This is one of four research briefings in the 'When does the state listen?' series, part ... more This is one of four research briefings in the 'When does the state listen?' series, part of the Making All Voices Count programme.
Ghana started the process of implementing health insurance a decade ago, preceding a wider civil ... more Ghana started the process of implementing health insurance a decade ago, preceding a wider civil society consultation processes and high consensus among political parties. I see this process of policy engagement as one of the few occasions of a fairly successful state-citizen engagements after the country returned to democratic rule in 1992. As part of the research components of Making All Voices Count, one of the key research puzzles of my work on the case study of Ghana’s National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), to track state responsiveness to citizens’ demands for public service access. Specifically, whether the extent to which citizens engaged with the state during the design, implementation and revision stages of the NHIS offers them an opportunity to make the state more accountable.
In this article, we look at four cases of key historical policies in Ghana, Kenya, South Africa a... more In this article, we look at four cases of key historical policies in Ghana, Kenya, South Africa and Tanzania to examine how states engage with citizen voices. The policies all took place in contexts of political change and major junctures of democratisation. We identify three kinds of moments when the state listens: hearing moments, when it engages with citizen voices but does not change the way it acts; consultation moments, when it engages with citizen voices through two-way dialogue, resulting in one-sided action; and concertation moments, when coalitions between reform-minded officials and politicians and organised citizen voices engage in two-way dialogue and action for accountable governance. Concertation moments occurred when there was a shared sense of urgency and a common goal across state and non-state actors, and despite different understandings of accountable governance. But concertation moments are also laborious and temporary, part of larger, ever-changing policy processes, and often states revert to consultation or hearing.
This is one of four research briefings in the 'When does the state listen?' series, part ... more This is one of four research briefings in the 'When does the state listen?' series, part of the Making All Voices Count programme.
Ghana started the process of implementing health insurance a decade ago, preceding a wider civil ... more Ghana started the process of implementing health insurance a decade ago, preceding a wider civil society consultation processes and high consensus among political parties. I see this process of policy engagement as one of the few occasions of a fairly successful state-citizen engagements after the country returned to democratic rule in 1992. As part of the research components of Making All Voices Count, one of the key research puzzles of my work on the case study of Ghana’s National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), to track state responsiveness to citizens’ demands for public service access. Specifically, whether the extent to which citizens engaged with the state during the design, implementation and revision stages of the NHIS offers them an opportunity to make the state more accountable.
In this article, we look at four cases of key historical policies in Ghana, Kenya, South Africa a... more In this article, we look at four cases of key historical policies in Ghana, Kenya, South Africa and Tanzania to examine how states engage with citizen voices. The policies all took place in contexts of political change and major junctures of democratisation. We identify three kinds of moments when the state listens: hearing moments, when it engages with citizen voices but does not change the way it acts; consultation moments, when it engages with citizen voices through two-way dialogue, resulting in one-sided action; and concertation moments, when coalitions between reform-minded officials and politicians and organised citizen voices engage in two-way dialogue and action for accountable governance. Concertation moments occurred when there was a shared sense of urgency and a common goal across state and non-state actors, and despite different understandings of accountable governance. But concertation moments are also laborious and temporary, part of larger, ever-changing policy processes, and often states revert to consultation or hearing.
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