Rhodes University

The Public Service Accountability Monitor (PSAM) strengthens public resource management through citizen oversight and engagement. With this grant PSAM will train and mentor civil society actors, deepen learning with partner civil society groups across Africa, evaluate the effectiveness of their interventions, and share lessons learned with the transparency and accountability field.

The Public Service Accountability Monitor (PSAM) strengthens public resource management through citizen oversight and engagement. PSAM grounds its work in South Africa with activities at the local, provincial, and national levels to improve the government’s delivery of basic health and education services. The lessons PSAM learns from these interventions in turn strengthen its flagship training program for civil society advocates and media practitioners from across Africa. To ensure that trainees apply their new skills, PSAM develops ongoing mentoring relationships with a core set of the training participants, helping them design research and advocacy strategies to improve public resource management in their own countries. With the assistance provided by the Foundation, PSAM anticipates offering its Fundamentals of Social Accountability course three times a year, establishing at least three new regional learning partnerships with African civil society groups, and ensuring that lessons are documented and shared with peers in the transparency and accountability field.