The Practices of Social Accountability Triangle in Basic Public Sectors: Evidence from Anderacha District, Ethiopia

Abstract

The study assessed three key common building blocks of Social Accountability (SA): information, citizen action, and government (state) responsiveness in public sectors, focusing on the SA practices in Anderacha District in South West Region of Ethiopia. Mixed method and descriptive research design was employed to address the objective of the study. Proportionate stratified sampling was employed to determine the size of the sample in each stratum in the total population who have directly involved in the SA initiatives in the study area. Then, simple random sampling technique was used select 213 respondents to undertake citizen survey and self-assessment checklist. The citizen survey questionnaire was administered to 203 citizens who were also users of basic public services whereas self-assessment checklist was utilized to collect information from 10 public actors who were frontline service providers, public officials and counselors. Other necessary information was obtained through document reviews and observation/field notes. The data gathered from different sources were analyzed by using descriptive statistics. The findings of the study reveal that the SA practices in the study area made noteworthy contributions in strengthening access to basic information by citizens, citizen engagement in the process of improving basic service delivery and responsiveness of public sectors towards citizens‟ priorities. However, it has been implemented (by design) as a localized initiatives so that it was failed to address accountability failures outside local control, and its institutionalization was not as such promising. It can be concluded that locally bounded SA practices could not address accountability gaps at different levels of decision‐making process. To this end, the critical factors for effective institutionalization and vertical integration of the SA mechanisms are recommended. There needs to be some form of institutional support for the long-term sustainability of the SA efforts within the community structures and the state, the government basic service institutions in particular. Similarly, citizen SA instruments and digital based SA mechanisms that scale-up voices should be employed to engage citizens/local CSOs in vertical monitoring of basic public services and in advocacy across multiple levels of government. Further studies should be conducted on the vertical integration of SA in practice, and on the effects of SA on development outcomes of basic public sectors by employing explanatory research design.