10-11-2014, 12:28 PM
Abstracts: Donors support political participation as a means of improving state accountability and responsiveness, and empowering the poor. But have democratization processes really increased political participation, particularly pro-poor participation? If not, what are the barriers to such participation? Political participation can involve activities ranging from voting in elections or joining a union, to discussing politics with friends or engaging in community self-help initiatives. This system takes a deliberately broad view; defining participation as all voluntary activities that aim to influence political decisions at all levels of the political system & governance. In their role of ensuring public accountability, our elected representatives need to agree on what accountability means and the standards reasonable to expect. Accountability is the obligation to answer for the discharge of responsibilities. PROPOSED SYSTEM: Consider the this example, In the reporting example we know best — published financial statements — “affect the public in important ways” means the accounting concept of materiality, or significance of reported information to a reader. If a set of financial statements is wrong, incomplete, or otherwise misleading, would knowing the real situation make a difference to the decisions of an investor using the statements? In the public sector, we need public answering for the discharge of responsibilities when the answering can be expected to make a difference to people’s judgments: legislators, members of other governing bodies, public interest groups, or the public generally. In the public sector, accountability reporting is needed for a wide range of responsibilities, not just financial stewardship. Elected representatives need accountability standards for stating their intentions, results and learning. • Accountability can mean something solid if we can agree on basic standards for the accounting. We start with the question, “Who is accountable to whom, for what?” • State the achievement objectives. • Disclose the performance standards.