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Pathways to Citizen Accountability: Brazil’s Bolsa Família

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  • Natasha Borges Sugiyama

Abstract

This article examines the pathways – citizen-driven, bottom-up oversight or state-centred administrative controls – that have played the largest role in promoting the accountability of the Bolsa Família programme. The exploratory analysis draws on interviews with local and federal officials as well as beneficiaries of the Bolsa Família in order to identify the ways monitoring and accountability have evolved in practise and on the ground. Field research highlights that citizen- and community-driven participatory mechanisms for ongoing monitoring and accountability are relatively weak. Top-down administrative regulations, such as programmatic transparency and random audits, have largely worked to protect the integrity of the programme. The article concludes by discussing the opportunities for greater community-driven participatory oversight in the future.

Suggested Citation

  • Natasha Borges Sugiyama, 2016. "Pathways to Citizen Accountability: Brazil’s Bolsa Família," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(8), pages 1192-1206, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:jdevst:v:52:y:2016:i:8:p:1192-1206
    DOI: 10.1080/00220388.2015.1134779
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    1. Deepa Narayan & Robert Chambers & Meera K. Shah & Patti Petesch, 2000. "Voices of the Poor : Crying Out for Change," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 13848, December.
    2. Lindert, Kathy & Vincensini, Vanina, 2010. "Brazil - Social policy, perceptions and the press : an analysis of the media's treatment of conditional cash transfers in Brazil," Social Protection Discussion Papers and Notes 70613, The World Bank.
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    Cited by:

    1. Rachel Sabates-Wheeler & Nikhil Wilmink & Abdul-Gafaru Abdulai & Richard de Groot & Tayllor Spadafora, 2020. "Linking Social Rights to Active Citizenship for the Most Vulnerable: the Role of Rights and Accountability in the ‘Making’ and ‘Shaping’ of Social Protection," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 32(1), pages 129-151, January.
    2. Adam S. Harris & Brigitte Seim & Rachel Sigman, 2020. "Information, accountability and perceptions of public sector programme success: A conjoint experiment among bureaucrats in Africa," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 38(5), pages 594-612, September.
    3. Leutert, Wendy, 2021. "Innovation through iteration: Policy feedback loops in China’s economic reform," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).

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