Community Scorecards
A Tool for Accountability and Information Flow
Steps in a Community Scorecard Process
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Flow of Information in a Community Scorecard Process
Some of Our Experience with Community Scorecards
Over the years, people working for the cause of development have begun to realize that certain key ingredients in the development equation have often been lacking. One of these ingredients is good systems of communication. For the services that contribute to development to improve, information must flow, but unfortunately, those who are providing services often have no idea what the users of those services think of it. Do people see it as a quality service? Do they see it as reliable? Are they happy with their relations with the service provider? Managers of services such as water, electricity, education, agricultural extension, etc. often do not have answers to these questions. Because of this, improvements in the service do not come, and development is slowed down.
Another ingredient that has often been in short supply is good governance.
Good governance has many elements, but we will mention just one here:
accountability. Government accountability has often been weak, and where it does
exist, usually it is upward accountability - that is, government service
providers account to those above them in the government hierarchy: the local
officer accounts to the District Director, the District Director accounts to the
Regional Director, the Regional Director accounts to his or her Ministry
headquarters in the capital city, the District Assembly accounts to the Ministry
of Finance and Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, etc. But in a
democracy, there should also be downward accountability - that is, government
accounts to the citizens.
In fact, responsibilities are not only one-way. When the Ministry of Finance disburses funds to a District Assembly, both the central government and the District Assembly are providing something: central government is providing resources and the District Assembly is helping central government to put those resources to good use. These two-way responsibilities also exist when government provides resources to a community for some project: both sides have some responsibility to the other.
So rather than upward accountability or downward accountability, perhaps we should be aiming toward mutual accountability. When mutual accountability is achieved, then trust relations can be strengthened and governance improved.
The community scorecard process is a way of improving information flow between citizens and service providers and working towards mutual accountability. It is a means by which community members assess the performance of public services and interact with the service providers to express their concerns.
Flow of Information in a Community Scorecard Process
Some of Our Experience in Community Scorecards
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