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International Review of Administrative Sciences, Vol. 72, No. 4,
531-546 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/0020852306070082
Multiple accountability relationships and improved service delivery performance in Hyderabad City, Southern India
Jonathan Caseley
Institute for Development Studies, University of Nairobi, Kenya
This article examines a series of service delivery reforms that were undertaken at the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board in Andhra Pradesh State, southern India. Key to sustained improvements in service delivery performance were three effective accountability relationships, triangulating between citizens, senior managers, and frontline workers. In this dynamic, consistent citizen demand for accountability provided new sources of performance information to senior managers, which they could then use to hold frontline workers to account for responsive service provision. Transparent and accessible citizen-based accountability mechanisms have the potential to contribute to organizational change and sustained improvements in service delivery performance in public sector service providers.
Key Words: accountability • India • public sector reform • service delivery performance • South Asia • urban water supply
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