Prioritise citizen feedback to improve aid effectiveness

'All I really need to know I learned in kindergarten.' Nowhere does this represent itself more acutely than in international development in the way donors, governments, and citizens work with one another – or often don't.

In international development, we need collaboration, not just co-operation, to change the world. Now, a consortium of organisations has come together to imagine a scenario where aid is not just a one-way street, but rather a dynamic feedback loop where citizens can drive how resources are allocated and services provided in their communities.

The vision is a metaphorical "yelp for development". What if we could use open data to allow people to choose and rate what they see and experience in their communities and allow an average citizen to express his or her views? What if we had a system that could answer questions such as: do teachers show up to teach? How long is the wait time at the health clinic and its level of quality? How do we use transparency, people, and technology to create real conversations around service delivery and accountability?

This concept of "feedback loops" is a hot topic, although not particularly well-defined. If there is a reason for the use of the term in the context of citizen engagement, no serious effort has been made to explain what that is. That said, the concept is called by many different names (eg citizen engagement, feedback loops, citizen voice, etc), and as Tiago Peixoto explains, there are benefits and drawbacks to these diverse labels. Each label connotes past initiatives that have achieved varying degrees of success and failure. As we explore the web of definitions, perspectives, interventions, and incentives, one thing becomes very clear: it all comes down to conversations, relationships, and trust to alter the power balance.

Rakesh Rajani of Twaweza, a Kenya-based nongovernmental organisation, illustrates its recent experience. A large district hospital in Isiolo seemed to have impressive services in place. It had information billboards, telephone numbers to handle complaints, and other ways for citizens to provide feedback.

But citizens simply weren't using them. When asked why, the answer was clear. According to Rajani: "People simply did not believe that anybody would take it seriously, or that it would make any difference. Where people have had 10, 15, 20 years of unresponsive states and complaints mechanisms that do nothing, simply introducing technology or new client service charters cannot automatically restore confidence."

The Twaweza team then called one of the telephone numbers to register a complaint, and immediately received professional, responsive service.

It's only an anecdote, but it shows that even when a feedback mechanism is in place, one may need to restore trust and build local credibility first. With lack of confidence and trust, all the technology and education in the world won't create an environment that fosters citizens to participate in their own development. Often, investment in existing trust based relationships are the missing ingredient.

In an effort to address this complex set of issues: a like-minded group of organisations have joined forces to create Feedback Labs. It involves Ashoka, Development Gateway, FrontlineSMS, GlobalGiving, the GroundTruth Initiative, Keystone Accountability, Twaweza, and Ushahidi.

Our organisations share the belief that everyday citizens should have the right to real-time information about the programmes and initiatives that affect their lives and the ability to give feedback on what's working, what's not, what they need, and what they don't. Our goal is to make feedback loops the new norm in aid, development, and philanthropy, and we envision a world where citizens are empowered with creative, field-tested ways to productively interact with aid agencies, foundations, and governments.

We are at a critical point in history where prioritising citizen feedback has the potential to unleash massive changes in the way development is pursued. This field – which we term "feedback loops" for lack of a better name – is still uncharted and unbounded. While its potential is enormous, the concept lacks consistent vocabulary, principles, accepted best practices, and reliable measurements. We aim to help provide the structure and design principles that will maximise the effects of global citizen engagement efforts.

Together, we have identified a few key steps ahead. First, there is a pressing need to frame the reason why feedback loops are so important, using research and open conversation to clarify a number of key theoretical and empirical issues in the field. We need to experiment to more systematically uncover what works and what doesn't, bringing together our learning in an open and honest way. To the extent that we uncover truly transformative insights, or – better yet – models that are replicable and scalable, we then plan to mainstream these models with the government, agencies, and organisational partners poised to make citizen feedback a new norm.

While we are optimistic that prioritising citizen feedback has the potential to change how development is done, the road ahead is still uncharted and daunting. The concept lacks consistent vocabulary, principles, accepted best practices, and reliable measurements. In addition, our success hinges on our ability to engage governments, NGOs, and citizens alike to talk about the way aid is designed, delivered, and evaluated. We also understand the solution to be greater than the sum of our contributions, and will require an understanding of complex systems, politics, and human behaviour.

Ultimately, our greatest challenge will be to build trust – to demonstrate to citizens that their feedback had a visible and direct effect on decision-making and service delivery. Only through true partnership with citizens can we succeed at inspiring the institutional changes needed to make feedback loops the new gold standard.

Stephen Davenport is the director of innovation at the Development Gateway and co-executive director of AidData . He tweets as @davenportsteve

This article was amended on 23 July 2013. The original contained unrevised errors. These have been corrected.

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