Existing Solutions

Transparency, Good Governance, Public Services

technical

The Citizen Report Card (CRC) is a simple but powerful tool to provide public agencies with systematic feedback from users of public services, including water supply and sanitation (WSS) services. By collecting feedback on the quality and adequacy of public services from actual users, the CRC provides a rigorous basis and a proactive agenda for communities, civil society organization or local governments to engage in a dialogue with service providers to improve the delivery of public services.

In the context of the water sector, the larger purpose of the report card tool is to use the survey results to advocate for improvements in the services provided and to further investigate the reasons behind the provision of inadequate services. By repeating the exercise every couple of years, the progress of various managers and entities can be monitored and compared.

The objectives of the CRC are to:
- Collect citizen feedback on public services from actual users of a service.
-  Assess the performance of individual service providers and/or compare performance across service providers.
-  Generate a database of feedback on services that is placed in the public domain.
-  Use the results of the survey to advocate for improvements in the services provided and to further investigate the reasons behind the provision of inadequate services. By repeating the exercise every couple of years, the progress of various managers and entities can be monitored and compared.

The implementation of the CRC methodology includes the following steps:
Step 1: Assessment of local conditions: Evaluate local conditions to determine if suitable to implement CRC. Assess the skills and motivations of the lead institution(s).
Step 2: Pre-survey groundwork: Identify the scope of the CRC, using focus groups, where necessary. Make preliminary implementation plans. Design a questionnaire. Complete the sampling design.
Step 3: Conducting the survey: Carry out an accurate survey.
Step 4: Post survey analysis: Determine key findings on availability, usage, satisfaction, etc.
Step 5: Dissemination of findings: Disseminate findings to key stakeholders.
Step 6: Improving services: Use CRC findings to bring about improvements in service delivery.

The CRC was pioneered in the Indian city of Bangalore. Frustrated by the poor quality of public services, a group of private citizens in Bangalore, India, decided in 1994 to undertake a survey to collect feedback from users of central and local government services in the city. The services ranged from the police and government hospitals to the telephone, electricity, and water utilities. The success of this initial effort led to the creation of the Public Affairs Centre, which subsequently developed the methodology for the citizen report card and helped spread its use throughout the world.

In Bangalore, the survey was repeated in 1999 and 2003. The progress between the first and second surveys was relatively modest. However, The third Citizen Report Card on Public Services in Bangalore (2003) documented a striking improvement in the quality of service across the board. The percentage of people “satisfied” with the water and sanitation service increased from 4 percent in 1994 to 73 percent in 2003. Over the same time, satisfaction with staff behavior in the water sector rose from 26 percent to 92 percent.

Between 1999 and 2003, the accuracy of water bills increased from 32 percent to 90 percent. For all city services, the percentage of people reported to have paid “speed money” fell from 23 percent in 1999 to 11 percent in 2003. Several special factors existed in Bangalore that drove this improvement in services. The chief minister was committed to improving services, but the citizen report card gave him and city managers a tool to measure and monitor performance. 

Since the initiation of the CRC, various types of organizations have acted as lead institution for the CRC process in different parts of the world. The lead institution manages and drives the CRC process and could be a civil society organization (CSO), government body, or independent consortium. Since a variety of skill sets are required to carry out a CRC, the lead institution should be willing to seek help from other institutions. Development agencies such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, have also taken an interest in the CRC. Although these institutions can help to fund the implementation of a CRC, they should not serve as lead institution. 

The CRC reveal areas where the institutions responsible for service provision, particularly in the WSS sector have not achieved, mandated or expected service standards. Findings can be used to identify and demand specific improvements in services. Officials can be stimulated to work towards addressing specific issues. Furthermore, citizen feedback can expose extra costs beyond mandated fees while using public services. The CRC thus conveys information regarding the proportion of the population who pays bribes (either demanded or freely given) and the size of these payments and estimates the amount of private resources spent to compensate for poor service provision.

Implementing methods and tools for improving transparency and accountability within the water and sanitation sector is a key component of target 6 – the CRC is a very good example of such a tool.

- Users:  Communities, civil society organizations and governments.
- Implementation level: At a national, regional and local level. Implementation of the CRC methodology usually takes 6-12 months.
- Target groups: Service providers (e.g. a single water utility, all public services in a city, all utilities in the sector, or all public services throughout a country).

Water Integrity Network (WIN)

WIN Secretariat
c/o Transparency International
Alt Moabit 96
10559 Berlin
Germany

Phone: +49-30-3438-20413
E-mail: info[at]waterintegritynetwork.net
Web: www.waterintegritynetwork.net

For further information, please also see: www.citizenreportcard.com. For the WSS sector, more specific information can be found at: www.pacindia.org/publications/tool-kits/learning-tool-citizen-report-card-drinking-water-and-sanitat/.