Accountability mechanisms help create the incentives that align the mandated entity’s own interests with the public good. Accountability requires a) that mandated entities have clear performance objectives; b) that mechanisms are in place to ensure rigorous monitoring of performance against those objectives; and c) that tracking outcomes translate into incentives for mandated entities. In this paper, we briefly explore the accountability mechanisms that can be applied to the different service provision mandate structures identified in our parallel paper on responsibilities.
This is one paper in a series of three that present the role of each CWIS function, how they tend to be implemented or overlooked, and how they interact with the other functions. These are initial framing publications, to be followed by longer publications centred around in-depth case studies.
