By Hidaya Muhiden
Public policies have a significant impact on citizens’ daily lives, and they can have both positive and negative effects that impact society’s interests and contentment. A public policy is defined as a purposeful course of action taken by government-connected actors in response to public concerns or issues. It provides a framework for decision-making, guiding behaviour, practices, and activities. The process of formulating, implementing, and evaluating policies involves both official and unofficial policymakers, and the direction and outcome of public policies are largely determined by organised groups and government actors.
Encouraging political transparency and promoting public participation in policy decisions is essential for ensuring that government actions are accountable to the public. In a democratic system, policymakers’ legitimacy is derived from the constitution, but they often rely on information from relevant bureaucratic agencies to make policy decisions. These agencies have sophisticated technical capabilities and access to information, which can influence the policy agenda and the process of developing policy documents. By holding public meetings, consultations, and hearings on important policy decisions, citizens and residents can participate, express their views, and better understand the decision-making process.
Ethiopia is one of the oldest nations in the world. It has traditionally been governed by a monarchical system with a loose rule of law. This has resulted in limited formalised accountability, as power is concentrated in the hands of the monarch, and citizens have limited means to challenge policy decisions. While Ethiopia is now a federal parliamentary republic with both a President and Prime Minister and a multicameral legislature, the legacy of the past takes time to change. For example, the Charities and Societies Proclamation (No. 621/2009) suppressed all human rights work in the country and was only repealed in February 2019. According to Drucza et al. (2020), this proclamation, along with the anti-terrorism proclamation from the same year, had a devastating effect on civil society in Ethiopia, especially on women’s rights organisations.
Accountability for Effective Policy
In developing countries, weak governance is a critical issue that leads to excessive taxation and regressive tax policies. Despite some progress, significant improvements are unlikely without addressing the institutional shortcomings. Promoting accountability among citizens, government agencies, and private providers impacts policy development and resource allocation. Progress can be made by incorporating accountability into policies and programs, encouraging community participation in program delivery and monitoring, and enhancing the governance of economic institutions in developing nations. However, that progress must be inclusive from the start to ensure the state is responsible to all citizens.
Importance of Contextualising Accountability
Achieving sustainable development requires effective governance, coherent policy-making, and careful consideration of complex factors. Accounting for the transboundary and intergenerational impacts at local, regional, national, and global levels is also critical. For strategies and policies to be operational, it is necessary to align them with the cultural norms of the target nation.
However, international aid and development tries to impose best practices rather than develop tailored strategies that fit the specific context of each country. Establishing a comprehensive understanding of the social, political, and governance context, as well as fostering positive relationships between citizens and the state, is essential for a democracy. Strengthening domestic accountability has become a critical aspect of development assistance due to the increasing emphasis on improving governance and reducing poverty. However, past assumptions made by donors regarding local and institutional contexts have led to unsuccessful efforts. As a result, many countries now exhibit outward signs of accountability without necessarily possessing its full functionalities.
This is the case in Ethiopia, where policy actors, including formal and informal individuals and groups, play a significant role in achieving policy goals. However, the traditional bureaucratic structure is challenged by the increasing use of alternative information sources and the growing influence of public interest and advocacy groups. The management of administrative knowledge is effectively contested by the proliferation of think tanks, advocacy groups, and research organisations before legitimacy is properly established (Nigussie 2020). Successive Ethiopian governments have squashed civil liberties as a means of maintaining control.
The discourse surrounding citizen-state relations and accountability is particularly relevant in developing nations, where democratic processes may be less established or fragile. By promoting transparency, answerability, and enforceability, developing nations can build trust with their citizens and foster more effective governance.
Ethiopia Case Study
Citizen-state relations and accountability in developing nations constitute a growing body of knowledge. This expansion is partly attributable to the persistent interest and discourse surrounding democratic processes and the commitment to assist governments in becoming more responsive to their citizens. Three key accountability components—transparency, answerability, and enforceability—are essential in promoting effective citizen-state relations. Transparency ensures citizens can access information about the state’s commitments and outcomes. Answerability requires that citizens can demand justification for the state’s actions. Enforceability empowers citizens to sanction the state if it fails to meet established standards.
The challenge of engaging the public in addressing issues related to service delivery has been a longstanding one in Ethiopia. To build upon the successes of a pilot program implemented from 2006 to 2009, the government, in collaboration with its development partners, launched the second phase of the Ethiopia Social Accountability Program in 2011. The Ethiopia Social Accountability Program (ESAP) aimed to empower citizens, strengthen civil society, encourage citizen engagement in public spaces, modify how public officials interact with citizens, and improve service delivery (Campbell et al., 2020). The program sought to foster an environment where citizens could hold service providers accountable for their actions. To achieve this goal, the ESAP collaborated with civil society organisations nationwide, who worked with local communities to evaluate and provide feedback on public service providers such as hospitals and schools.
ESAP has successfully empowered community leaders and organisations to develop and advocate for policy recommendations publicly supported by elected officials, service providers, and community leaders (World Bank, n.d.). Furthermore, the program has encouraged local officials to collaborate closely with these new organisations. Pilot testing has also been conducted to integrate the Rural Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP) with social accountability mechanisms to address the needs of Ethiopia’s most vulnerable populations.
The primary goal of social accountability institutions is to enhance governance by fostering engagement between citizens, CSOs, and government officials. Building capacity among citizens and CSOs is especially important in low-income countries, where there are limited opportunities for participation. ESAP focuses on forging new partnerships among CSOs, citizens, and public officials to promote social accountability relationships and improve service delivery quality.
Overall, ESAP has had a transformative impact on local governance, citizen empowerment, participation, service delivery, and accountability. The program encourages greater cooperation and dialogue among citizens and public officials, improving service delivery. This shift is associated with increased engagement in civil society organisations, public agendas, and access to information and governance knowledge.
While such social accountability programmes have improved state-society relations and built capacity for good governance, they have not always promoted gender equality as rigorously as required. For example, Kuss et al. (n.d) found that “women’s representation in PSNP decision-making structures (committees and other units) is rarely 50 per cent. Furthermore, they were mixed perceptions about their effective participation in those spaces.” This would be an area for improvement for social accountability programmes such as the ESAP. Understanding how women participate in social accountability processes that shape the PSNP and how loudly their voices are heard and incorporated is an important area for further study.
Conclusion
Ethiopia has a long history of monarchical governance. Encouraging political transparency and public participation in policy decisions is crucial for ensuring accountable government actions. Public policies have a significant impact on citizens’ daily lives, and their development involves both official and unofficial policymakers. The process of formulating, implementing, and evaluating policies is influenced by organised groups and government actors. A comprehensive understanding of the social, political, and governance context is essential for implementing effective development strategies.
Promoting accountability among citizens, government agencies, and private providers impacts policy development and resource allocation. Progress can be made by incorporating accountability into policies and programs, encouraging community participation in program delivery and monitoring, and enhancing the governance of economic institutions in developing nations. Public meetings, consultations, and hearings enable citizens to participate, express their opinions, and gain insight into the decision-making process.
The discourse surrounding citizen-state relations and accountability is particularly relevant in developing nations, where democratic processes may be less established or fragile. Democracies must prioritise political transparency and public involvement in policy decisions for governments to be accountable to citizens. By promoting transparency, answerability, and enforceability, developing nations can build trust with their citizens and foster more effective governance. However, the processes for public involvement need to be inclusive of all citizens and all genders from the beginning, or lopsided development will occur, creating future challenges. Who holds policymakers accountable remains an important question for all stages of development.
Reference
- Araya, E.K. (2019) Political control and accountability in Ethiopian rulemaking, Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies. Available at: https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/6301
- Campbell, L. et al. (2020) “Building the Foundation for Accountability in Ethiopia”. World Bank Group. Available at: https://documents.worldbank.org/en/publication/documents-reports/documentdetail/432251611739812449/building-the-foundation-for-accountability-in-ethiopia (Accessed: 07 August 2023).
- Drucza, K., Carmen, MR, Birhanu, B. (2020). The gendering of Ethiopia’s agricultural policies: A critical feminist analysis. Women’s Studies International Forum 83: doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2020.102420
- Kuss, MK, Van Drooghenbroeck, M., Hällström, S., Timar, E and Petitjean, N (n.d.). The implementation of the gender provisions of Ethiopia’s PSNP: What works, what does not, how and why? Gender-Responsive and Age-Sensitive Social Protection (GRASSP) Research Programme. UNICEF Innocenti – Global Office of Research and Foresight.
- Nigussie, H (2020). Policy Actors And Institutions In The Policy Process At Sub-National Level In Ethiopia: The Case Of Oromia Regional State. Journal of Sustainable Development in Africa. 22(2)
- World Bank (no date) Enhancing social accountability in Ethiopia – World Bank. Available at: https://thedocs.worldbank.org/en/doc/640451611673238926-0090022021/original/EnhancingSocialAccountabilityinEthiopia.pdf.
Acknowledgement
This blog is a series to reflect on our learnings from a project under the Growth and Economic Opportunities for Women (GrOW) – East Africa Initiative. GrOW is jointly funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. In collaboration with our partners – WISE for capacity strengthening of key policy actors and Addis PowerHouse for running advocacy efforts – we will enhance women’s economic empowerment (WEE), reduce, recognise and redistribute unpaid care in Ethiopia and strengthen the in-country coalition of key WEE champions. This blog demonstrates how careful we must be while advocating for policy changes and creating spaces for debate – they must be inclusive from the start.