Answer: Social accountability has been defined as an approach in which ordinary citizens and citizen groups participate directly or indirectly in exacting accountability. In a public sector context, social accountability refers to a wide range of actions and mechanisms that citizens, communities, independent media and civil society organizations can use to hold public officials accountable. Challenges and vulnerabilities associated with social accountability initiatives

• Resistance to reform: Since Social Accountability initiatives upset the vested interests who have an incentive to maintain the status quo, there is much resistance to reform.
• Risk of collusion: There is always a risk of collusion between various actors in the form of false claims regarding conducting such initiatives, data manipulation, deliberate dereliction of duties etc.
• Co-option: Often times citizens, especially powerful members of the community, are themselves co-opted by those from whom accountability is demanded, resulting in citizens not speaking up against corruption, and refusing to co-operate in Social Accountability efforts.
• Disruption by powerful vested interests: Citizens engaged in Social Accountability initiatives risk being threatened by those who have benefitted from the lack of accountability. Thereby, making them hesitant in participating and speaking up.
• Lack of support from government agencies: Citizens are expected to challenge entrenched power dynamics and take risk but support from the government in case of any collective action is abysmal.
• Lack of effective grievance redressal: Timely, strict and unfailing follow-up action on Social Accountability findings through effective grievance redressal mechanisms is not done.

Policy measures required to institutionalize these initiatives

• Decentralization: For each scheme, a detailed activity mapping exercise should be carried out, following the “principle of subsidiarity.”
• Information and awareness: Compliance with Section 4 of RTI Act must be strictly enforced for proactive disclosure. Moreover, every scheme must have a comprehensively thought out information dissemination policy and a well maintained website to ensure citizen’s awareness.
• Capacity building and community mobilization: There should be a detailed training strategy for the officials, as well as citizens who are assigned roles in the initiatives.
• Grievance redressal: A clear procedure for grievance redressal should be established with strict timelines, 24×7 helplines at district level and facility to register grievances and track redressals online.
• Making social accountability mandatory: Every scheme document should include social accountability initiative mandatorily, along with specification about which social accountability tools should be used, and the guidelines for them as well.
• Assessment of social accountability: Periodic assessment must be undertaken. Independent assessors from the civil society must be made part of the assessment team.

Evidence from around the world suggests that social accountability mechanisms can contribute to improved governance, increased development effectiveness through better service delivery, and citizen empowerment. Thus, aforementioned measures should be undertaken in a fast-paced manner to reap the benefits of institutionalizing these initiatives.