Summary

In this Study Session, you have learned that:

• Social accountability means holding public officials and service providers to account for their actions and performance. It can improve service delivery and community empowerment in WASH projects.
  
• Factors that provide an enabling environment for social accountability include organised community groups, responsive government officials, access to information and sensitivity to culture and context.
  
• Mechanisms for social accountability include participation by citizens and community groups in project planning, budgeting and monitoring.
  
• The relationship between participation and social accountability is important in influencing government officials and community representatives to respect the wider community and bring about improvement of urban WASH services.
  
• Social responsibility is linked to personal accountability and refers to the attitudes of responsible citizens and organisations that consider the impacts of their actions on the wider community.