Publication:
Chatbots for Third-Party Monitoring: CivicTech Pilot in Madagascar

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Files in English
English PDF (136.93 KB)
417 downloads
Date
2020-06
ISSN
Published
2020-06
Editor(s)
Abstract
Growing evidence confirms that citizen engagement is key to improving the delivery and quality of public services, management of public finances, and to promoting social inclusion, resulting in tangible improvements in people’s lives. The advent and availability of new technologies provide new opportunities to reach citizens, aggregate their ‘voice’ and demand, help governments respond, and partner with citizens to find and implement solutions collectively. With the right approach, CivicTech enables citizens to overcome income, social, and geographical barriers to interact with governments and participate at the local or national level. The CivicTech pilot in Madagascar supported the development of a Facebook ChatBot (bot) to enable third-party monitoring of service delivery operations for the Madagascar Public Sector Performance Project (PAPSP, P150116). A similar approach could be replicated for Community Driven Development (CDD) projects and local government and decentralized service delivery projects to achieve a multi-channel structure for third-party monitoring (offline, mobile, and web). The note documents the CivicTech pilot experience in Madagascar and lessons learned.
Link to Data Set
Citation
Rakotomalala, Olivia; Peixoto, Tiago; Kumagai, Saki. 2020. Chatbots for Third-Party Monitoring: CivicTech Pilot in Madagascar. Governance Notes;No. 23. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/34076 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.
Associated URLs
Report Series
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue

Related items

Showing items related by metadata.

  • Publication
    Use of Social Accountability Tools and Information Technologies in Monitoring and Evaluation
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2011-02) Sharma, Rajiv
    This note attempts to cover the basic concepts relating to the use of social accountability and information technology to monitor and evaluate public services and other governance processes that affect citizens. With the help of simple though practical examples that use these concepts, the note explains how to bring a qualitative change in monitoring and evaluation by making the whole process more citizen centered and outcome oriented. In turn, these practices can help improve the quality of service delivery. The note also covers a few country-specific initiatives from India to support the related arguments.
  • Publication
    Closing the Feedback Loop : Can Technology Bridge the Accountability Gap?
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2014-05-19) Gigler, Björn-Sören; Bailur, Savita; Gigler, Björn-Sören; Bailur, Savita
    Enhanced transparency, accountability, and government or donor responsiveness to people needs are imperative to achieve better and more sustainable development results on the ground. The rapid spread of new technologies is transforming the daily lives of millions of poor people around the world and has the potential to be a real game changer for development. Improved accountability and responsiveness are critical for reaching the goals of eliminating extreme poverty and promoting shared prosperity with a focus on improving the well-being of the most vulnerable and marginalized groups in society. Within the broader political economy context, many questions remain unanswered about the role that new technologies can play to act as an accelerator for closing the accountability gap. Within this context, this report brings together new evidence from leading academics and practitioners on the effects of technology-enabled citizen engagement. The report aims to address the following four main questions: how do new technologies empower communities through participation, transparency, and accountability?; are technologies an accelerator for closing the accountability gap - the space between supply (governments, service providers) and demand (citizens, communities,civil society organizations) that must be bridged for open and collaborative governance?; under what conditions does this occur?; and what are the experiences and lessons learned from existing grassroots innovators and donor-supported citizen engagement and crowdsourcing programs, and how can these programs be replicated or scaled up?. The report presents a theoretical framework about the linkages between new technologies, participation, empowerment, and the improvement of poor people's human well-being based on Amartya Sen's capability approach. The book provides rich case studies about the different factors that influence whether or not information and communication technology (ICT)-enabled citizen engagement programs can improve the delivery and quality of public services to poor communities. The report analyzes in depth both the factors and process of using new technologies to enhance the delivery of primary health services to pregnant women in Karnataka, India, and of several community mapping and crowdsourcing programs in Guinea, Haiti, Kenya, Libya, Sudan, and other countries.
  • Publication
    The Loch Ness Model : Can ICTs Bridge the Accountability Gap?
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2014) Gigler, Bjorn-Soren; Bailur, Savita; Anand, Nicole
    Can information and communication technologies (ICTs) empower through participation, transparency, and accountability and if so, under which conditions? Theory and practice demonstrate that technologies can empower citizens to hold governments and international donors accountable, but true accountability will only result from recognizing the gap between supply (governments, international donors, service providers) and demand (citizens, civil society organizations, communities) and considering how to bridge it from both sides. ICT-enabled initiatives have contributed to shrinking this accountability gap, yet in many cases, it remains open. In this paper, the authors develop a framework for analyzing how technologies can accelerate efforts to close the gap, which the authors call the loch ness model. The authors offer reasons why the gap remains open and put forth recommendations for closing it.
  • Publication
    Integrating Social Accountability Approaches into Extractive Industries Projects
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-05) Heller, Katherine; van Wicklin III, Warren; Kumagai, Saki
    This note provides guidance on how to use social accountability (SA) approaches in oil, gas, and mining projects, with particular emphasis on World Bank projects in the extractive industry (EI) sectors. It highlights some consequences of poor transparency and accountability in EI sectors and identifies opportunities for addressing these issues. It demonstrates how the use of SA approaches and tools can improve the implementation and outcomes of EI projects. Although the note is written primarily for a World Bank/International Finance Corporation (IFC) audience and project cycle, it is hoped that it will be a resource for government, industry, and civil society partners as well.
  • Publication
    Procurement Monitoring and Social Accountability
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2009) World Bank
    The devolution of procurement responsibilities to local levels of government is increasingly occurring across South Asia. This trend is significant because increasingly localized decision-making better enables communities to hold government authorities accountable for the effectiveness of public spending, which can lead to various improved development outcomes, such as improvements in quality of service delivery; greater empowerment and understanding by end-users services supplied through public procurement processes; and improved oversight and accountability of service delivery agencies. The objective of this report is to set out an overview of the strategic approach developed by World Bank Institute (WBI) as a component of the Norwegian governance trust fund (NTF) program `procurement and service delivery: establishing effective collaboration between government and beneficiaries on monitoring procurement outcomes`. WBI received funds under the NTF to facilitate the development of context and audience-specific knowledge products by recognized practitioners and civil society organizations in South Asia as part of a broader effort to create a practical curriculum on social accountability in procurement.

Users also downloaded

Showing related downloaded files

  • Publication
    World Development Report 2024
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-08-01) World Bank
    Middle-income countries are in a race against time. Many of them have done well since the 1990s to escape low-income levels and eradicate extreme poverty, leading to the perception that the last three decades have been great for development. But the ambition of the more than 100 economies with incomes per capita between US$1,100 and US$14,000 is to reach high-income status within the next generation. When assessed against this goal, their record is discouraging. Since the 1970s, income per capita in the median middle-income country has stagnated at less than a tenth of the US level. With aging populations, growing protectionism, and escalating pressures to speed up the energy transition, today’s middle-income economies face ever more daunting odds. To become advanced economies despite the growing headwinds, they will have to make miracles. Drawing on the development experience and advances in economic analysis since the 1950s, World Development Report 2024 identifies pathways for developing economies to avoid the “middle-income trap.” It points to the need for not one but two transitions for those at the middle-income level: the first from investment to infusion and the second from infusion to innovation. Governments in lower-middle-income countries must drop the habit of repeating the same investment-driven strategies and work instead to infuse modern technologies and successful business processes from around the world into their economies. This requires reshaping large swaths of those economies into globally competitive suppliers of goods and services. Upper-middle-income countries that have mastered infusion can accelerate the shift to innovation—not just borrowing ideas from the global frontiers of technology but also beginning to push the frontiers outward. This requires restructuring enterprise, work, and energy use once again, with an even greater emphasis on economic freedom, social mobility, and political contestability. Neither transition is automatic. The handful of economies that made speedy transitions from middle- to high-income status have encouraged enterprise by disciplining powerful incumbents, developed talent by rewarding merit, and capitalized on crises to alter policies and institutions that no longer suit the purposes they were once designed to serve. Today’s middle-income countries will have to do the same.
  • Publication
    Global Economic Prospects, June 2025
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-06-10) World Bank
    The global economy is facing another substantial headwind, emanating largely from an increase in trade tensions and heightened global policy uncertainty. For emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs), the ability to boost job creation and reduce extreme poverty has declined. Key downside risks include a further escalation of trade barriers and continued policy uncertainty. These challenges are exacerbated by subdued foreign direct investment into EMDEs. Global cooperation is needed to restore a more stable international trade environment and scale up support for vulnerable countries grappling with conflict, debt burdens, and climate change. Domestic policy action is also critical to contain inflation risks and strengthen fiscal resilience. To accelerate job creation and long-term growth, structural reforms must focus on raising institutional quality, attracting private investment, and strengthening human capital and labor markets. Countries in fragile and conflict situations face daunting development challenges that will require tailored domestic policy reforms and well-coordinated multilateral support.
  • Publication
    Global Economic Prospects, January 2025
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-01-16) World Bank
    Global growth is expected to hold steady at 2.7 percent in 2025-26. However, the global economy appears to be settling at a low growth rate that will be insufficient to foster sustained economic development—with the possibility of further headwinds from heightened policy uncertainty and adverse trade policy shifts, geopolitical tensions, persistent inflation, and climate-related natural disasters. Against this backdrop, emerging market and developing economies are set to enter the second quarter of the twenty-first century with per capita incomes on a trajectory that implies substantially slower catch-up toward advanced-economy living standards than they previously experienced. Without course corrections, most low-income countries are unlikely to graduate to middle-income status by the middle of the century. Policy action at both global and national levels is needed to foster a more favorable external environment, enhance macroeconomic stability, reduce structural constraints, address the effects of climate change, and thus accelerate long-term growth and development.
  • Publication
    World Bank Annual Report 2024
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-10-25) World Bank
    This annual report, which covers the period from July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024, has been prepared by the Executive Directors of both the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA)—collectively known as the World Bank—in accordance with the respective bylaws of the two institutions. Ajay Banga, President of the World Bank Group and Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors, has submitted this report, together with the accompanying administrative budgets and audited financial statements, to the Board of Governors.
  • Publication
    Business Ready 2024
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-10-03) World Bank
    Business Ready (B-READY) is a new World Bank Group corporate flagship report that evaluates the business and investment climate worldwide. It replaces and improves upon the Doing Business project. B-READY provides a comprehensive data set and description of the factors that strengthen the private sector, not only by advancing the interests of individual firms but also by elevating the interests of workers, consumers, potential new enterprises, and the natural environment. This 2024 report introduces a new analytical framework that benchmarks economies based on three pillars: Regulatory Framework, Public Services, and Operational Efficiency. The analysis centers on 10 topics essential for private sector development that correspond to various stages of the life cycle of a firm. The report also offers insights into three cross-cutting themes that are relevant for modern economies: digital adoption, environmental sustainability, and gender. B-READY draws on a robust data collection process that includes specially tailored expert questionnaires and firm-level surveys. The 2024 report, which covers 50 economies, serves as the first in a series that will expand in geographical coverage and refine its methodology over time, supporting reform advocacy, policy guidance, and further analysis and research.