Community monitoring and social accountability in development projects: Experimental evidence from Uganda

Abstract

Does stronger community monitoring increase the effectiveness of local development projects? We conduct a randomized experiment with a large-scale social accountability program covering the northern half of Uganda to analyze whether training in community monitoring and information on project performance improve outcomes. We find that community monitoring training only induces small improvements in project output, such as the number of animals delivered or their likelihood of being sick. The combination of training and information on project performance leads to a significant and substantial increase in livestock at the household level, while providing either community monitoring training or information on project performance alone does not. These impacts at the household level are consistent with improvements in the management and care of livestock after their delivery to the community, with stronger monitoring and cooperation, for instance related to animal illness. In contrast, we do not find evidence of responses from local leaders or government officials. The results suggest that the performance of local development projects can improve through stronger community engagement.