Abstract:
The concept of social accountability is a bit new, studies on it are few and literature on its relationship with poverty alleviation, especially in Tanzania is scanty. The objective of the study was to establish the relationship between social accountability and poverty in the selected local councils in Tanzania. Specifically, the study sought (i) to describe and document the forms of social accountability in the selected local government authorities (ii) to determine the status of social accountability among the selected LGAs, (iii) to examine public perception of social accountability in their councils, and (iv) determine the link between social accountability and poverty indicators of the selected LG As. The study used a cross-sectional research design and combined both qualitative and quantitative approaches. Primary data were collected through questionnaire survey, key informant individual interviews and personal observations. Secondary data were obtained from reports and documentation from researched sources. Whereas secondary data were analyzed through Ethnographic Content Analysis (ECA) and Policy and Budget Analysis (PBA), the primary data were analyzed for correlation, regression and variation through a multinomial logistic model. The findings show social accountability is strongly linked to poverty levels in the councils; and that strengthening it can have strong impact in poverty reduction (p = 0.05). The study conclude that social accountability have direct impact to the poor people in Tanzania especially through its impact on planning, resource use and empowerment of local population; that is, changing the ease of getting access to resources and delivering services that brings the biggest reduction in sustained poverty of communities; improve governance and community empowerment; and improve citizen’s access to information and essential public services. The study recommends creation of enabling environment for civic groups’ to effectively implement social accountability initiatives including improvement in the legal basis of civic groups’ participation within institutions of public sector oversight; and well-defined procedures for encounters between citizens and public sector actors in the meetings. And that for a public institution to benefit most of the citizen’s accountability seeking initiatives, participatory mechanisms, have to be institutionalized to ensure participation of poor people and make the administration accountable.
