Doing civil society-driven social accountability in a disaster context: Evidence from post-earthquake Nepal

The article draws attention to the potential of social accountability in making the notions of rights and voice concrete in the interest of disaster-affected communities, and in addressing the post-disaster environment of mistrust, unfounded allegations and power inequalities. While accountability has gained significant traction within the contemporary discourse on disaster governance, what it means and takes to be ‘doing accountability’ in promoting democratic governance of disasters remain scantly understood. Using the concept of social accountability and drawing on an ethnographic case study of a civil society-led accountability campaign in post-earthquake Nepal (the Mobile Citizen Help Desk, or MCHD), this article shows how MCHD sought to amplify local voices regarding failures in aid delivery and expanded opportunities for dialogue between disaster-affected communities and local powerholders.

The article also concludes that the civil society actors’ efforts to improve democratic governance of disasters may prove limiting, unless there are corresponding changes in the national and international structures of accountability in a post-disaster situation.