Social accountability is an approach to governance by which citizens, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), and other non-state actors hold government and services providers accountable for their performance. While implemented at
different stages of the public financial management cycle, Social Accountability Tools enable civil society practitioners the knowledge to generate demand for and ultimately improve governance at the local,
regional, and national levels.

 The World Bank Institute (WBI) is offering an e-learning course on Social Accountability Tools for the Africa Region, which focuses on the  how-to  of social accountability by introducing some of the most commonly-used tools.
This online course aims to build practitioners  awareness of the wide range of existing social accountability tools and to enhance their capacity to design, implement and manage social accountability interventions in their
unique local and national context.  This course will be hosted online through the e-Institute platformfrom June 15-July 30, 2012.

The course is organized into four modules that present the key concepts and provide opportunities to apply and discuss SA tools that have been used by practitioners around the globe.
* Module 1: Budget Work;
* Module 2: Participatory Budgeting;
* Module 3: Participatory Public Expenditure Tracking Surveys (PETS);
*  Module 4: Performance Monitoring (includes Citizen Report Cards, Community Scorecards, Social Audits, Procurement Monitoring, and others).

The program will include 40 hours of on-line instruction distributed over 10 weeks, requiring a dedication of approximately 6-9 hours per week by each participant. International expert practitioners will provide on-line
facilitation for each module, and real-life success stories are utilized to illustrate the selected tools. These expert facilitators will be available to respond to participant queries on a daily basis. Additionally, a time will be set for the facilitators to interact online with participants and answer questions over Skype etc.

The medium of instruction is English. Participants from Francophone and Lusophone Africa are welcome to participate. At present, French and Portuguese speakers with sufficient command of English are encouraged to
enroll in this the course. WBI is working on producing the course in French, but please note that this will not be available until a future date.

The e-learning course is free of charge and participants completing the on-line instruction will be awarded with a certificate extended by WBI.

Target Audience: Civil Society Practitioners in Africa that have a general knowledge/specific background on social accountability and are ready to learn more about specific tools and their implementation. Other interested
individuals that focus their work in social accountability in Africa.

Dates: June 15   July 30, 2012

Course format: 40 hours of facilitated on-line instruction distributed over 10 weeks. A certificate will be awarded by WBI upon completion.

Contact: Ms. Carolina Vaira at WBI (cvaira@worldbank.org <mailto:cvaira@worldbank.org> )
Participant Selection for e-Learning Course on Social Accountability

Participant Profile:
The course will target Social Accountability practitioners in the Africa Region who meet the criteria described below:
– CSOs, NGOs and other organizations with high credibility at the regional and national level
– Junior/Middle level members/officials of CSOs/NGOs that have past/present work experience in Social Accountability
– Members of CSOs/NGOs that are already working with the World Bank through different projects and initiatives
– Individuals with established credentials as community organizers and trainers that are seeking knowledge on Social Accountability tools
– Finally, the course will welcome Government Representatives working at the local and national level that have expressed great interest in Social Accountability training and who require this knowledge to inform their
current work with civil society in their own countries.

Participants will be asked to send a short statement on their current work, responsibilities, reason for applying, and expectations for the course: The team members will do a pre-selection of candidates who will be invited to
participate in the e-learning course.