Community involvement in the systematic collection of information to assess the quality of public services can take many forms. Mechanisms include citizen report cards (survey-based quantitative assessments of services) community scorecards (quantitative surveys combined with qualitative meetings), social audits (combination of the two) or participatory expenditure tracking. Community monitoring ultimately aims to provide a stock of information/data which can be used to advocate for improved services and better align them towards the needs of local people. The case studies in this report highlight that participation is complex and needs to be set in an understanding of local context, local ownership is crucial, dissemination of monitoring data must be aligned to influence policy, and that ultimately, monitoring is a political process which needs high level support to gain legitimacy.
