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Highlights on Social Accountability

May 10-17, 2013
[Upcoming Event]

BBL: Increasing budget transparency at the subnational level - tales from two regions in Cameroon May 28, 2013, 12:30 - 2:00 PM, Room: JB1-075 From 2011 to early 2013, the Budget Transparency Initiative piloted a citizen-centered approach to disseminate simplified budget information of 151 schools, 58 health centers, 28 municipalities, and of the two regional administrations in Cameroons North-West and Adamawa Regions. It built awareness and capacity of government officials and citizens to promote a dialogue around public expenditures through public meetings, interactive radio programs, social media, etc. In this BBL, Governor Ahamat who presided over the initiative in the North-West and Adamawa Regions will share his experience with the different activities undertaken. He will speak about the challenges encountered, how the different contexts of the two pilot regions affected implementation, results, and lessons learned. To RSVP for the event, please send an email to gochieng@worldbank.org. You can also watch the event live online via http://worldbankva.adobeconnect.com/budget-transparency/.
[Upcoming Event]

BBL: Social Resilience: Churning State Fragility and Climate Change June 4, 2013 | 12:30 - 2:00 PM | Room: MC 4-100 Climate change is real, and its effects are particularly severe for the populations of poor countries. This is even truer for the populations of fragile states that often find it even more difficult to adapt to environmental change. Major obstacles mostly include ethnic tensions, corruption, and exclusion. This presentation focuses on fragile regions within politically stable states. It further examines autonomous strategies and assesses bottom-up approaches that can facilitate adaptation at the local level and enhance social resilience. To RSVP for this event, please sent an email to fabiansoria@worldbank.org
[Blog]

Houston - We Have a Problem: When Transparency Does Not Convey Clarity This blog post was a contribution of Michael Jarvis, Senior Private Sector Development Specialist with the World Bank Institute. In this article the author writes about transparency in the extractive industries sector. In the article, he asks if oil and gas investment deals should be public. Most of the legal, economic and industry experts agree, but confusion remains over the meaning of "contract transparency". For example, policy can differ from practice. In some of the over 20 countries that disclose oil, gas or mining deals, it is still hard to find the contract information. In others where there is no legal requirement to disclose, information is nonetheless easily available. To read this blog post, please click here.

[Report]

The 2013 Resource Governance Index The Revenue Watch Institute has recently released the 2013 Resource Governance Index (RGI) report. The Resource Governance Index (RGI) measures the quality of governance in the oil, gas and mining sectors of 58 countries. The RGI scores and ranks the countries, relying on a detailed questionnaire completed by researchers with expertise in the extractive industries. To download the full report, the country scores and ranks or a summary report, please click here.
[From the Web]

Obama administration Releases Historic Open Data Rules to Enhance Government Efficiency and Fuel Economic Growth The Obama Administration took groundbreaking new steps to make information generated and stored by the Federal Government more open and accessible to innovators and the public, to fuel entrepreneurship and economic growth while increasing government transparency and accountability. To learn about the Administrations complementary actions with its Open Data Policy, please click here. You can also read a blog post by Simon Rogers (Guardian) on May 10, 2013 New White House open data executive order: how does it compare to the British version?.
[WB Blog]

'Citizens Against Corruption: Report from the Front Line' In this blog post, the author (Johanna Martinsson, World Bank External Affairs Operational Communication Department) provides a review of the recently released book "Citizens Against Corruption: Report from the Front Line". This book tells the story of how groups of courageous and dedicated citizens across the globe are taking direct action to root out corruption. Based on extensive practical experience through the work over more than a decade supported by The Partnership for Transparency Fund (PTF), this book shows how ordinary people are no longer prepared to accept the predatory activities of dishonest officials and are successfully challenging their scams. To read the blog post, please click here.
[Document]

How-To Note Series on Social Accountability This collection of resources is a useful set of documents for practitioners, which can be used within and outside the World Bank. Please feel free to share the links to download these documents! Feedback Matters: Establishing Grievance Redress Mechanisms for Bank-Supported Projects (Part 1: Theory) Feedback Matters: Establishing Grievance Redress Mechanisms for Bank-Supported Projects (Part 2: Practice) How, When and Why to Use Demand Side Governance Approaches in Bank Projects Rapid Feedback: The Role of Community Score Cards in Ensuring Accountability Participatory and Third Party Monitoring in World Bank-Financed Projects: What Can Non-state Actors Do? Using Demand Side Governance Approaches to Identify and Manage Risks in Projects

The SA&DFGG team would like to thank Tiago Peixoto (WBIOG), Luiza Nora (SASDS) and Deepa Rai (SASDS) for their contribution to this Weekly Highlights. Please send us any information you would like us to share through the weekly highlights of the Social Accountability Community of Practice! All inputs are appreciated and recognition will be given in this section.
IF YOU WANT TO JOIN THE COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE, PLEASE SEND AN EMAIL TO GOCHIENG@WORLDBANK.ORGGOCHIENG@WORLDBANK.ORG SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT | THE WORLD BANK