Paper short abstract:

Social accountability initiatives have been at the heart of development interventions. This paper focuses on a review of the literatures on social accountability and gender by re-defining these concepts theoretically. Attention will be paid to how such interventions help to achieve the SDG 16.

Paper long abstract:

In recent years, social accountability initiatives have been touted as a key means to increase accountability of public officials to citizens in developing countries, thereby leading to improved public services and ultimately, a decrease in poverty. However, the gender dimension is mostly lacking, both on the part of donors designing such initiatives, as well as in the research that assesses their outcomes on the ground. This paper will contribute to filling this gap by presenting a review of the literatures on social accountability and gender in order to re-define these concepts in a way that they can be integrated theoretically. The notion of 'gender-based citizenship' will be used here, and its relevance for the panel's theme on 'sustainable development' discussed. The second part of the paper will present some preliminary findings from the Democratic Republic of Congo where development and reconstruction interventions have applied social accountability tools in several key areas such as education, health, environmental protection, and water and sanitation. The findings will discuss the extent to which such interventions have contributed to a gender-based citizenship and to breaking down patriarchal patterns of exclusion (by for example including women in service user committees and other decision-making fora). Attention will be paid in particular to how such interventions help to achieve the SDG 16 on promoting peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, providing access to justice for all and building effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.