 GPSA Interviews Robert Hunja, Director Public Integrity and Openness at the World Bank & Vice Chair of GPSA Steering Committee
"When we speak about governance, we always have to speak about openness and about citizens being at the center of the decision-making processes that affect them. In this regard, GPSA is essential as it plays a key and complementary role in the World Bank - on top of the Bank's government loans and private sector support - to become a mechanism which directly builds the capacity of civil society to play a constructive role in the improvement and enhancement of country systems. A stronger, more capable civil society, which has the ability and disposition to work with governments, is key to creating governance environments that will foster development for all", says Hunja, Director of Public Integrity and Openness at the World Bank's Governance Global Practice. He also serves as the deputy Chair of the GPSA Steering Committee. Hunja explains why social accountability is important to him, why it's important to have a facility like the GPSA, and how he sees the role of enhancing citizen voice in making public institutions perform better. "We live in a world where openness is no longer optional for public institutions, but a requirement to ensure efficiency and effectiveness." Read the full interview >>  Madagascar becomes 40th country to opt-in to GPSA
On October 31, 2014 the Government of Madagascar informed the World Bank office in Antananarivo of its decision to opt-in to the Global Partnership for Social Accountability. Following the GPSA Board Paper, this consent ensures that Malagasy civil society organizations are now eligible to apply for GPSA grants in a Call for Proposals. Madagascar is the 40th country to join the GPSA, and 15 of them are in Africa. Read more about the countries that have joined the GPSA >>  What we learned in recent events
How Better Citizen Trust Leads to Better Performing Public Institutions, and Vice Versa Citizen trust is critical in the equation between governments and civil society. This assertion was repeated in the panel discussion held on October 9 during the WBG Civil Society Forum at the WBG Annual Meetings. Speakers - from the Brazilian Presidency's office, CIVICUS and GPSA grantee Malawi Economic Justice Network – explored their views about the role of governments in fostering the trust of citizens by opening themselves up for feedback. The process of strategic social accountability can build trust through generating awareness and ownership on the part of the citizen, and demonstrating a government commitment to ensure service provision is more responsive to the broad public interest and citizen needs. Read More >>
Civil society and fiscal reform: unlikely partners or a smooth fit?On Friday October 10th, the GPSA hosted a 'Think-In session' with several GPSA partners and grantees, World Bank and IMF staff, and the Gates Foundation. We were exploring how social accountability can be used when pro-poor fiscal reforms are being planned and implemented. A vibrant discussion ensued on how social accountability can create the demand and support for pro-poor reforms, especially those that have a strong fiscal impact. Participants discussed relevant research findings and shared personal experiences. The conversation touched on many relevant themes, such as understanding political and cultural factors, identifying typologies of fiscal reforms, relevant social accountability tools and the role and capacity of civil society. Everyone agreed that applying social accountability to pro-poor fiscal reforms had much potential, and merited further discussion and exploration. Young People Encouraged in Workshop to Tap into their 'Game Changing' Potential 75 young people from across the world attending the World Bank's 2nd Youth Summit in Washington, DC on October 7 joined the GPSA and its Global Partner, the Young Americas Business Trust, for a workshop on how youth can become game changers in public governance through social accountability mechanisms. Around the room, people agreed that youth are at the crossroads of the development and accountability debate: they are not only the future, but also the 'now'. The discussion evolved around opportunities for youth to engage directly with governments, such as the Young Americas Forum; the citizen feedback mechanism set up in the city of Bogota, Colombia (Bogota Como Vamos); a platform for monitoring bullying (YouVo Chile); and other social accountability mechanisms around the world, which benefit issues that young people care about. Read More
 GPSA Grantees
Moldova | Improving the Quality of Education from Primary to Upper Secondary Schools – EXPERT GRUP In September and October 2014, EXPERT GRUP and its regional partners organized eight official ceremonies to celebrate the signing of cooperation memoranda to advance social accountability in the education reform process in Moldova. "Directors of twenty schools involved in the project pledged to offer more opportunities for students, parents and teachers to get actively involved in school's affairs through public hearings, open access to budget information and through taking part in setting schools' development priorities', said Victoria Vlad, project coordinator. The GPSA is supporting the EXPERT GRUP to monitor education services in 100 Moldovan schools by facilitating the engagement of students and parents with school authorities to address budget allocation of primary, secondary, general and upper secondary schools. Budget and service quality data will be shared with local and national authorities, including the Ministry of Education, to monitor the impact of recent reforms and to inform policy-making in the sector. Read More
Paraguay | Improving transparency and performance of the conditional cash transfer program, TEKOPORÃ – Fundacion CIRD On October 24, 2014, the World Bank's Country Director for Paraguay Jesko Hentschel signed the GPSA grant agreement for the 'Tekoporã Beneficiaries Empowered to Ensure Social Accountability Project', to be implemented by Paraguayan civil society organization Fundación Comunitaria Centro de Información y Recursos para el Desarrollo (CIRD). This 5-year project is closely aligned with the World Bank agenda in Paraguay. The Bank's Partnership Strategy for the period 2014-2018 (to be presented to the World Bank Board in December 2014) will continue to emphasize the Bank's support for the government's social protection system in Paraguay through increased social accountability. The GPSA is supporting CIRD to integrate social accountability mechanisms into the Conditional Cash Transfer Program (TEKOPORÃ) in order to improve its transparency, targeting and beneficiaries' access to health and education services linked to the program. Read More>>
Fostering Strategic Social Accountability: 1st GPSA e-Course in full swing From a pool of 250+ applications, 150 participants from more than 50 countries across the world, and coming from a variety of backgrounds like civil society, GPSA grantees, funders, researchers and international NGOs have joined the course. Addressing the meaning of "Strategic Social Accountability", and how it embeds into the dynamic of CSOs' analytical and operational work, the course primarily targets CSOs that are experimenting with Social Accountability and that want to make their efforts more strategic and more effective. The diversity of participants' profiles is showing in the rich discussions in the online discussion forum and in the webinar with CARE International held on October 14. Module 1 introduced participants to political economy analysis and how it can be applied and adapted to social accountability processes. Module 2 is currently underway and focuses on exploring citizen engagement and on feedback mechanisms as key elements for implementing social accountability initiatives. Read about the course
Center for International Development at Harvard University becomes Global Partner, taking GPSA network to 200The University is among the ten new Global Partners that have joined the partnership in recent weeks. Partners seek to collaborate in the GPSA for the benefit of sharing knowledge, networking and practical experience. "Developing nations must embrace Social Accountability to achieve real economic growth. There must be accountability in the government, the private sector, and amongst the citizens for sustainable and inclusive growth that reduces poverty." – Joyce Halliday, Executive Director, IAAN.
View Updated List  Upcoming Events
Engaging Vulnerable Communities in the Process of Accountability in Health – COPASAH Perspectives And Experiences | November 19, 2014
Webinar with Edward Premdas Pinto (Centre for Health and Social Justice, India) REGISTER Social Accountability in Health | November 20 – December 3, 2014.
e-Forum led by Walter Flores (CEGGS - COPASAH) and others | Participate at http://GPSAknowledge.org Integrity in Cash Transfer Programs | December 3, 2014
Webinar with Felipe Hevia (CIESAS Mexico) | Register at http://GPSAknowledge.org  Past Events
Did you miss a GPSA Brown Bag Lunch? Webinar? See video recordings of past events: Power, Participation and Politics in the Health Sector: the Social Accountability Angle | Brown Bag Lunch with Courtney Tolmie (Results for Development Institute); Aly Lalá (Concern Universal Mozambique), and others. October 22, 2014 Read More >> Applying Political Economy Analysis to Social Accountability: the CARE experience | Webinar with Gaia Gozzo, CARE International | October 14, 2014 Read more >> Making Local Governments Work for the Poor in Mexico | Brown Bag Lunch with Almudena Ocejo, CIESAS. September 23, 2014 Read more >>  Resources
Social Accountability: What Does the Evidence Really Say? by Prof. Jonathan Fox. GPSA Working Paper 1 analyzes the distinction between tactical and strategic approaches to the promotion of citizen voice to contribute to improved public sector performance. Read the study >> Accountability, Transparency, Participation, and Inclusion: A New Development Consensus? By Thomas Carothers and Saskia Brechenmacher | Carnegie Endowment for International Peace | Paper, October 20, 2014 Read more >> Learning about Strategic Accountability | Politics, Governance and Development | Blog by Brendan Halloran, TA/I, reflecting on the analysis of the capacity for strategic social accountability as highlighted by the GPSA Notes series. Read more >> CSO Accountability: A Pre-Condition for Demanding Social Accountability? Blog by Anabel Cruz and Laia Griñó | How is your civil society organization promoting its own internal accountability as an NGO? We would love to hear from you. Share your thoughts in the commenting section of the blog. Read more >> From transactional to transformational: thinking about the future of Social Accountability | Blog by Varja Lipovsek and Ben Taylor, Twaweza discuss the outcomes of the recent conference on the Bank's Governance Partnership Facility (GPF) and the future of social accountability work within the Bank and beyond. Read more >> What Does It Take to Build a Citizen Oversight Mechanism in Education in Moldova? Blog by Victoria Vlad, EXPERT-GRUP. Read more >> United Nations Public Service Awards – Call for Nominations | Closing on October 31, 2014 - Read more >>  Coming Soon!
Supporting Politically Smart Social Accountability | GPSA Note 7 explores the incentives for grantees to think and act politically in their social accountability projects. See http://GPSAknowledge.org How Are GPSA's Partners Thinking About Scale And Trying To Achieve It? | GPSA Note 8 explores what it means to 'scale up' a project or approach in social accountability, and what it takes. See http://GPSAknowledge.org No Silver Bullet: Sustainability Strategies for Social Accountability Organizations | GPSA Working Paper 2 by Lester Salamon, Stephanie Geller and S. Wojciech Sokolowski (Johns Hopkins University Center for Civil Society Studies) exploring how CSOs practicing social accountability can become more financially sustainable. See http://GPSAknowledge.org | 
