The Role of Civic Engagement in Enhancing Service Provision and Government Accountability
Globally, new forms of engagement have emerged between citizens and the state to challenge assumptions that government accountability can be guaranteed by democratic elections alone, or through “horizontal accountability,” the process whereby public officials and agencies report “sideways” to other officials. These new forms of engagement are typified by the participation of community groups, NGOs, and citizens in setting and pursuing broad societal goals. There are a number of ways in which civil society engagement can reinforce the structures of accountability that characterize good government. Monitoring by civil society, augmented by citizen feedback on public services, signals the government and its agencies areas where they need to increase accountability. In addition to exerting pressure from outside government, civil society can participate directly in government institutions by taking on the responsibility for official executive oversight. Civil society can also directly serve the poor, who are critically interested in service provision, by taking on responsibility for social service delivery, especially when state resources and capacity are over-stretched, and where local knowledge and community involvement are especially important.
State and civil society actors play complementary roles in bringing about civic engagement. In some cases, states actively facilitate the participation of civil society; in other cases, civil society must exert pressure on the state to open spaces for its participation. The most productive results occur, however, when both parties cooperate to identify avenues for civil society participation. In Ukraine today, there appear to be conditions for an alliance between reform-minded public officials and strong civil society organizations in the interest of increasing government accountability. The Ukrainian Government has articulated a medium-term agenda that calls for developing a middle class; guaranteeing a framework of human rights and freedoms, improving environmental sustainability; reducing regional imbalances; and strengthening transparency and accountability. This agenda provides a framework for linking citizen voice and responsive government, as well as specific entry points for civic engagement activities. Civic Engagement under the new Country Assistance Strategy The civic engagement strategy in the current Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) for 2004–2007 has opted for a selective approach. The result of several discussions by the World Bank staff in Ukraine, this strategy has a two-fold objective: to seek government assistance in attaining stated objectives of transparency and accountability; and to build consensus with vocal external actors regarding the Bank’s agenda and activities to maintain dialogue with external stakeholders in order to better understand local situations. These objectives of the civic engagement strategy are inherently linked to the proposed CAS objectives of facilitating an inclusive and responsive government, strengthening civil society, and improving the accountability of public officials. With respect to ensuring government responsiveness to the community, the importance of a strong civil society cannot be understated, and the Bank’s activities for empowering civil society will continue to be an important mainstay of the new CAS. On-going Programs. Our direct involvement with civil societyincludes projects that have: § published and distributed an NGO bulletin; § maintained a Small Grants Program; § created an NGO contact group. § led to the organization of the Innovation Days and Knowledge Forums; and § allowed for the continuation of the People’s Voice project. |
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