Easy-to-use method for connecting communities, service providers, and the government

Citizen, Voice, and Action (CVA) is a World Vision initiative to empower people with disabilities in dialogue with public institutions to improve services such as health care and education at the local level. By 2022 the model had been implemented in more than 50 countries.

World Vision is a global humanitarian organization working in nearly 100 countries around the world. In 2013, it adapted a social accountability model, Citizen, Voice, and Action (CVA), that informs persons with disabilities about their rights, empowers them to evaluate the performance of government and service providers, and encourages them to suggest improvements. By 2022 the model has been implemented in more than 50 countries, including Colombia, El Salvador, India, Kenya, Nepal, Nicaragua, and Romania.

Problems Targeted

It is often hard for persons with disabilities to hold governments accountable for entitled services due to a lack of information and data about necessary improvements.

Solution, Innovation and Impact

Citizen, Voice, and Action (CVA) is an initiative implemented by World Vision to strengthen the dialogue between communities and governments to improve services such as health care and education using a local-level methodology. The practice is developed in three stages: (1) It enables citizen engagement with services providers, and it reviews government documents and policies. (2) CVA organizes a series of meetings with focus groups to assess the quality of services and identify improvements. These focus groups include, among others, persons with disabilities, DPOs, and service providers. (3) CVA creates an action plan that guides persons with disabilities to negotiate with the government and service providers to improve services and monitor implementation. Additionally, World Vision has developed two mobile applications to support data collection and analysis: one for country-wide data collection and another for individuals to rate the rights and services they receive, or lack thereof.  The CVA initiative was started in 2005, and consciously expanded its practice in 2013 to include disability inclusion. By 2022 it was active in more than 50 countries. The CVA project in Colombia, for example, has engaged 2,749 persons with disabilities, resulting, in 175 actions by service providers.

Funding, Outlook and Transferability

The CVA projects are implemented primarily through intensive five-day workshops hosted as a wider community event. These events are normally embedded in local government planning and have an average cost of $5,000. Looking forward, World Vision aims to continue to expand the use of CVA and is developing a mobile application for collecting data across countries from groups and individuals.

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