Social Audit

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• Publié par: Chuin
• Nombre de lectures: 87
• Langue: Español

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SocialAudit 1 KurianThomas Introduction Governmentsarefacinganever‐growingdemandtobemoreaccountableandsocially responsibleandthepeoplearebecomingmoreassertiveabouttheirrightstobeinformedandto influencegovernmentsʹdecision‐makingprocesses.Facedwiththesevociferousdemands,the executiveandthelegislaturearelookingfornewwaystoevaluatetheirperformance.Civil societyorganisationsarealsoundertaking ʺSocialAuditsʺtomonitorandverifythesocial performanceclaimsoftheorganisationsandinstitutions. SocialAuditisatoolwithwhichgovernmentdepartmentscanplan,manageandmeasurenon‐ financialactivitiesandmonitorbothinternalandexternalconsequencesofthe department/organisation’ssocialandcommercialoperations.Itisaninstrumentofsocial accountabilityforanorganisation.Inotherwords,SocialAuditmaybedefinedasanin‐depth scrutinyandanalysisoftheworkingofanypublicutilityvis‐à‐visitssocialrelevance.Social rd Auditgainedsignificanceespeciallyafterthe73AmendmentoftheConstitutionrelatingto PanchayatRajInstitutions. PurposeoftheSocialAudit Thistoolisdesignedtobeahandy,easytousereferencethatnotonlyanswersbasicquestions aboutSocialAudit,reasonsforconductingSocialAudit,andmostimportantlygiveseasy‐to‐ followstepsforallthoseinterestedinusingSocialAudit. ThepurposeofconductingSocialAuditisnottofindfaultwiththeindividualfunctionariesbut toassesstheperformanceintermsofsocial,environmentalandcommunitygoalsofthe organisation.Itisawayofmeasuringtheextenttowhichanorganisationlivesuptotheshared valuesandobjectivesithascommitteditselfto.Itprovidesanassessmentoftheimpactofan organisationʹsnon‐financialobjectivesthroughsystematicandregularmonitoring,basedonthe viewsofitsstakeholders. SalientFeatures TheforemostprincipleofSocialAuditistoachievecontinuouslyimprovedperformancesin relationtothechosensocialobjectives.Eightspecifickeyprincipleshavebeenidentifiedfrom SocialAuditingpracticesaroundtheworld.Theyare: 1.Multi‐Perspective/Polyvocal.Aimstoreflecttheviews(voices)ofallthosepeople (stakeholders)involvedwithoraffectedbytheorganisation/department/programme. 2.Comprehensive.Aimsto(eventually)reportonallaspectsoftheorganisationʹsworkand performance. 3.Participatory.Encouragesparticipationofstakeholdersandsharingoftheirvalues. 1 Kurian Thomas, Centre for Good Governance

4.Multidirectional.Stakeholdersshareandgivefeedbackonmultipleaspects. 5.Regular.Aimstoproducesocialaccountsonaregularbasissothattheconceptandthe practicebecomeembeddedinthecultureoftheorganisationcoveringalltheactivities. 6.Comparative.Providesameans,whereby,theorganisationcancompareitsown performanceeachyearandagainstappropriateexternalnormsorbenchmarks;andprovide forcomparisonswithorganisationsdoingsimilarworkandreportinginsimilarfashion. 7.Verification.Ensuresthatthesocialaccountsareauditedbyasuitablyexperiencedpersonor agencywithnovestedinterestintheorganisation. 8.Disclosure.Ensuresthattheauditedaccountsaredisclosedtostakeholdersandthewider communityintheinterestsofaccountabilityandtransparency. ThefollowingfiguredepictstheprinciplesofSocialAuditanduniversalvalues:

ThesearethepillarsofSocialAudit,wheresocio‐cultural,administrative,legalanddemocratic settingsformthefoundationforoperationalisingSocialAudit.TheSocialAuditprocessis intendedasameansforsocialengagement,transparencyandcommunicationofinformation, leadingtogreateraccountabilityofdecision‐makers,representatives,managersandofficials.The underlyingideasaredirectlylinkedtoconceptsofdemocracyandparticipation.Theapplication ofSocialAuditatthevillagelevelholdstremendouspotentialforcontributingtogoodlocal governanceandincreasedtransparencyandaccountabilityofthelocalbodies. WhocanusetheTool? SocialAuditToolkitcanbeusedbygovernmentdepartments,privateenterprisesaswellasthe civilsociety.However,thescopeintermsofauditboundarieswouldbespecifictothatofa

governmentdepartment,privateorganisation,anNGOoracommunity.Incaseofprivate organisations,theemphasismaybeonbalancingfinancialviabilitywithitsimpactonthe communityandenvironment.IncaseofNGOs,inadditiontousingthemtomaximisetheimpact oftheirinterventionprogramme,theycouldalsobeusedaseffectiveadvocacytools.Depending ontheresourcesavailableSocialAuditcouldbecomprehensive,state‐wide,andcanalsobe localisedtothecommunitylevel. ApplyingtheTool ThesixstepsofSocialAuditingare: 1. Preparatoryactivities 2. Definingauditboundariesandidentifyingstakeholders 3. Socialaccountingandbook‐keeping 4. Preparingandusingsocialaccounts 5. Socialauditanddissemination 6. Feedbackandinstitutionalisationofsocialaudit Thefirsttwostepsarecriticalwhenadepartmentdecidestoincorporatesocialaccounting,social book‐keepingandsocialauditing.Thedepartmentneedstolookatitsvision,goals,current practicesandactivitiestoidentifythosethatareamenabletosocialauditingpurposes.Small workgroups(say,sevenpersons)aretobeformedwhichwouldspendabouttwodayseachto listdownthesocialvision,corevalues,socialobjectivesandmapstakeholdersandtheir involvement.Ensureinvolvementofvariousfunctionarieswithduerepresentationtogender, whileformingsmallgroups.Thesmallgroupsshouldhaveaccesstoprojectdocuments,process documentation,departmentguidelinesandpolicynotes. Thenextactivitywouldbetoassignthetaskofmatchingtheactivitieswiththesocialobjectives andidentifyinggaps.Thisagaincouldbecarriedoutbyasmallgroupdrawnfromthe managerialcadreandexecution/implementationgroupsatthefieldlevel.Allthisinformation wouldbethenlookedinto;todevelopaplanforSocialAuditing,includingwhowouldbe responsibleinthedepartment,monitoringandidentifyingtheresourcesrequired.This responsibilityagaincouldbegiventoasmallgroupofthreeindividuals. Stakeholderconsultation,involvingdepartmentfunctionariesandcivilsociety,wouldbethe forumforsharingtheSocialAuditplan.Thisconsultationwouldclarifytheissuesimportantfor SocialAuditing,roleofstakeholders,aswellascommitmentsfromthem.Theoutcomeofthe consultationwouldbefedintotheprocessofdetailingout:theindicatorstobemonitored;which existingrecordsaretobeused;andhowadditionalinformationwouldbecollected.Thenextkey stepistofixresponsibilitiesforvariousactivities.Theactivitiesincludepreparingformatsfor socialaccount‐keeping,compilationofdataandreportingthesameonamonthlybasis(internal use).Managersofthedepartment/programmescanusethisinformationformonitoringaswellas providingfeedbackforimprovingperformanceandovercomingbottlenecks. Ideally,SocialAuditshouldbeconductedregularly,andthemethodshouldbedeveloped throughaparticipatoryrelationshipbetweentheauditorandtheorganisations/departments.The followingfiguredepictsthedetailedstepsfollowedinthesocialauditcycle.

InadditiontousingtheToolkitexercisesintherightsequence,itisvitalthattheprocessis participativeandinclusive.Thecyclestartswith‘decidingtodoaSocialAudit’andattheendof eachyearplannedtargetsandactualachievementsaretobecompared. ExperimentsinSocialAuditfromVithuraPanchayat,Kerala ThedecentralisationrocessinKeralaisuni uenotonlintermsofthefunctionsandfinances transferredtothelocalself‐overnments.Ithasalsorovidedsco eands acefortrans arenc andaccountabilitytothepeopleinamajorway.Duringthisprocess,afewGramaPanchayats havegonefaraheadofothersinexperimentingwithvariousmechanismsforsocialaudit. Vithurawasonesuchancha atwhichtriedtocreateatrans arentlocalself‐overnances stem withpeopleʹsparticipation.Rightfromplanformulationtoimplementationandtotheextent ofplanmonitoringandevaluationwasentrustedtothepeople.Thekeyforsuccessbehind theVithuraex erimentwasawelldesi nedor anisationalsetu ,whereeo leʹscommittees wereformedandmadefunctional.Thedifferentt esofcommitteesthatwereformed are:nei hbourhoodrou sconsistinof50nei hbourinhouses,warddevelo ment committees,panchayatlevelacademiccommittees,subjectgroups,panchayatlevelwomenʹs committee,ancha atlevelmonitorincommittee,childrenʹsforum,eo leʹscommitteesfor socialauditetc.Allthesehads ecificrolestolainthelanninandim lementationsta es ofdevelopmentalprogrammes.

ThesocialaccountswereresentedtotheGramaSabhasinrintedform,btheancha ats. ItwasresentedintheGramaSabhainsuchawathatanersoncouldunderstandand uestionanirre ularitintheactivitiesoftheancha ats.ThedifferencewithVithuramodelof socialauditisthatitisnotanauditaftertheimplementation.Thepeopleʹscommittees mentionedaboveweregiveninformationabouttheactivitiesregularlyandtheywere em oweredandsu ortedbtheancha atcommitteetomonitortheactivities.Thus,these committeeswereactivethrou houttherocessoflanninandim lementation. ThebasicstructureoftheVithurasocialauditmechanismwasasfollows: 1. FromeachGramaSabha,threeersonswereelectedtobeaartofthe ancha atlevelsocialauditcommittee. 2. Eachonewillbeapartofoneofthesectorgrouplikeproductive,service andinfrastructuresectors. 3. Thesecommitteesconducttheauditandtheirre ortisresentedinthe GramaSabha. 4. Alltheofficersofthepanchayatincludingthatofthelinedepartmentswillbepresentin theGramaSabhatocleardoubtswithrelevantdocuments. Thus,astronsocialauditmechanismwasex erimentedatVithura,aGramaPancha atin TrivandrumdistrictofKerala. RisksInvolvedandKeySuccessFactors ThekeytosuccessfulSocialAuditingisinknowingwhichtechniquestouseandinwhat sequence.TheSocialAuditorcanchoosedifferentmethodssoastocapturebothquantitativeand qualitativeinformationfromtherespondent. Itisequallyimportanttoensurethefollow‐upactiontakenontheSocialAuditreportandthe receptivenessofthedepartments/organisationstoadopttherecommendationsintheSocialAudit report.Thesocialauditorsshouldsuggestmodalitiesforimprovingitsperformancebasedonthe feedbackreceivedfromdifferentstakeholders.Thedetailedworkplanneedstobeidentifiedby thesocialauditorsandthesameshouldbeimplementedattheearliest. References 1.SocialAudit:AToolforPerformanceImprovementandOutcomeMeasurement.Centrefor GoodGovernance,Hyderabad,2005. 2.SocialAuditToolkit ‐3rdEdition,2000,FreeSpreckely,SocialEntreprisePartnership ‐ LocalLivelihoods 3.SocialAuditingforSmallOrganisations:AWorkbookforTrainersandPractitioners,John Pearce,PeterRaynard,andSimonZadekNewEconomicsFoundation,London(1996) 4.SocialAuditandAccounting:JohnPearce,CommunityBusinessScotland(CBS)Network (2001)