Publication
Title
What drives the use of CBM data? Insights from a social network analysis of duty bearers' use of CBM data in rural Tanzania
Author
Abstract
The direct involvement of local citizens and communities in monitoring public services and holding duty bearers accountable, known as Community-based monitoring (CBM), is rapidly being lauded as a new panacea for improved public services. In literature, there is often an overemphasis on demand-side factors including citizen participation, while supply-side factors like state responsiveness are frequently overlooked despite their importance. Our study focuses on the supply side, specifically examining the factors that impact the use of mobile CBM data by technical/administrative and political duty bearers. Based on survey and social network data from Tanzanian villages to districts, we discovered that not receiving and being unable to access the information was a significant barrier for duty bearers, specifically at lower governance levels (village and ward). Although the overall use was relatively low, conceptual use, which involves stimulating awareness among citizens and political duty bears, was more prevalent than instrumental use, which involves informing changes in priority settings and budgetary allocation. Educated, male, technical duty bearers at higher governance levels had a higher association with instrumental use, although no trend was detected regarding conceptual use. The SNA results revealed that powerful positions within the broader network, whether based on strategic brokerage positions (betweenness centrality) or being connected to powerful others (eigenvector centrality), tend to correlate with higher instrumental and overall use, whereas more localised forms of centrality (degree centrality) are associated with conceptual use by duty bearers. According to our findings, this article emphasises the importance of designing for use and implementing a broad and inclusive “use strategy” for policymakers to enhance CBM effectiveness.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Asia Pacific Journal of Evaluation
Publication
2024
Volume/pages
2 :1 (2024) , p. 1-21
Full text (publisher's version - intranet only)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
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Record
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Creation 18.04.2024
Last edited 19.04.2024
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