From Silence to Strength: How Social Accountability Is Helping to Improve Public Service Delivery and the Lives of the Most Vulnerable in Cambodia

Story Highlight:

• Channa Pak's journey from waste picker in an urban slum in Phnom Penh, to being one of 3,523 Community Accountability Facilitators in Cambodia exemplifies the transformative power of social accountability initiatives.
• The Social Accountability Forum held in Phnom Penh on March 29, 2024, brought together government ministries, civil society organizations, development partners, the media, and youth groups to highlight the impact of citizen engagement on public service delivery.
• The World Bank is supporting two Social Accountability projects that enhance public service performance by informing citizens of their rights, engaging them in monitoring and evaluating service providers, and fostering dialogue between citizens and local authorities.

Growing up in Phnom Penh, Channa Pak endured poverty and social exclusion. As an informal waste collector, she was shunned by neighbors and her efforts to provide for her family were met with scorn. "Neighbors would educate their children by comparing them to my family," she recalls in tears, "Why don't you go to school? Do you want to be a waste picker like them, living in poverty and with no one wanting to be friends with you?"

Channa's life changed when she became a Community Accountability Facilitator for two Social Accountability projects implemented by the Royal Government of Cambodia and World Vision International, with support from the World Bank, Switzerland, Germany, and Australia. These projects seek to enhance public service performance by informing citizens of their rights, engaging them in the evaluation of service providers, and fostering dialogue between citizens and local authorities.

At the Social Accountability Forum held in Phnom Penh on March 29, 2024, Channa shared her story with a large audience comprised of 270 representatives from various government ministries, civil society organizations, international agencies, the media, and youth groups.

"When I first started as a facilitator, I felt nervous and anxious. I was scared and would shake when facilitating council meetings, sometimes speaking incoherently. However, with training from World Vision, over time I have become courageous and confident," she said. Her story also reached 67,000 viewers watching a livestream of the event on Facebook.

Facilitators like Channa play a key role in fostering candid and constructive discussions among citizens, service providers and local governments, and proposing solutions that help to advance significant improvements in healthcare, education, and the administrative services provided by local governments. Thanks to the Social Accountability projects, the share of service providers in the projects' target areas that meet key service standards rose to 84 percent in 2023 from 42 percent in 2020. Facilitators are trained on dissemination of information, open budgets, citizen monitoring through community scorecards, and facilitation and leadership skills to support collective action. They also receive mentoring and on-the-job coaching, which help boost their sense of confidence and agency.

Social Accountability can also help more people access public services. In rural Cambodia, where only two decades ago about half of the population was illiterate, many citizens are not aware of their rights, and lack information about the services they are entitled to receive. The poorest often do not know that they are eligible to receive healthcare free of charge.

Channa's journey from silence to strength shows the transformative potential of citizen engagement. Through empowerment and collective action, individuals are able to find their voices and become catalysts for change in their communities.