Who Can We Count On? Authority, Empowerment and Accountability in Mozambique
The use of a governance diaries methodology to investigate poor households’ interactions with authority in conflict and violence-affected settings
Abstract
In this paper, we explore the use of a governance diaries methodology to investigate poor households’ interactions with authority in fragile, conflict and violence-affected settings in Mozambique. The research questioned the meanings of empowerment and accountability from the point of view of poor and marginalised people, with the aim of understanding what both mean for them, and how that changes over time, based on their experiences with governance. The study also sought to record how poor and marginalised households view the multiple institutions that govern their lives; providing basic public goods and services, including health and security; and, in return, raise revenues to fund these services. The findings show that, even if the perceptions and, with them, the concepts of empowerment and accountability that emerged do not differ significantly from those identified in the literature, in terms of action and mobilisation there are distinctions. In our research sites we found that people rarely mobilise, even faced with prevalent injustices and poor basic service provision. Many claim to be ‘unable’ to influence or force ‘authorities’ to respond to their concerns and demands.
This work is part of the Action for Empowerment and Accountability (A4EA) Research programme
Citation
Chaimite, E.; Forquilha, S. and Shankland, A. (2021) Who Can We Count On? Authority, Empowerment and Accountability in Mozambique, IDS Working Paper 546, Brighton: Institute of Development Studies, DOI: 10.19088/IDS.2021.019
Link
Who Can We Count On? Authority, Empowerment and Accountability in Mozambique