Achieving social justice in service delivery in the health, social welfare, and humanitarian sectors is still a formidable challenge in most developing countries. The inability of the poor and marginalised to make and have their demands heard and the lack of awareness that rights can be claimed are two main challenges preventing the pursuit of improved services delivery. But social accountability initiatives can help to address these issues, helping ensure substantive citizenship and legitimacy. In this article, Elsbet Lodenstein and Sylvia Bergh summarise a discussion that took place on this topic during the recent EADI ISS Conference. The range of initiatives presented during the panel session were all effective in helping upholding accountability in their specific contexts, they write.

Mainstream climate change mitigation and adaptation policies are imbued with neocolonial discursive constructions of the “other”. Understanding how such constructions work has important implications for how we think about emancipatory and socially-just responses to the climate crisis.