USAID/BiH"s anti-corruption civic organizations" unified network (ACCOUNT) follow on activity : performance evaluation of USAID/BiH’s anti-corruption civic organizations’ unified network follow-on activity (ACCOUNT)

Agency for International Development Bosnia and Herzegovina (USAID/BiH) to examine USAID/BiH Anti-Corruption Civic Organizations’ Unified Network (ACCOUNT) follow-on activity. The main objective of ACCOUNT is to create an environment that increases civil society participation to promote reform through collaboration and cooperation in anti-corruption initiatives. This Activity involves evidence-based research, civic monitoring, and investigative reporting on corruption cases in five sectors: i) public procurement, ii) whistleblower protection, iii) education, iv) health, and v) public employment. The evaluation focuses on the direct beneficiaries of the program and answers five research questions. The first question examines to what extent ACCOUNT has increased Civil Society Organizations’ (CSOs) involvement and input in determining anti-corruption legislation/regulation. The second question examines ACCOUNT’s major achievements in public procurement, whistleblower protection, education, health, public employment, and local-level anti-corruption strategies/action plans. The third question examines to what extent ACCOUNT has increased the quality and quantity of investigative journalism targeting public corruption in BiH. The fourth question examines to what extent interventions under ACCOUNT have influenced public awareness of corruption. Finally, the fifth question examines if ACCOUNT’s legal-aid model is perceived as effective by program beneficiaries. The evaluation team employed a mixed-methods approach to answer each of the evaluation questions through triangulation. In addition to the review of ACCOUNT’s design and implementation documentation, we held 39 semi-structured interviews and a media panel discussion, with a total of 65 individuals participating in the evaluation. We also conducted surveys of media and CSO representatives and education workers, as well as reviewing the quality of investigative reports produced by ACCOUNT media outlets. Our evaluation shows that overall ACCOUNT performance is perceived as a positive CSO endeavor in the field of anti-corruption in Bosnia and Herzegovina. ACCOUNT gathered a significant number of CSOs in the Network on anti-corruption issues. Through advocacy activities, ACCOUNT facilitated the putting forward of quality CSO inputs and their partial integration into legislation in the field of anti-corruption. Achievements are evident in all five sectors, especially in relation to whistleblower-protection legislation and draft public-procurement legislation. The demand-driven approach was effective and contributed to the visible results. Since Annual Reports did not document progress against goals and objectives but rather according to activities, some achievements were difficult to identify and measure. Media reporting on corruption has been intensive among ACCOUNT media outlets, and an increased level of readership is noted. However, the team was not able to confirm a change in the quantity of media reporting due to the lack of any baseline data on corruption investigative reports, either in the aggregate or per individual media outlet. The quality of ACCOUNT investigative reporting within the content evaluation is generally rated above good, with one in four articles being very good or excellent. It is important to note that media reporting focuses primarily on quantity with regard to advocacy and awareness raising. However, the majority of citizens (80%) remain tied to traditional media outlets over online portals/social media, and the outreach of ACCOUNT investigative reporting remained limited. Citizens’ perceptions on corruption remain unchanged since 2015, which indicates that the ACCOUNT assumption that citizens would consume their online media products remains largely unfulfilled, as only 20 percent of citizens use the online sources as a means of consuming civic and political news. Regarding ACCOUNT’s work on the establishment of an effective free legal-aid model to protect individuals reporting corruption and whistleblowers, the model has been useful but insufficient to protect citizens in the absence of a strong institutional and judicial system. In the end, we identified recommendations for future programming to support civil society engagement in anti-corruption, involvement of the media, and provision of free legal aid.