Social Accountability in Africa - Practitioners' Experiences and Lessons

Published by the Affiliated Network for Social Accountability in Africa (ANSA-Africa), this 234-page book is intended to serve as a knowledge resource to support policy-makers, public policy practitioners, law-makers, public institutions, public managers, the research and academic community, civil society, donor organisations, international and multilateral development agencies, and all those actively involved and concerned with the subject of governance and accountability in Africa. The book presents a range of case studies that are not intended to be academic in nature, but, rather, examine experiences and lessons learned by practitioners who have pioneered social accountability initiatives in their country or sector.

The book begins with an overview chapter presenting data from the Afrobarometer, a research tool for measuring governance and accountability in 19 African countries. The case studies are arranged into three sections, although publishers say all the chapters can stand alone and provide insights into a particular context and approach adopted. The first section focuses on experiences from civil society groups advocating for change. Section two focuses on government initiatives to promote institutional accountability, and section three explores joint initiatives between government, civil society, and private actors to promote accountability and enhance governance.

The book contains the following thirteen chapters:

• Seeking Social Accountability from Provincial Government in South Africa
• Ensuring Social Accountability in Times of Political Crisis in Kenya
• Using the Media to Advance Social Accountability in Uganda
• Monitoring Ourselves - The African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) as a Catalyst for Accountability
• The Role of the Ombudsman in Ensuring an Accountable Public Service - Malawi’s Experience
• Parliamentary Oversight of the HIV and AIDS Pandemic - The Case of Mozambique
• Improving Public Service Delivery: Kenya’s Public Service Reform (2003-2007)
• Leveraging State Accountability: The South African Commission for Gender Equality
• Developing Civil Society’s Budget Monitoring Capacity of HIV and AIDS Resources in Southern and Eastern Africa
• The Local Governance Barometer - Measuring Governance in Madagascar
• Activating Citizens through Community-Based Planning: The Case of Johannesburg
• Towards an Enabling Environment for Social Accountability in Kenya
• Monitoring Resource Flows in Decentralising African States