Brown Bag Lunches (BBLs) are an important part of the GPSA’s Knowledge & Learning activities. Over the last three years, the GPSA has hosted a large number of BBLs in which GPSA Partners and Grantees, as well as World Bank colleagues, showcase their social accountability initiatives and research, share some of their learnings and elicit feedback. The presentations and discussions have been rich and illuminating, highlighting the gains the field has made, but also the challenges we face. In this Note, we pause and take stock of the discussions and deliberations to see what we have learned to date by reviewing the BBLs, highlighting some of the lessons, and identifying a number of key themes such as citizen engagement, political economy analysis and intervention, and the accountability, legitimacy and financial stability of civil society organizations.   

Learning in Social Accountability: Reflections from GPSA’s Brown Bag Lunch Seminars