public expenditure

tracking, social audit, grievance redressal system

3. Impact assessment- citizens report card, community score card, public

hearings

External mechanisms for better governance

Citizen engagement is now considered not only as a legitimate demand of

the people but also as an essential prerequisite for eective service

delivery. Therefore such mechanisms focus upon enhancing social

accountability. Social accountability refers to the ways through which
societal actors (citizens, media, civil society etc) can engage with the
state to improve accountability in governance and service delivery. The
most prominent characteristic of social accountability is its emphasis on
a shift from vote to voice by integrating citizen concerns and suggestions
into the working and decision making processes of administration.

Social accountability is enforced through a two step process

1. Enabling voicemail which refers to the ability of the citizens to articulate

their needs to those who hold power.

2. Establishing compact which refers to the relationship through which

those who hold power act as representatives of the citizens and exert
influence upon the service provider.

Social accountability becomes weak if either of these two aspects fails.

This means that either citizen voice is weak or the compact is
compromised due to collusion. Therefore promoting eective citizen
engagement and inculcating an ethical cadre of administrators is vital for
meaningful social accountability.

Promoting citizen engagement

It involves four broad factors
1. Information dissemination

Access to information not only enables citizens to participate with a better

understanding of their entitlements, it also enables them to better judge
the quality of the services and know how to seek redressal. Eg citizen's
charters provide a formal framework to establish service commitments
and standards

2. Capacity building and community mobilization

Citizen participation depends upon the ecacy with which disguised and
clubbed citizen needs can be clearly identified, appropriately prioritized
and persuasively presented. This is achieved by

- capacity building, by investing in a high quality of human capital. Such

human capital is essential for better governance since it broadens
accountability, facilitates social cohesion and enables the delivery of at
least some services at the local level itself. It can be achieved through a
focus upon education, formal and informal training, capacity building
exercises etc.

- community mobilization, to establish convergence among dierent stake

holders on important issues. Collective participation is important since it
prioritizes common values, reduces the possibility of conflict, increases
mutual understanding and enables communities to cooperate towards
self governance.

3. Grievance redressal mechanism

To sustain citizen engagement, it is important for the citizens to believe

that their participation is leading to the desired changes, without creating
any undue problems for them. Therefore their must be provisions that

- make it possible to conveniently report any deviations or violations that

may have been observed.

- provide penalties for the concerned oenders.

- protect the welfare of any individual making such reports.

4. Institutionalization

This refers to the formal provisions that facilitate citizen engagement and
satisfaction. Such institutional support provides incentives and
encouragement to increase citizen participation beyond the voluntary
actions of only a few concerned individuals.

Right to services bill 2011

Sevottam
Three broad parameters

1. Citizen's charter

2. Grievance redressal

3. Service delivery capabilities

Challenges of corruption
Defining by Transparency International

"Corruption can be defined as the abuse of entrusted power for private

gain."

Influences on corruption

1. Individual

2. Family

3. Society

4. Work environment

Forms of corruption

1. Monetary vs non monetary

2. According to the rules (incomplete)

Practice questions
1. Transparency is a necessary but not a sucient condition for
administrative performance.

2. While governance is an inherently political paradigm, it does not

imply politicization of administration.
3. For administration to be citizen centric, there is a need for it to
also be process centric.