NUMBER # 3 APRIL 2011 62227 MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA LOCAL SERVICE DELIVERY INITIATIVE: PROMOTING SOCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY AND DEMAND FOR GOOD GOVERNANCE Sabine Beddies, Mariana Felicio, Gabriel Dedu, Fatou initiatives that focus on citizens as the ultimate Fall, Caroline Vagneron1 stakeholders and strengthens the Bank’s traditional work on the supply-side of Good governance is an underlying condition for governance. The latter mainly focuses on public the formulation of effective and efficient public sector issues. policies, programs, and services. It implies a social contract and adherence to rules and laws Social accountability approaches aim to improve that enable improved interaction between the performance of public services, user government and constituents on transparency, satisfaction, and value for money. This can be accountability, and participation. Good done through analytical work, interventions, governance is equitable and inclusive, responsive sensitization efforts, increased citizen and consensus-oriented. consultations, and participation by and capacity building for NGOs, the media, local communities, Governance reforms rank high on the and the private sector. development agenda of many MENA countries, particularly in regard to public service delivery. The LSDI Pilot Program in MENA: The MENA This has supply-side implications for service Local Service Delivery Initiative (LSDI) looks at providers, and demand-side implications for specific aspects of the demand-side of service users. However, experience to-date governance: enhancing the performance of public suggests that citizen participation in public services in the education sector in Morocco and programs or services is underdeveloped in many Egypt, the water sector in Yemen and the primary countries of the region due to: (a) limited health sector in Egypt. knowledge about the benefits and mechanisms of citizen participation; and, (b) over-centralized political and economic systems that hamper This note highlights lessons learned thus far from citizens and other non-state actors in holding the four LDSI pilot programs outlined below: governments accountable. A. Morocco: Participatory Monitoring and Social Accountability: As part of the Bank’s Evaluation for Education Service Improvement: The Governance and Anti-Corruption (GAC) work, Morocco pilot was initiated in early 2010 to Social Accountability, a key component of the improve the performance of rural primary schools demand side of good governance, encompasses within the framework of the National Initiative for Human Development (INDH)2. The pilot 1 The LSDI team involved Sabine Beddies, Mariana Felicio, introduced a community scorecard methodology Gabriel Dedu, Fatou Fall (MNSSO) and Caroline Vagneron in six primary schools to promote partnership (MNACS), who collaborated with: Mourad Ezzine, Ernesto Cuadra, Mahmoud Gamal el Din, Eman Wahby (Egypt between state agencies, school staff and Education); Akiko Maeda and Sami Ali (Egypt Health) in communities in monitoring school performance. MNHSD; and Richard Pollard and Bekele Debele Negewo (Yemen Water - WSSP), and Mohamed Medouar (Morocco INDH) in MNSSD. Comments were received by Theodore 2 Dredger (PRMPS). Cleared by Frank Bousquet, Sector The INDH is the largest Community Driven Development Manager MNA Urban-Social (MNSSD). (CDD) operation in the region. For more see: www.indh.gov.ma 1 Results of pilot activities include: The initiative is jointly implemented by the Government of Yemen, GTZ, the Bank, and the Improved prospects for student reading and Water Sector Support project (WSSP). comprehension skills; Increased enrollment and retention rates; Results of pilot activities include: Identification and resource mobilization for pre-school education in three new schools; Communication and outreach gaps of the Improved community ownership, social utility have been assessed and a solidarity and collective action in all target Communication Strategy has been developed areas through regular community groups’ for utility staff and for customers, which is meetings and maintenance of the schools currently being rolled-out. As a result, water (e.g., improved physical appearance of four of distribution schedules are now aired daily on six target schools, refurbished school Sana'a Radio, new water tariffs are printed on libraries). utility bills, utility information leaflets are distributed to the 86,000 utility customers, Success of the Morocco pilot can be explained by and the increase in utility responsiveness to four interrelated factors: customer complaints has resulted in a 50% reduction in complaints. Physical investments include the installation of water filters in schools to raise awareness of water saving and safety; and air-release valves and pressurized water-meters to enhance network efficiency and allow for consumption-based billing. A customer satisfaction survey will be conducted to solicit feedback and suggestions regarding utility performance, communication and outreach. It will use the 2009 Poverty and Social Impact Analysis (PSIA) as baseline. Scale-up options are currently under considerations by WSSP for other cities. B. Yemen: Social Accountability for Service Improvement in the Water Sector: The pilot aims to Other Expected Outcomes: enhance the performance of the Sana’a Local Corporation (water utility) and increase the Improved utility performance and revenues satisfaction of its customers. Improved customer satisfaction and bill payment. While the pilot cannot address Yemen’s structural water crisis, it aims to develop coping mechanisms for dealing with: Unpredictable water availability; Weak accountability relationship between utilities and customers (e.g. customers don’t pay for low quality services, no customer service, illegal connections). 2 A. Egypt: Community Scorecard to Improve Quality learning and accountability of school Performance of Schools: Widening inequalities management. between rich and poor in access to quality The pilot’s launch phase is completed, and education has prompted the Ministry of included one orientation workshop, several Education to lead a broad-based decentralization training of trainers in English, step-down effort in the country. The Community Scorecard training of social workers and facilitators in (CSC) to Improve Quality Performance of Basic3 Arabic. Focus group discussions at school Schools is an experiment to test whether level led to the development of action plans community-based monitoring can influence that are now under implementation. school management quality in primary school. So far, the pilot has shown that: (i) schools The intervention is based on the hypothesis that with participatory School Improvement Plans improving the accountability of teachers (SIPs) are more likely to achieve their targets; positively impacts student performance. Three (ii) students perform better at school if key stakeholders contribute to the accountability parents have information about their equation in the education sector: children’s learning outcomes; (iii) schools with active participation of the Board of Trustees (BOTs) are better managed; (iv) Effectively engage students in learning, including class work, homework, class test etc. addressing school management issues is Know student weaknesses and strengths and paramount to improving students’ academic Teachers employing measures to address weaknesses Improve quality of teaching methods to meet learning outcomes. student needs Other Expected Outcomes: Engage with teachers and ensure stronger accountability relationships between School management and teachers Improvement in academic performance of Management Provide incentive to retain and improve 3,000 students through collective monitoring performance of teachers Promote a healthy school environment to of target students in the impact evaluation motivate effective learning test. Improved responsibility, transparency and Engage with teachers to ensure free flow of accountability of school management (50 information between teachers and parents about student performance schools, 300 teachers). Participate in school and class activities, as Expanded capacity and knowledge of in- Parents required, to contribute to school and student needs country stakeholders on Participatory Support Teachers efforts by helping students Monitoring and Evaluation tools for with homework improved service performance. Results of pilot activities include: B. Egypt: Community Monitoring Process for Improved Quality and Utilization of Primary Health Community scorecards are being Care in Alexandria and Menoufia: This pilot builds implemented in 100 primary schools (50 on the findings of a study on the Egypt Health control, 50 treatment) in all districts (seven) of Sector Reform Project (1997-2008), which revealed the Ismailia Governorate to: (a) improve that despite significant investments in effectiveness of students’ academic learning; infrastructure and quality assurance, health care and, (b) promote greater accountability of services are affected by low utilization levels, school management. An impact evaluation, to caused - among others -by poor accountability of be conducted over the coming months, will providers to patients and limited knowledge of assess the degree to which community health care services benefits. participation influences student academic The pilot aims at improving the quality of service delivery and the level of user satisfaction through: (i) improved citizen and community monitoring 3 In Egypt, “basic” schools refer to primary schools. 3 of health services; and, (ii) improved user- countries contributed to high transaction costs provider relations through systematic user for capacity building (methods and tools) for feedback. implementing agencies government staff, CSOs and community members. The main activities of the pilot include: Lack of local champions for social accountability approaches in the pilot countries required significant resources to sensitize and mobilize stakeholders and affected the timely implementation of the LSDI pilots. Government sensitivity to social accountability remains the most visible challenge to any demand-side of governance work in the region, but there is momentum for change. Mainstreaming social accountability approaches into operational work requires innovative approaches, flexible timelines, and concerted stakeholder efforts. Contact Arab World Briefs: Director, Regional Strategy and Programs Jonathan Walters Arab World Briefs Team: Omer Karasapan, Roby LSDI Lessons Learned: The lessons learned from Fields, and Hafed Al-Ghwell – LSDI so far include: Tel #: (202) 473 8177 Identifying correct entry points for good governance and accountability work, that The Arab World Briefs are intended to summarize strengthen the social contract between lessons learned from the Knowledge and Learning citizens and government, is critical. activities of the World Bank Group and our partners. Improved local service delivery has proven to The Briefs do not necessarily reflect the views of the be an effective one. World Bank, its board or its member countries. Sound understanding of the socio-economic, institutional and political context is decisive. Promotion of social accountability must be strategic, context-specific, flexible, and involve strong stakeholder partnerships. Working in partnership with a range of government and non-state actors (e.g., central and sub-national government, civil society, donors) helps to leverage broad-based support for LSDI programs. Effective capacity building and awareness raising programs represent a key driving force for an effective DFGG agenda in MENA. LSDI Challenges: Limited capacity and knowledge of social accountability approaches in the pilot 4