Summary of Study Session 5

In Study Session 5, you have learned that:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. Mechanisms for social accountability include participation by citizens and community groups in project planning, budgeting and monitoring.
4. 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.
5. 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.