Vision:

Empowered people advancing transparent, accountable, and participatory governance

Mission:

To facilitate learning and networking among social accountability stakeholders

Core Purpose

ANSA–EAP’s core purpose is “to help improve governance” using SAc approaches and processes.

At its most basic, governance is defined as a decision-making process where decisions are turned into results. For ANSA–EAP, improving governance is a way of decision-making and implementation that aims to achieve desirable and beneficial results for both those who govern and are being governed.

There are two key actors in achieving these desirable and beneficial results: the government, on the one hand, and the citizens, on the other. While the dynamics between governments and citizens are multiple and varied (i.e. from virulent anti-corruption to passive co-optation), ANSA–EAP focuses on constructive engagement between government and citizens and gives emphasis on citizen participation in decision-making processes.

Thus, the core message that ANSA–EAP brings is social accountability—defined as the constructive engagement between citizens and government in monitoring government’s use of public resources to improve service delivery, protect rights, and promote community welfare.

Constructive Engagement

Constructive engagement is the process of building a mature relationship between two naturally opposable parties—i.e. citizens or citizen groups and government—bound together by a given reality. This process of building a mature relationship is characterized by the following:

1. It involves trust-building between the two parties, i.e. builds up incentives toward partnership;
2. It is evidence-based, i.e. involves collection and use of data and information;
3. It is results- or solution-oriented, i.e. with concrete outcomes benefiting the people especially the poor; and
4. It is a sustained and sustainable kind of engagement, i.e. towards developing mature partnerships.

As the term indicates, citizen groups and governments veer away from an adversarial or confrontational stance when they engage constructively. They focus on continuing dialogue and collaborative problem solving. Continuing dialogue means they engage in actions that involve creative inquiry, negotiation, and systematic deliberation. Collaborative problem-solving leads both parties to shared exploration for greater understanding, connection, or possibility (The Co-Intelligence Institute, 2003).

It should be emphasized, however, that while SAc prefers constructive engagement as the default mode in the governance arena, it does not preclude an adversarial or confrontational stance when circumstances dictate, such as when fighting corruption.