Thematic Areas
Social accountability is an approach aimed at fostering accountability, relying on the active participation of ordinary citizens or civil society organizations (CSOs), both explicitly and implicitly, in demanding accountability. It encompasses a wide range of actions and mechanisms that citizens, communities, and CSOs can employ to hold public officials and service providers accountable for their actions and decisions.
Traditionally, efforts to address the challenge of accountability have primarily focused on improving the ‘supply-side’ of governance. These efforts utilize methods such as political checks and balances, administrative rules and procedures, auditing requirements, and formal law enforcement agencies like courts and the police. However, these ‘top-down’ accountability mechanisms have often yielded limited success in many countries.
In recent years, there has been a growing recognition of the importance of the ‘demand side’ of good governance, aiming to strengthen the voice and capacity of citizens, particularly the poor, marginalized, and discriminated citizens, to directly demand greater accountability and responsiveness from public officials and service providers.
At GoGo Foundation, we strive to enhance the capacity of citizens to engage with public service providers and politicians in a more informed, direct, and constructive manner by utilizing various social accountability tools. These tools include Public Hearings, Public Audits, Social Audits, Citizen Report Cards, Community Score Cards, Public Expenditure Tracking Surveys, and Community Monitoring, among others.
Given that demanding social accountability from public institutions is a relatively new mechanism, especially in rural areas, capacity building is of paramount importance. GoGo is actively involved in the capacity development of community-based organizations, citizens, and its district-based partners, enabling them to effectively and competently utilize social accountability tools.
Furthermore, GoGo Foundation has been working to institutionalize these SA mechanisms by integrating them into existing governance structures and service delivery systems. We firmly believe that the effectiveness and sustainability of SA mechanisms are enhanced only when they are fully ‘institutionalized,’ and when the state’s own ‘internal’ mechanisms of accountability are made open to civic engagement.
Governance refers to the manner in which public officials and institutions acquire and wield political power to manage a country’s affairs and resources. Good governance has been a central focus in development discourse for over a decade now. Developing and least developed countries, such as Nepal, have faced significant pressures at all levels to foster a more dynamic, proactive, and inclusive culture of citizen engagement in decision-making processes, and to streamline service delivery and governance through landmark legislation like the Good Governance (Management & Operation) Act. Nepal became the first country in South Asia to enact this law in 2006.
The evolving role of the state underscores the imperative to transcend bureaucratic structures and engage beyond immediate circles of participation, reaching out to broader segments of the community. Engaging citizens in governance beyond electoral processes is an emerging phenomenon in governance discourse and is a vital aspect of participatory governance today. In recent decades, increasing political commitment at the highest levels in Nepal has aimed to give citizens a greater voice in public decision-making, particularly by involving marginalized and discriminated communities and groups to enhance the state’s responsiveness and accountability to their needs and priorities.
Good governance and anti-corruption represent core thematic areas for GoGo. The organization focuses on empowering the ‘demand side’ to enable people to assert their entitlements to public goods and services. Through advocacy efforts at the policy level and regular in-house radio programs and bulletins disseminating cases of governance failures and corruption issues, GoGo bridges these concerns to the policy arena. Furthermore, GoGo collaborates with local FM radio stations to broadcast anti-corruption messages and jingles, fostering grassroots demand for good governance and utilizing social accountability tools to engage citizens in demanding accountability and transparency.
Moreover, GoGo conducts research on governance and anti-corruption issues and communicates its findings directly to policymakers. The organization also collaborates with anti-graft bodies such as the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), Office of the Auditor General Nepal (OAGN), Parliamentary Committees, National Information Commission (NIC) including the National Vigilance Centre (NVC) to enhance their capacity and adopt a partnership approach to strengthen campaigns for good governance and corruption control in Nepal.
Nepal was the first country in the South Asian region to formally recognize the Right to Information (RTI) within its constitution. Article 16 of the 1990 Constitution and Article 27 of the incumbent Federal Constitution in 2015 both guarantee the right to information as a fundamental right. The enactment of the comprehensive Right to Information Act in 2007 further solidifies Nepal’s commitment to this principle.
RTI is recognized as one of the eight basic consumer rights according to the UN Guidelines on Consumer Protection and is enshrined in our Consumer Protection Act. With this constitutional and legal backing, Nepali citizens have the right to question the government, demand better performance, and hold it accountable for the actions taken and resources allocated in various development and welfare programs.
GoGo Foundation believes that when people begin to demand information and details on government spending, public officials will have fewer opportunities to remain opaque or misallocate public funds. Promoting good governance often hinges on creating substantial public demand for accountability and transparency, and the RTI law possesses the power to generate such demand.
RTI has empowered Nepali citizens to exercise greater oversight of government functioning, enhancing transparency and accountability in governance. It revitalizes the ‘social contract’ between the state and citizenry, bolstering public trust in government machinery. From the development sector to service delivery and aid effectiveness, RTI serves as the cornerstone of transparency and accountability in all these areas.
GoGo strongly asserts that RTI is fundamental to realizing socio-economic rights, including civil and political rights. To ensure the effective application of this landmark legislation, increased access to public information must be guaranteed. To this end, GoGo operates an RTI Help Desk at its office, offering free services to assist people in drafting RTI applications and filing them with relevant public bodies.
Moreover, GoGo Foundation works tirelessly to raise public awareness and sensitize individuals about the importance of the right to information through media campaigns and capacity development initiatives. It collaborates with community organizations, builds the capacity of individuals and public bodies alike, and fosters local networks to facilitate the broader dissemination of RTI information and promote its informed application within communities. Additionally, the foundation conducts research on various aspects of the right to information and communicates its findings to policymakers through various channels.