civil society
At the Accra High Level Forum in 2008 donors and aid recipients proclaimed „We will make aid more transparent“. The rational of this promise was, that transparency will increase aid effectiveness, curb corruption and enhance democratic participation of civil society. In fact, in recent years a number of authors and institutions have suggested that transparency can be a powerful tool to promote governance – in aid and in other areas of government. But how exactly does this tool work? What are the processes that transform access to information into better governance? And what are the conditions that need to be in place for these processes to „work“? In the following discussion I suggest, that there are four key elements that need to be considered for successful transparency initiatives: open data, transflation of data into information, feedback and action of civil society and change in government institutions. My objective is to start developing a mental map of transparency mechanisms which hopefully results in successful transparency strategies.
To increase accountability it is necessary to strengthen the capacity of civil society to understand, monitor and improve budget processes and outcomes in developing countries. An excellent example of social accountability is given in the following video published by the International Budget Partnership: In Kenya, members of parliament receive approximately one million dollars per year to spend on development projects in their constituencies through a scheme called the Constituency Development Fund. The MPs are able to spend this money with no meaningful Independent oversight. Citizen oversight was one the mechanism employed by Kenyan NGO Muslims for Human Rights (MUHURI)to track and monitor the reality and quality of CDF community projects. Read more »
Open Budgets is a blog on citizen participation in the government budget process aiming at better and more responsive government budgets.
PEP-NET is a European network of activists of e-Participation. PEP-NET members include public administration, consultancy firms, scientists and citizen organizations.