Citizen Voice and Action works by educating citizens about their rights and equipping them with a simple set of tools designed to empower them to protect and enforce those rights.

First, communities learn about basic human rights, and how these rights are articulated under local law. Next, communities work collaboratively with government and service providers to compare reality against government’s own commitments using an adaptation of the “social audit” tool. Communities also have the opportunity to rate government’s performance against subjective criteria that they themselves generate, using an adaptation of the “community score card”.

Finally, communities work with other stakeholders to influence decision-makers to improve services, using a simple set of advocacy tools.

External evaluations of approaches like Citizen Voice and Action have shown that social accountability can generate significant development outcomes. One randomized control trial documented a 33% drop in child mortality; another showed a 9% rise in primary school test scores.