Social accountability in situations of conflict and fragility

Abstract

Donor support to social accountability in fragile and conflict-affected states is a relatively new phenomenon. It has emerged with the lessons that top-down anticorruption approaches have often failed and different approaches are needed to improve state accountability to its people. With increasing support to fragile and conflict-affected states, donors should focus their efforts to: identify and support local accountability measures; strengthen partnerships across sectors, as well as demographic and geographic divides; and support collaborative governance and capacity building to strengthen the social contract between state and society in the wake of crisis.