On November 8th Results for Development Institute, in partnership with the Brookings Institution, hosted an event to launch the publication of Lives in the Balance: Improving Accountability for Public Spending in Developing Countries. The event brought together authors Courtney Tolmie and Charles Griffin, with moderator Daniel Kaufmann and panelists Warren Krafchik, director of the International Budget Partnership, Joseph Asunka, former research and program officer at the Ghana Center for Democratic Development; and Jorge Quiroga, former president of Bolivia. The discussion focused on how best to ensure accountability in public spending, and how civil society can have a role in this process.

Authors Charles Griffin and Courtney Tolmie kicked off the event by elaborating on the current state of public expenditure accountability mechanisms, and how well they function, or in many cases, do not function. Most countries have top down accountability, where the government, at the top, is only accountable to itself for its spending. Occasionally there is outside-in accountability, from external agents, such as the World Bank, but the one form of accountability missing from most countries is bottom-up accountability, or demand side accountability, where citizens and service users hold the government accountable for their spending decisions.

According to the authors, citizens and civil society organizations - or CSO’s- are particularly well-suited to the task of holding their governments accountable because they are on the ground and know the local context, and because, as service users, they have a vested interest in improving the quality of spending and service delivery. The authors presented the experience of two independent monitoring organizations featured in the book– CIEN in Guatemala and CUTS in India– that succeeded in improving the efficiency of health and education spending and service delivery through research and advocacy.

A recurring theme in the discussion was the need for CSOs and governments to move away from their traditionally adversarial positions and develop more collaborative and productive relationships to ensure accountability in spending. This was emphasized as both authors and panelists agreed that CSOs are not a ‘silver bullet’ and that accountability in public spending can only be achieved if bottom-up accountability is accompanied by other changes such as greater budget transparency and the strengthening of oversight institutions such as parliaments and supreme audit institutions. Lastly, participants agreed on the need to evaluate CSOs’ work to better measure its impact and understand how those organizations are able to effect change in this area.

Author Charles Griffin concluded the event by calling for the strengthening of CSOs and for improving transparency as a means to facilitate their work.