Accountability Initiative held a consultation entitled Civil Society and Accountability on December 2nd and 3rd, 2009. The overall objective of the consultation was to debate the nature and effectiveness of civil society’s engagement with the state for accountability. In particular, it aimed to address the following key issues:

* Taking stock of existing experiments, understanding strengths and limitations

* Debating challenges of sustainability, institutionalization and effectiveness

* Identifying potential for replicability and scale

All of this was discussed in the context of whether and to what extent civil society’s engagement for accountability might contribute to strengthening substantive democracy in India.

The Consultation was attended by about 35 participants on each day. Participants included practitioners, policymakers and academics working on issues of accountability from around the country.

Some of the video recordings from the Consultation can be accessed below. More videos will be uploaded on our website soon.

Amitabh Behar, National Centre for Advocacy Studies

Shekhar Singh, National Campaign for People’s Right to Information