GPSA's blog

Municipalities are key actors in charge of public service delivery and local economic development in Madagascar. While they retain mandates and rights for resources mobilization but are left disempowered. Why? Because they not only lack sufficient and predictable funding, but they also are subject to inefficient central procedures regarding, for example, procurement and planning. So, despite the investment block grants used by municipalities through the ‘local decentralization fund’, the sphere of their discretionary decision-making remains very limited.

I once worked on social accountability and now work on media development for the Center for International Media Assistance. When I bump into former colleagues, we update each other enthusiastically on our work, comment approvingly on the importance of our respective efforts, and part ways without the slightest clue as to how to collaborate.

The GPSA Global Partners Forum held in Washington DC in November was a great opportunity to reflect on a fundamental question for the international development community: how can social accountability help countries invest more and better in human capital? The focus was on public finance, where social accountability practices can strengthen transparency and accountability of budgets and improve spending. 

The Forum was an opportunity for us to reflect on the value add of social accountability for tackling governance and development challenges by learning from achievements, trials and opportunities in this field to date. What did we learn from this seminal event? Here are five top takeaways.

*This

By Matthew Pickard, Country Director, CARE Malawi, and Jeff Thindwa, Program Manager, Global Partnership for Social Accountability