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Global Partnership for Social Accountability

The Global Partnership for Social Accountability (GPSA) is an initiative led by the World Bank, in partnership with other organizations, that supports public sector, civil society and private sector to work together to solve critical governance challenges in developing countries, seeking to create an enabling environment in which citizen feedback is used to solve fundamental problems in service delivery and to strengthen the performance public institutions.

The GPSA provides support in two components: funding and knowledge. The Funding component makes grants available to Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) for specific social accountability programs and initiatives, as well as the institutional development of CSOs working on social accountability, and for knowledge generation and dissemination activities. Through a competitive process (Calls for Proposals), CSOs can apply for grants for periods of 3-5 years, with disbursement tranches linked to agreed project milestones. Indicatively, grant amounts are between $500,000 and $1 million. The Knowledge component supports a global platform for knowledge exchange and research, especially in measuring and documenting the impact of social accountability interventions. The Knowledge component also focuses on developing and nurturing practitioner networks for South-South exchange of knowledge and experiences.

The GPSA’s Funding component operates in countries where the government formally consents to its operations (i.e. "opts-in"). To date, 40 countries across the world have opted in to the GPSA. CSOs from these countries are eligible to apply for GPSA grants. Prior to issuing a Call for Proposals, the GPSA launches a consultative process with stakeholders in opted-in countries including civil society, government, and other donor agencies to define the key governance issues (thematic areas) per country that CSO proposals should address. This country-tailored, ‘problem-solving’ approach maximizes the alignment of GPSA activities with the development strategies of countries.

More than 200 organizations from across the world have expressed their endorsement for the goal and strategy of the GPSA and joined the global community of practice around social accountability. Global Partner organizations support the GPSA’s activities in many different ways, depending on the nature of the organizations: by exchanging lessons from practical experience; sharing academic knowledge; contributing funding; and through networking. The coalition continues to grow and includes organizations from civil society, CSO networks, foundations, academia and international organizations.

The GPSA currently supportsg more than 20 projects located in Bangladesh, Dominican Republic, DRC, Ghana, Indonesia, Kyrgyz Republic, Malawi, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Paraguay, Philippines, Tajikistan, Tunisia, and Uganda, for a total over $15 million. Projects operate in sectors such as health, education, social protection, water, and across issues such as procurement and budget transparency. The GPSA launched its first Call for Proposals in February 2013 in 12 countries. 216 civil society organizations submitted proposals, from which the first 11 winners were selected. The Open Society Foundations and GPSA also launched the first GPSA grant through parallel funding in the Philippines. The GPSA’s 2nd Call for Proposals, launched in November 2013 and open to CSOs from 33 countries received 428 applicants, from which eight were selected for grant funding.