Citizen report card
Topic: Transparency, Accountability and e-Governance · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
A citizen report card is a survey of people who use a public service, such as water supply, hospitals or buses. Users rate the quality of the service, and the ratings are made public. Public pressure then pushes the agency to improve. The Public Affairs Centre in Bengaluru, led by Samuel Paul, started it in 1994. It is a tool of social accountability, which means citizens demand answers directly from those who serve them.
Example
In 1994 the Public Affairs Centre asked Bengaluru residents to rate the city's service agencies. It then published how badly some agencies scored. Report cards and community scorecards later became standard ways for citizens to check public services.
Don't confuse with
- Citizen's charter: the office itself writes a charter promising its standards. In a report card, users rate how the office actually performed.
- Social audit: the community checks a programme's records and results at a public hearing. A report card is a survey of users' experience.
Related concepts
- Social accountability
- Social audit
- Meghalaya Community Participation and Public Services Social Audit Act 2017