Ensuring accountability to the citizens is the prime responsibility of the government of an independent country if they want to be democratic. Bangladesh is an independent country but it has to go a long way to become fully democratic and to ensure accountability to the people particularly remote people who had cast vote for forming the government. In order to do that the government in power will need to change traditional systems and adopt the timely new strategies. Accountability needs "bottom-up transparency" – suggested by the strategic researchers in an international event held recently in USA. Many governments in developing countries do not have the capacity for gathering data that they could then publish for the citizens to hold them accountable. Just supporting government capacity may not be the only and not even the most efficient solution: The citizens also have many responsibilities and they can provide information on water, health, and education. Mobile phones can be used in the regions where Internet is not prevalent. The information that is needed to hold the government accountable should be gathered bottom-up, by those that eventually use it to hold government accountable. The present situation shows not only the government's inability to provide access to information, but also their unwillingness.
Information needs to be organized. Let us suppose we are looking for information on a specific topic like donor's spending on health interventions in the country. If we google the relevant search terms – we will get a long list of results. Hundreds of websites in the globe provide snippets of information, and not only does so, every donor organization has its own website and every single project also has individual websites. The single project uses different terminology, and it has its data in different formats. All those information can be collected at the cost of huge money and time. But people need central information source, some sort of data gateway that organizes the relevant information and puts it all into one place. It is not feasible for the citizens to dig their way through the data chaos to finally get a more or less comprehensive picture of what is going on, which can then be the basis for holding public officials accountable. The NGOs and the donor organizations working in a given region on similar topics could collaborate on providing information gateways for the sake of enabling citizens to demand the better quality public services.
Information needs context. Providing highly technical data on its own is unlikely to help citizens with anything. In order for people to understand information on the government services, the information needs to be put into context. Accountability is only effective if the citizens have means to enforce their demands on the state. Information alone will not guarantee accountability. Citizens need mechanisms that allow them to not only assess the quality of public services, but to also do something about deficiencies.
Accountability needs a Community of Practice. It's not a big science like rocket science that it's not efficient if a lot of people work on the same issues without talking to each other. A community of practice for accountability is needed not only to focus efforts to strengthen citizens, but also to provide the organization of information and the context for it. There is a mountain of expertise here and there. We would all benefit from exchange.
Accountability needs multiple platforms. Putting all the data on the Internet, even if it is on a central gateway, will still exclude most of those that really need the information. The digital divide is a fact and it does not seem likely that broadband will pervade Bangladesh any time soon - maybe it never will. That brings other ICT on the stage, mobile phones. But accountability needs a multi-platform approach: Access to information needs to be provided through all relevant communication channels. That may include Internet, mobile phones, community radio recently licensed in Bangladesh and the local priests.
Information needs to be organized. Let us suppose we are looking for information on a specific topic like donor's spending on health interventions in the country. If we google the relevant search terms – we will get a long list of results. Hundreds of websites in the globe provide snippets of information, and not only does so, every donor organization has its own website and every single project also has individual websites. The single project uses different terminology, and it has its data in different formats. All those information can be collected at the cost of huge money and time. But people need central information source, some sort of data gateway that organizes the relevant information and puts it all into one place. It is not feasible for the citizens to dig their way through the data chaos to finally get a more or less comprehensive picture of what is going on, which can then be the basis for holding public officials accountable. The NGOs and the donor organizations working in a given region on similar topics could collaborate on providing information gateways for the sake of enabling citizens to demand the better quality public services.
Information needs context. Providing highly technical data on its own is unlikely to help citizens with anything. In order for people to understand information on the government services, the information needs to be put into context. Accountability is only effective if the citizens have means to enforce their demands on the state. Information alone will not guarantee accountability. Citizens need mechanisms that allow them to not only assess the quality of public services, but to also do something about deficiencies.
Accountability needs a Community of Practice. It's not a big science like rocket science that it's not efficient if a lot of people work on the same issues without talking to each other. A community of practice for accountability is needed not only to focus efforts to strengthen citizens, but also to provide the organization of information and the context for it. There is a mountain of expertise here and there. We would all benefit from exchange.
Accountability needs multiple platforms. Putting all the data on the Internet, even if it is on a central gateway, will still exclude most of those that really need the information. The digital divide is a fact and it does not seem likely that broadband will pervade Bangladesh any time soon - maybe it never will. That brings other ICT on the stage, mobile phones. But accountability needs a multi-platform approach: Access to information needs to be provided through all relevant communication channels. That may include Internet, mobile phones, community radio recently licensed in Bangladesh and the local priests.
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