Social Accountability - Taking Stock of All the Stock-Taking and Some Interesting Avenues for Future Practice and Research

Abstract

Given the enormous popularity of social accountability initiatives and the proliferation of empirical syntheses on social accountability that have been produced over the last few years, it is a good time for taking stock of these stock-takes. This exercise therefore takes a meta approach. It distils some of the main insights from the evidence reviews already in existence, maps areas of agreement, identifies promising opportunities for further practical experiments and offers a commentary – phrased in somewhat provocative terms to enable a spirited discussion - on how the social accountability funding, design and research landscape is evolving and where it could productively venture next.The analysis proceeds as follows: Chapter 1 to 3 set the backdrop and provide a very brief introduction to the concept, its origins, usage over time as well as the common definitions and typologies that are usually associated with it. Chapter 4 moves into the synthesis of existing stock-take exercises on social accountability and distils some of the main insights into five key messages, which are subjected to a critical reflection.Chapter 5 draws out some implications and ideas for what could be worthwhile future trajectories, expansions and experimentations for social accountability with regard to three areas: substantive content, project design and related research strategies (5.1-5.3). Chapter 6 concludes.