In August 2024, 20 representatives from five civil society organisations (CSOs) and their alliance members from Bangladesh, Pakistan, the Philippines, Nepal, and Vietnam gathered in Kathmandu, Nepal, to engage in learning, experience exchange, and reflection on how to ensure social accountability as part of education system transformation.

From this collaboration, the publication "Transforming Education Systems through Social Accountability" was born. This publication allows other CSOs and stakeholders to learn from the practices, mechanisms, and tools established by the participating organisations.

The publication includes reflections on learning from own experience, as well as gaps in approaches and practices, which could lead to strategic adaptations within organisations. It also shares lessons learned from working with marginalised groups and making local data actionable in political dialogue and advocacy.

Additionally, the publication provides an overview of various social accountability mechanisms implemented by the alliances, along with detailed descriptions that can inspire or be replicated by others working on similar issues. You can also find links to the various knowledge products and tools produced by the five organisations. You can find the leaflet here: Transforming Education Systems through Social Accountability.

Feel free to contact the alliances directly for more information about their practices and experiences in working with social accountability.

The organisations involved are: 

• Institute for Informatics and Development (IID), Bangladesh, and their youth networks
• Center for Youth Advocacy and Networking (CYAN) and Government Watch, Philippines
• Institute of Social and Policy Sciences (I-SAPS) and Consumer Rights Commission of Pakistan (CRCP), Pakistan
• Karkhana Samuha and Dalit Service Society Organisation (DSSO), Nepal
• Microfinance and Community Development Institute (MACDI), Vietnam

These organisations are all implementing projects funded by Education Out Loud under its Operational Component 2 (OC2), which aims to strengthen the role of civil society in promoting transparency and accountability in national education sector policies and implementation.

Having benefited from the learning and experience exchanges during this and previous engagements in the Asia Pacific region, the five organisations have decided to continue exchanging experiences and learning from each other through a collaborative learning process focused on social accountability over the next two years.

The learning and experience exchange event in Asia was part of a total of three learning events organised by Education Out Loud, where the 14 national civil society organisations and their alliance members implementing projects under OC2 for the first time came together in smaller groups to learn and share experiences with social accountability.  The other two events took place in November 2024 in Arusha, Tanzania and in February 2025 in Cotonou, Benin.