Ten years ago a small number of civil society organisations began experimenting with methods to monitor and influence government budget policies and expenditures. Have these initiatives had an impact?

After more than a decade of monitoring by civil society organisations, the city of Bangalore in southern India has achieved real progress in improving the quality and cost-effectiveness of its public services.

Africans are not recognised for the work they do to promote social accountability in their countries. A new pan-African platform allows them to share their experiences, learn new techniques and disseminate information, and encourages new initiatives.

Capacity building projects are often seen as a means of providing NGOs with the tools they need to effectively deliver programmes or services, and of ensuring the ability of recipients to demonstrate accountability for the financial aid received. However, insights from over fifty years of experience suggest that conventional types of capacity building have often failed to bring about improvements in organisational effectiveness, performance, and accountability.