Social accountability is the extent and capability of citizens to hold the state “accountable” and make it “responsive” to their needs. Basically, this means the ability of citizens to engage with pub-lic institutions - or the private sector- and to participate in the decision making processes that affect their lives in order to achieve better outcomes.

Social Accountability is entirely based on citizen engagement. Citizen engagement is defined as the right of the people to define the public good, determine policies by which they seek the good, and reform or replace institutions that do not serve that good. Basically, this means a two way interac-tion between citizens and governments - or the private sector - that give citizens a stake in decision making, with the objective of improving development outcomes.

Here, it is essential to recognize that citizens must not only have the opportunity to discuss their concerns with and give feedback to decision-makers, but also that decision-makers must respond to citizens to create a two-way dialogue, thus closing the “feedback loop,” a dialogue that circles be-tween citizens and decision-makers. Absent a two-way dialogue, citizens will feel that their voices are not being heard and will likely refuse to further participate in future interventions.

Thus, social accountability is the overall concept that requires citizen engagement as its main im-plementing tool.

In oder to fully understand social accountability, we must also define “accountability” and “respon-siveness.” Accountability is the process of holding actors, i.e., decision makers, responsible for their actions. Specifically, the concept that individuals, agencies and organisations (public, private and civil society), are held responsible for executing their powers according to a certain standard. Citizens must have some mechanism by which to reprimand officials that do not respond appro-priately to citizen feedback and/or initiatives to feel as though their voices mater. These mechanisms can include voting, social media, or tools such as Community Score Cards. These mechanisms allow for community members to voice their feelings in a meaningful and purposeful manner while also encouraging them to further engage in the social accountability process.

Next, let’s define responsiveness: the process by which government designs and implements public policy based on received citizen input and preferences. Basically, this means that the government uses citizen feedback to plan and carry-out its public policy initiatives. Government responsiveness is vital to effective citizen engagement. If the government fails to respond to its citizens, then the citizens will lose hope in the citizen engagement process. Furthermore, the mechanisms by which the government responds to its citizens must be transparent and effective. For example, if the gov-ernment responds weakly to citizen initiative or if citizens never have the opportunity to visibly see their petitions in action, then they will not view engagement as an effective way to create change.

Let’s recap. Social accountability is the process of citizens holding decision makers accountable. Social Accountability is based on citizen engagement. Successful citizen engagement requires a two-way dialogue between citizens and decision makers, accountability mechanisms, and transparent and effective government response. Absent any of these ingredients, effective citizen engagement cannot occur and social accountability will not succeed.

Some of this information was taken from the World Bank GPSA knowledge Platform.