Social accountability refers to a range of mechanisms that can help ensure people have more opportunity to influence those in positions of power who make decisions that affect them.
Sarah Lister, director of the U.N. Development Program’s Oslo Governance Center told Devex what this looks like in practice.
The power dynamics that take place in any political context also operate when social accountability mechanisms are being used, she said. “But they do provide one other avenue that can add up with formal horizontal, vertical and other types of accountability mechanisms to ensure democracy is functioning more effectively.”