466 Accountability through Public Opinion
Media, whether commercial or not, can often foster and inspire citizen engagement but it all depends on country and context. On a gigantic scale, people engage voluntarily to create public goods. For example, restoring the graveyard in Malawi (Chris K.’s story). Can we strengthen public accountability by tying citizens’ review of their government to ordinary, daily voluntary public work?
Session V: Achieving Behavior Change in Public Officials through Mobilized Public Opinion This session explored approaches and techniques used in mobilizing public opinion to ensure behavior change among public officials, which would thereby lead to more accountable government. The first speaker stressed that accountability is necessary for the proper functioning of any rights regime. An access-to-information regime, responsive government, and an active part of civil society that specializes in this type of politics are all preconditions for the successful adoption of SA mechanisms. Moreover, SA works best within the cultural and institutional context of a representative democracy. Corollary contextual requirements include cultural, social, and institutional conditions conducive to accountability and access. The second speaker related experiences in deploying CRCs in India and Kenya. The process included the following key components: locating institutional anchors, building awareness and creating consensus, deploying dissemination strategies through media coverage and sponsored campaigns, taking stock of internal champions and external triggers, and codifying good practices. The third speaker talked about the need to couple public scrutiny with open and inclusive policymaking. A cross-nationally comparative analysis of 40 SA projects was carried out using an approach measuring the following: scrutiny of government, proximity of citizens and government, and citizen engagement. Additional ideas that arose during the open forum include the following: • The need for an active journalism profession free from fear and able to mediate the supply and demand sides of governance. • The need to take stock of conditions for systemic change (for example, leadership for progressive change within the government apparatus to overcome strongholds of resistance). • Garnering support of international financial institutions. • Depending on the nature of behavior change, time frames can range from immediate to as long as three generations; one must match length of time given for behavior sought to theory of behavior change. Sometimes people have good reasons for not changing, such as cultural norms.