Aligning Actors for Learning in the Dominican Republic: The Evolution of Social Accountability

Abstract

The practice of social accountability has evolved since the 1990s. This note illustrates this evolution looking at work targeted to the Dominican Republic’s education sector. It argues that what may have started as a tool-based transparency and social accountability interventions isolated from policymaking has evolved towards collaborative, problem-solving social accountability approaches. Later approaches are integrated into the education policy arena by design.

Lessons and contextual changes in initial stages of social accountability practice, informed further iterations of the work, including phases led by multi-stakeholder coalitions and a social movement. Collectively, collaborative social accountability processes focused on the Dominican Republic’s education and public financial management contributed to aligning stakeholders to fund and support quality education for all. They also helped address political and implementation risks of ongoing programs and operations. In so doing, collaborative social accountability built positive synergies with other efforts that are helping the country confront its learning crises.

Keywords: social accountability, development, adaptive learning, social movements, grant-making, education, Dominican Republic