Addressing accountability challenges with theory of change: the case of a social partnership in Ukraine

Recently, an increased complexity of public service delivery coupled with engagement of multiple stakeholders on various stages resulted in the emergence of multiple accountability forms. This created new challenges within the public sector connected to a cost vs time dilemma when producing and processing diverse accounts. In this chapter, we focus on the collaborative network, which exhibits multiple and sometimes conflicting accountabilities between different actors. We study the case of a social partnership in Ukraine and explore how multiple accountabilities have been transforming. We show that to make different types of accountabilities aligned in the context of social partnership, mobilization of the concept of theory of change can be useful. In particular, this approach can become an effective tool for the evaluation of results, outcomes and impacts of social initiatives. We contribute by providing a better understanding of how theory of change can improve the evaluation and performance management of social partnerships.