Presentation on CSC and CRC.pdf - Transparency and ...

CITIZEN REPORT CARDS
&
COMMUNITY SCORE CARDS
Explaining differences & Exploring Congruence
Public Affairs Foundation | Bangalore | India
CRC Training for Grantees of Results for Development , 2nd - 8th February 2012, Tanzania

The Key Questions…
Are the CRC & CSC one and the same?
Does one substitute for the other?
What are the relative strengths &
weaknesses of the two approaches?
Can they complement each other?
Can this blend work out in the proposed
project?
CRC Training for Grantees of Results for Development , 2nd - 8th February 2012, Tanzania

CITIZEN REPORT CARDS
The Key Components
Identifying focal institution/consortium
Identifying issues through fgds (Providers & Users)
Designing the survey instrument
Framing a scientific sample
Conduct of survey
Coding, analysis & interpretation
<strong>Presentation</strong> of findings
Advocacy & partnerships for service
improvements
CRC Training for Grantees of Results for Development , 2nd - 8th February 2012, Tanzania

The Four Components of the
Community Scorecard Process
Community Scorecard
Process
Input
Tracking
Scorecard
Performance
Scorecard
Self-
Evaluation
Scorecard
Interface
Meeting
CRC Training for Grantees of Results for Development , 2nd - 8th February 2012, Tanzania

Difference between Community Score
Cards and Citizen Report Cards
Citizen Report Card
• Survey instrument - data
collected through
questionnaires
• Unit – household/individual
• Meant for macro level
• Emphasis on monitoring -
demand side data on
performance and actual
scores/report
• Implementation time longer
(3-6 months)
• Requires strong technical skills
Community Scorecard
• Participatory process – data
through focus group
discussions
• Unit – community
• Meant for local level
• Emphasis on immediate
feedback and accountability,
less on actual data
• Implementation time short
(3-6 weeks)
• Requires strong facilitation skills
CRC Training for Grantees of Results for Development , 2nd - 8th February 2012, Tanzania

Community Scorecards and
Citizen Report Cards – Key Strengths
Citizen Report Card
• Scientific rigor ensures
unbiased and representative
information
•Sampling ensures
generalization of larger
population trends
•Facilitates unbundling of tasks
to synergise inputs from
different stakeholders
•Baseline data ensures power of
benchmarking and comparisons
across services/sectors,
population strata, geographical
strata, demographic strata etc.
Community Scorecard
• Facilitates active and direct
participation from communities
•Qualitatively richer data –
captures local nuances better
•Minimal technical skills
required
•Facilitates immediate local
actions on operational issues
•Integrates available supply side
data into demand side
feedback
•Emphasis on community
empowerment
CRC Training for Grantees of Results for Development , 2nd - 8th February 2012, Tanzania

Community Scorecards and
Citizen Report Cards :Areas of concern
Citizen Report Card
• Assumes basic skills of survey
and advocacy within the
implementing group
• Survey costs can limit
repeated applications
• Technical steps quite critical
for credibility
• Reforms and changes take
time
• Weak community interfaces
Community Scorecard
• Quality of facilitation
extremely critical
• Input tracking dependent on
availability of supply-side data
• Interface meetings can get
confrontational
• Difficult to aggregate
individual scorecards
• Sample sizes can bias feedback
CRC Training for Grantees of Results for Development , 2nd - 8th February 2012, Tanzania

Applicability in the Project Context
Citizen Report Card
Independent representative assessments
across project locations
Can facilitate prioritization of issues
Can give snapshots of “vulnerability”
Links advocacy measures at operational and
policy levels
Power of comparison can bring in a pressure
for reform/change
CRC Training for Grantees of Results for Development , 2nd - 8th February 2012, Tanzania

Applicability in the Project Context
Community Score Card
Highly participatory tool for localized actions
Can pilot powerful examples of community
empowerment and engagement
Can facilitate immediate and visible changes at the
“cutting edges”
Focus on supply-side expenditure related analysis
can highlight issues of leakages and graft.
CRC Training for Grantees of Results for Development , 2nd - 8th February 2012, Tanzania

Integrating CRC & CSC –
Some tentative thoughts
• CRC on selected locations (within the countries)
sets in place baseline benchmarks on mutually
agreed indicators/themes
• These benchmarks are then used at the selected
local projects to develop CSCs
• The CSCs can then become the trigger points for
pilot community-driven reform programs
• A repeat benchmarking exercise can highlight key
improvements in the CSC-intervened areas.
CRC Training for Grantees of Results for Development , 2nd - 8th February 2012, Tanzania

Integrating CRC & CSC –
Some tentative thoughts
• The tools to be used as independent stand-alone
initiatives – one, data/information driven
informed advocacy tool and the other,
community participation-led process aiming at
community empowerment
• The initiatives can be reviewed to identify
context specific learnings
CRC Training for Grantees of Results for Development , 2nd - 8th February 2012, Tanzania