The concept of Social Accountability underlines both the right and corresponding responsibility of citizen to expect and ensure that Government acts in the best interest of people. Analyze.

What is social accountability? Social accountability can be defined as an approach towards building accountability that relies on civic engagement, i.e., in which it is ordinary citizens and/or civil society organizations who participate directly or indirectly in exacting accountability (World Bank, 2004).

The aim of this civic engagement is to stimulate demand from citizens and thus put pressure on the state or private sector to meet their obligations to provide quality services. The supply side of this equation is about building state capability and responsiveness.
What does it mean in practice?
Social accountability mechanisms are separate from conventional accountability mechanisms such as political checks and balances, accounting and auditing systems, administrative rules and legal procedures. However, the former can complement, reinforce and in some cases activate the latter.
Examples of social accountability mechanisms include:

• Freedom of information petitions (RTI) and investigative journalism;
• Citizen report cards and community score cards (Social audit)
• Community monitoring of public service delivery (Social audit)
• Participatory budgeting and public expenditure tracking;
• Public commissions and hearings;
• Citizen advisory boards;
• Citizen Charters

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