USAID/GHANA?S STRENGTHENING ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISMS PROJECT

In the context of decentralized government, improved accountability offers opportunity to monitor local officials and service delivery outcomes with an eye toward limiting corruption and demanding public services. Social accountability mechanisms strengthen citizens’ capability to gather the requisite information to hold public officials accountable, and demand better services on a day-to-day basis. USAID/Ghana has decided to focus its support for local governance on the fundamental need to strengthen accountability mechanisms for improved development outcomes. Improved accountability is expected to have a significant positive effect on the incentives of politicians and technocrats within local governments to engage in “good governance” as defined by reduced corruption, stronger effort by officials, and improved development spending. This, in turn, is expected to enhance the effectiveness, efficiency and equity of local government capital budgeting and execution while improving citizen perceptions of the quality of governance. Additionally a randomized control trial design for a potential impact evaluation of hierarchical and social accountability mechanisms in local governance and service delivery is critical for determining the cause and effect of project interventions. USAID/Ghana’s Strengthening Accountability Mechanisms Project (GSAM) is therefore a direct response to these identified priorities. The project is characterized by three main components. IMPORTANT NOTE: THE APPLICANT WILL ONLY CARRY OUT COMPONENT 2. Component 2: Improve accountability by enhancing mechanisms of bottom-up social accountability in local governance. This component includes programming aimed at increasing in the quality and quantity of information available to citizens about the effectiveness of development projects funded by local government capital budgets via extensive civil society monitoring, the production of scorecards, and public information campaigns that mobilize citizens to use the scorecards to demand improved development planning and execution.