Accountability gaps: experimental evidence on improving public service delivery  

Project overview

Improving public service delivery can support economic and social development and strengthen citizen-government linkages, particularly in developing country contexts. Yet, in cases where service delivery is inadequate and citizens perceive and/or experience barriers to engagement with the government, what means do citizens have to effectively hold government representatives accountable?

In this study, the research team will conduct a randomised control trial that introduces community-based mobilisation interventions to improve public schooling in Pakistan.

The study’s main research questions are:

• How does citizen engagement with the government impact public service provision?
• How does citizen engagement with the government impact perceptions of government effectiveness?
• How do the effects vary by gender and policy actor?
• To what degree are community mobilisation groups necessary to support this process?

Through this trial, the team will examine:

1. How citizens can hold policy actors accountable for public service delivery through the lens of public education, including testing various models to ensure effective implementation; and
2. Whether evidence-based approaches are taken up by policymakers as a result of increased accountability.

The project will be implemented in rural areas in four districts in Punjab, Pakistan’s largest province: Rawalpindi, Khushab, Bahawalpur, and Bahawalnagar. The full-study sample consists of 480 randomly selected villages, of which 160 are control villages and 320 are treatment villages. The team expects up to 6,400 households to participate in the community meetings in which they will learn about the right to education in Pakistan and coordinate on improving school issues, with the potential to directly impact up to 320 local public schools with over 22,000 students enrolled in primary schools in the treatment villages.