Bangladesh - Belgium

Citizens’ Voice and Accountability Evaluation – Bangladesh Country Case Study
Annex A. Terms of reference
TERMS OF REFERENCE (TORS) FOR THE
BANGLADESH COUNTRY CASE STUDY
CITIZENS’ VOICE AND ACCOUNTABILITY EVALUATION
1 A core group of DAC partners (Evaluation Core Group/ECG 32 ) agreed in 2006
to collaborate on a joint evaluation of development aid for strengthening Citizens’
Voice and Accountability (CV&A). As an initial stage in this process, the Overseas
Development Institute (ODI) undertook development of an evaluation framework to
assess CV&A interventions 33 and piloted the framework and methodology in two
countries. The ECG now wishes to use this framework and its accompanying
methodology to evaluate interventions across a range of country types. At the end of
this process, a synthesis report will be produced which will make recommendations
for donors to consider. These will draw on lessons about CV&A interventions from
the case studies and, importantly, place them within the broader context of existing
literature on the subject and extant policy approaches.
2. These TORs outline the generic requirements for each country case study
(CCS), which will be commissioned by donor partners separately. It should be noted
that although commissioned by a single donor each CCS will evaluate interventions
across all ECG partners active in the country or region. Additionally, in order to gain a
holistic understanding of the scope of CV&A initiatives across the country, a minor
mapping exercise to record other relevant donor and national interventions will be
necessary.
Background and Rationale
3. There is an increasing emphasis on governance in development fora as the
key dimension to addressing poverty reduction and inequality and promoting
economic stability and growth. This goes beyond the institutional framework of
government to the interaction between formal and informal actors, processes,
customs and rules. It is a process of bargaining between those who hold power and
those who seek to influence it. But only those who can convey their views have a
“voice” and only governments or states who are accountable, and can be held so, will
respond.
4. Good governance thus requires a just and responsive relationship between
citizen and state. Development actors have long recognised this and worked on
programmes to enhance the ability of the most vulnerable in society to articulate their
needs, and with partner governments to provide the mechanisms and capacity to
respond. Despite these efforts, there is a lack of evidence and real understanding of
the dynamic and complex nature of factors influencing voice and accountability and
there is thus a need to more systematically examine and evaluate current
interventions.
5. This donor initiative seeks to identify both what works and what does not and
why, and to identify gaps, overlaps and duplication in donor provision. By becoming
32 Donor partners from the UK, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Belgium, Norway and Germany
33 It should be noted that donors are unable to work directly on voice (an action) or accountability (a
relationship). In practice, donors strengthen CV&A by seeking to create or strengthen the preconditions
for the exercise of CV&A and/or particular channels and mechanisms that underpin actions of CV&A
relationships. In the context of this evaluation, such activities are referred to as ‘CV&A interventions’.
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