Introduction and Social Accountability Concepts

Social accountability and the public financial management cycle

Social accountability in practice can take many forms and can and should be adapted to fit a particular country or region’s circumstances. In this presentation, we introduce several key social accountability tools related to the public financial management cycle, covering their main features, implementation methodologies, and their abilities to strengthen accountability and improve public sector performance.

The readings and presentations contained here use real-life success stories to illustrate selected social accountability tools, including participatory budgeting, budget review and analysis, expenditure tracking, and performance monitoring. We also discuss the different types of outcomes that social accountability approaches can generate.

While implemented at different stages of the public financial management cycle, these tools are all means to an end - giving ordinary citizens the means to generate demand for and ultimately improve governance at the local, regional, and national levels.

	Learning objectives By the end of this module you will:
	Understand the relationship between the public financial management cycle and related social accountability tools Identify some key social accountability tools and describe how they relate to the public financial management cycle Explain the different types of outcomes generated by social accountability approaches