Burgess COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

Book Launch: Closing the Feedback Loop - Can Technology Bridge the Accountability Gap?

Start Date: June 19, 2014 Location: Washington D.C., United States

Join the conversation on Twitter at #OpenGovNow.

Citizen engagement is core to enhancing accountability and improving public services. Innovations in technology are empowering citizens to make their voices heard and to better participate in decision-making processes in the governance of villages, cities, states and countries. The World Bank recognizes that citizen engagement is at the core of improving development outcomes, and aims to achieve 100% beneficiary feedback in projects with clearly identifiable beneficiaries, and to scale up results- focused and context- specific citizen engagement.

The new Closing the Feedback Loop report assesses the extent to which technology- enabled citizen engagement programs can enhance social accountability. Specifically, the report addresses the following three questions:

• How do ICTs empower citizens through participation, transparency, and accountability?

• Are technologies an accelerator to close the accountability gap—the space between government and citizens that requires bridging for open and collaborative governance?

• Under which conditions does this occur?

• The book explores the theoretical linkages among empowerment, participation, transparency, and accountability. It showcases methods for community and crisis mapping across the globe, provides cases of citizen feedback mechanisms, and analyzes the World Bank’s experiences in ICT- enabled citizen engagement. Introducing the Loch Ness model the report shows how technologies contribute to shrinking the gap, why the gap remains open in many cases, and what can be done to help close it.

RSVP to vberi@worldbank.org.

Copies of the publication will be available at the event. In the meantime, you can download the book here:

Closing the Feedback Loop: Can Technology Bridge the Accountability Gap?

Partners: Feedback Labs, OpenGov Hub, Ground Truth Initiative, KfW, CIVICUS, London School of Economics, and Aid Data.

Bjorn-Soren Gigler

Bjorn-Soren Gigler

Visiting Assistant Professor for Political Economy at Georgetown University

Dear colleagues and friends,

I am excited to invite you to our book launch event of the Closing the Feedback Loop publication on June 19 from 3:30-5pm EST. http://goo.gl/c0tT3y

This report analyzes based on empirical evidence from around the world the following questions http://goo.gl/riK3St:

- Can new technologies empower citizen through enhanced participation, transparency and accountability?

- Under which conditions can new technologies act as an accelerator to bridge the accountability gap between government and citizens?

- Can ICT-enabled citizen feedback improve the delivery and quality of public services to poor communities?

There will be a live broadcast of the event and we will also have a conversation on twitter using the #OpenGovNow

Participants who would like to attend in person please register for the event with Vinod Beri at vberi@worldbank.org

Please see the full agenda below!

many thanks!

best wishes,

Soren

BOOK LAUNCH EVENT- JUNE 19 3:30 -5 pm

The World Bank Institute and Development Research Group, in partnership with the Feedback Labs, CIVICUS, Open Government Hub, Ground Truth Initiative, KfW, London School of Economics, and Aid Data

invite you to

Book Launch: 'Closing the Feedback Loop - Can Technology Bridge the Accountability Gap?'

Opening remarks Kaushik Basu Senior Vice-President and Chief Economist, World Bank

Overview Bjorn-Soren Gigler Senior Governance Specialist, World Bank
and
Savita Bailur Senior Researcher, World Bank, and London School of Economics

Moderator Robert Hunja Manager, Open Government Practice World Bank

Panelists

Rakesh Rajani Twaweza, and Co-Chair of the Open Government Partnership

Jonathan Fox Professor in International Studies, American University

Lily Tsai Associate Professor of Political Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Jane Fountain Distinguished Professor, University of Massachusetts Amherst and Director, National Center for Digital Government

Background:

Citizen engagement is core to enhancing accountability and improving public services. Innovations in technology are empowering citizens to make their voices heard and to better participate in decision-making processes in the governance of villages, cities, states and countries. The World Bank recognizes that citizen engagement is at the core of improving development outcomes, and aims to achieve 100% beneficiary feedback in projects with clearly identifiable beneficiaries, and to scale up results- focused and context- specific citizen engagement.

The new Closing the Feedback Loop report assesses the extent to which technology- enabled citizen engagement programs can enhance social accountability. Specifically, the report addresses the following three questions:

• How do ICTs empower citizens through participation, transparency, and accountability?

• Are technologies an accelerator to close the accountability gap—the space between government and citizens that requires bridging for open and collaborative governance?

• Under which conditions does this occur?

The book explores the theoretical linkages among empowerment, participation, transparency, and accountability. It showcases methods for community and crisis mapping across the globe, provides cases of citizen feedback mechanisms, and analyzes the World Bank’s experiences in ICT- enabled citizen engagement. Introducing the Loch Ness model the report shows how technologies contribute to shrinking the gap, why the gap remains open in many cases, and what can be done to help close it.

A reception will follow the event!

Copies of the publication will be available at the event. In the meantime, you can download the book here:

- Closing the Feedback Loop: Can Technology Bridge the Accountability Gap? http://goo.gl/riK3St

Reply to Bjorn-Soren