HOW DOES SOCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY HELP RESOLVE THE LEARNING CRISIS? For discussion at GPSA Global Partners Forum October 30 – November 1, 2018 GPSA Dissemination Note Summary* Collaborative social accountability: an approach that can improve World Bank interventions in education society governance that involves citizens and civil ­ In the 2015 Sustainable Development Goals, organizations in public decision-making and in countries committed to ensuring inclusive and holding government accountable for its actions ­ quality education for all and promoting lifelong especially in the management of public resources learning. Three years later, the 2018 World (Bousquet et al. 2012).” Development Report warns that education ­ ­ globally is in a ­ crisis. Learning outcomes remain The Global Partnership for Social Accountability poor, schools are ­failing learners, and systems are (GPSA) supports approaches to social ­ accountability failing schools. The WDR identifies policy actions ­ that are collaborative and p ­ roblem-driven. Social to turn around the learning crisis. The 2017-18 accountability is ‘collaborative’ when civil ­ society Global ­Education Monitoring Report calls for broad actors adopt non-confrontational, constructive based engagement of stakeholders to increase ­ strategies aimed at collectively solving problems accountability in education policy and service. and delivering results, as opposed to ­confrontational strategies that are based on the development of ­ civil This document aims to briefly present pathways society’s countervailing power (Fung and Kosack, that can support World Bank teams working with 2014; Guerzovich and Tsai 2014; Guerzovich and ­country stakeholders to address the learning ­crisis. Schommer 2016). It draws on analysis from a forthcoming GPSA Note (‘the Note’) that sets out concrete ways in which The GPSA’s experience illustrates that integrating social accountability, an approach for ­ engaging multi-stakeholder collaborative social accountability citizens and civil society o ­ ublic approaches into education-sector interventions can ­ rganizations in p decision-making and in holding ­ government pay off in terms of achieving, scaling and s ­ ustaining accountable for its actions in the ­ ­ management their results. Collaborative social ­ accountability of public resources, can help their efforts. ­ p rocesses help nurture systemic conditions for change. The Note draws on the approaches taken “Social accountability is an approach to by 14 civil society partnerships in collaboration with www,theGPSA.org | www.gpsaknowledge.org | @GPSA_Org #SocialAcc /1 governments and World Bank teams in 12 communities - is helping to target the ­ immediate ­countries. causes of the learning crisis identified by WDR18. Moreover, because it resets ­ stakeholders’ ­behavior, collaborative social accountability also changes Rethinking Social Accountability for the nature of ongoing ­ public-sector r­eforms and Solving the Learning Crisis systemic dynamics. State officials, providers, ­ citizen groups, and other ­ ­ stakeholders are primed Accelerating learning is more complicated than to ­ address obsta- cles to the ­ implementation it looks. Where available, increased access to of r ­eforms. In so far as collaborative social schooling has not necessarily delivered ­ ­ quality ­accountability joins public authorities and citizens ­ education. Politics and system dynamics get in the in common cause it has the potential for enhanced way of sound design and ­ implementation of policy contestability that can also strengthen the formal that would improve the situation. The 2018 WDR mechanisms by which citizens are engaged in therefore urges practitioners to ­ consider a range such reforms. of entry points and drivers of change. ­ Education ­institutions and actors ­cannot deliver better ­learning through technical solutions only (for ­ example, GPSA’s Strategic and Operational adopting a technically sound ­ ­ decentralization Insights reform). ­ ­ Locally-driven multi-stakeholder ­ reform coalitions are the key to support the effective The GPSA is in a unique position to support implementation of reforms that address the multi-stakeholder processes for learning at ­ ­ country ­learning crisis. level. It is housed in the World Bank’s G ­ overnance Global Practice. It collaborates ­ closely with The education sector abounds with examples of the E ­ducation Global Practice and Country parent and community involvement using social ­ Management Units. It has a broad ­ network of accountability tools in all levels of the education civil society partners who are equally focused on system, from schools to the national policy ­ building capacity and knowledge sharing for social level. ­ Although such engagement leads to valuable accountability. The GPSA is utilizing its c ­ omparative information input, especially at the school level, advantage to support the Education sector’s work ­ there is no consistent evidence of positive impact on operationalizing the 2018 WDR. Below is a brief on student learning outcomes. The tactical use of overview of how the GPSA’s ­ projects are doing so, citizen engagement and social accountability tools grouped according to how they address each of falls short of delivering accelerated learning. the entry points for addressing both the ­ immediate and system-level causes of the learning crisis, This Note introduces a different approach to s listed by the WDR18. ­ ocial ­ accountability’s value-add, taking cues from ­ recent practice in the field. The social ­ accountability Social Accountability and “Acting projects supported by the GPSA take a “ ­ ­second on Evidence to Make Schools generation” approach that involves iterative Work for All Learners” processes of collaborative, multi-stakeholder ­ problem-solving. In the long term, the approach The immediate causes of the learning crisis are ­ helps reset stakeholders’ incentives, ­ preferences, found at the school level. There are a range of and beliefs (i.e. their behavior) to collectively ­ improve sector-specific tools and policies that aim to ­ ­ pursue development goals. the preparedness of learners and ­ teachers, as well as school inputs and school ­ management. The resulting collective action – involving ­education These factors, in turn, improve learning. Social authorities, providers, parents, learners, and their ­ accountability complements these interventions. /2 School management is the entry point for Preparedness of learners and teachers – i.e. their the ­ majority of education-focused projects in skills and motivations – are the focus of several the ­ GPSA’s ­ portfolio. These projects address contributing other in the GPSA’s portfolio that are ­ ­ challenges of the implementation of reforms to better education outcomes. They include ­­social ­ centered on ­ decentralization of decision-making in protection, public financial management and the sector. Often, such reforms fail at ­achieving their maternal health and nutrition programs. ­ ­ objectives, because of ­ capacity gaps and power asymmetries that undermine them. ­ Communities In Paraguay, the Ñañomoirũ project implements often lack incentives and ­ tailored processes to take a social accountability process designed to part in school management. ­ accountability Social ­ ­ strengthen the country’s Conditional Cash ­Transfer fills the gap by improving feedback loops that (CCT). The program provides education and health ­ provide information (to ­ address the ­ capacity gap) services to vulnerable and poor populations. The and incentives (to address the ­ power ­asymmetries). project was designed to complement an ongoing World Bank operation and engage beneficiaries for The GPSA’s Linking Education and ­ Accountability better social protection outcomes. Early indicators for Development (LEAD) project ­ operationalized show increased children and teachers’ attendance the Projet d’école (School “improvement” ­ Project) levels. Its lessons informed World Bank projects – a school management-focused part of the on financial inclusion and social protection as well decentralization in Morocco that had stalled ­ as a USAID-funded program focused on school previously. By creating better dialogue among ­ materials and school meals delivery. parents, teachers and school authorities it ­ addressed conflicting incentives and ­ ­ dynamics in The Citizen Voice and Action for Government the system. LEAD has also informed policy ­dialogue ­ Accountability and Improved Health Services between the World Bank and the ­ government. projec in Indonesia is similarly making large strides ­ in improving maternal and child health services in In Mongolia, the Transparency and ­ Accountability remote areas, and is informing new operations. in Mongolian Education (TAME) project ­ introduced The Strengthening Social Accountability in the Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs) in 28 schools, ­ Education Sector project in Malawi emphasized a way to engage school communities that was new teacher absenteeism. Malawi Economic Justice to the country. PTAs are a mechanism to solve Network (MEJN) works with the communities and school level problems through collective ­ action. the Ministry of Education to ensure ­ consistent TAME’s approach has proven to be a ­ vehicle to ­supply of books. The projects are informing work navigate the beliefs of nomad populations as well on citizen engagement in education policies in as risks of political capture at the school level. The ­Malawi. The Making Budgets Work for Ghana World Bank sector team brokered a ­ scaleup of project is using social accountability processes TAME’s PTAs component by building ­ synergies with ­ towards more effective spending of budgets for the school grants component of the ­ WB-financed and at schools. Education Quality Reform ­ ­ Project (EQRP – P148110). This arrangement would ­ allow EQRP to Social Accountability and “Aligning harness social ­ accountability ­mechanisms ­ created Actors to Make the Whole System under the TAME project for achieving its ­ Project Work for Learning” Development Objective (PDO) (i.e. ­ ­ improved The systemic causes of the learning crisis pertain school-level planning), and demonstrates how to system-level failures that are both technical and ­ social accountability ­ mechanisms established political in nature. Overcoming these barriers (such under the TAME project can be mainstreamed to as perverse incentives and competing interests) ­ improve performance of schools and thus that of and aligning actors across the system is critical, the education sector as a whole. but efforts to date have been less than effective. /3 Collaborative social accountability can provide a being used in national decision-making spaces way forward; again, particularly when designed and have informed policy decisions. They also in synergy with ongoing public sector reform informed the World Bank’s Country Partnership ­processes. Framework for 2018-2021 and the World Bank’s Education Reform Project. The GPSA’s project in the Dominican Republic exemplifies such an approach. Set against the ­ Leveraging the GPSA to Support ­ background of ongoing policy reforms, it formed Sectorial Operations for Learning part of a decade-long citizen engagement ­ effort in which several separate but ­ interconnected The GPSA’s experience suggests that c ­ ollaborative initiatives have contributed to a gradual ­ ­ alignment social accountability can complement the sector’s of actors towards learning. The alignment in the actions. Its portfolio provides concrete ­ examples ­ system is visible in the recent adoption of ­ major in a range of contexts. Due to its proximity to ­ policy ­ changes - from increased ­ budgets to World Bank operations and country-level policy improved teacher training and regular ­ ­ learning dialogue, the GPSA has a distinctive entry point to ­ ­assessments. ­Citizen-driven budget ­monitoring opportunities and challenges in ongoing reforms ­ and ­ campaigning, which were the focus of and those in the pipeline. These reforms have the GPSA project as well as other i ­nitiatives, systematically informed GPSA funded projects in ­ ­ contributed to raising the sector’s budget. In the the education sector and will continue to do so. Dominican ­ context, the key to aligning actors In brokering civil society action that fits the World behind a focus on quality of learning was to align ­ Bank’s portfolio and broader reform system, the them in ­ consensus on improving the quality of GPSA is playing a role that no other donor in the spending, first. social accountability space can take on. Social Accountability and The GPSA is uniquely well placed to ­ support ­ “Assessing Learning, to Make it a multi-stakeholder processes at country ­ level. Serious Goal” As ­designed by the GPSA, collaborative ­ social ­ accountability processes provide a vehicle In addition to the immediate and systemic ­ causes to strengthen coalitions for collective action. of the learning crisis, the WDR18 highlights Furthermore, the GPSA can contribute to improved ­ another problem: Learning outcomes are not ­ cross-country knowledge and learning on what ­ measured enough. As a result, education ­ systems works in designing social accountability-based lack an ­understanding of who is learning what, and solutions for sector-technical problems. who is not. Citizen-led assessments on ­ student learning and school performance are well suited ­ The following summarizes a few practical to ­complement official assessments to improve ­ takeaways on how the GPSA can support Bank diagnostics and in turn, improve p ­ ­olicy. Such project teams, divided in operational, advisory and citizen data can shape the ­ ­ behavioral ­ incentives experimental ways: of ­stakeholders across the system, ­ particularly when coupled with other political ­ actions for 1) Operational: the GPSA can support Bank task ­ uptake. In the GPSA’s projects, tools such as teams with coalition-building activities that help ­ Participatory ­ Scorecards are yielding crucial achieve a Bank project’s PDO, while ­ helping ­ information from parents, students, teachers and fulfill corporate requirements such as the it to ­ other ­stakeholders. In Moldova for example, data Citizen ­ Engagement Framework. It ­ brokers collected through the Scoala Mea project is used to ­ ­ country-specific efforts, engaging civil ­ society discussions and actions among and across trigger ­ ­ actors in reform e ­fforts. It supports project 100 school ­ communities, including about learning development, ­ ­ implementation, assessment and /4 risk management. 2) Advisory: The GPSA could provide advice to ensure that social accountability ­ ­ processes are defined and embedded upstream in the ­ ­ initial ­ definition of development partners’ sectoral ­operations. 3) Experimentation: The GPSA provides an opportunity to fund innovation and experimentation ­ with seed funding. This can include citizen-state collaboration around basic service delivery. All GPSA new projects align civil society efforts to ­ operations and policy dialogue to better inform World Bank teams. This document was prepared by Florencia Guerzovich, Maria Poli and Emilie Fokkelman, and draws on the upcoming GPSA Dissemination Note ‘Social Accountability and Citizen Engagement for Learning’ (abstract published June 8, 2018 at https://ssrn.com/abstract=3193036). The authors would like to thank the following contributors: the project teams and World Bank team leaders of mentioned GPSA projects for their project information (by project name: Linking Education and Accountability for Development project in Morocco; Transparency and Accountability in Mongolian Education; Ñañomoirũ ­ Social Accountability Project for Tekoporã Program in Paraguay; Citizen Voice and Action for Government ­ Accountability and Improved Health Services in Indonesia; Strengthening Social Accountability in the Education Sector in Malawi; Malawi Social Accountability Strengthening Project; Making the Budget Work for Ghana; Scoala Mea in Moldova; Good ­ Governance Practices for the Dominican Republic Project and Improved Social Accountability for Bettering Preschool Quality in Georgia); Steve Commins for guidance on the WDR 2018; Jeff Thindwa, Mauricio Ibanez, and Diana Ya-Wai Chung for their review. /5