This policy establishes institutional mechanisms that enable community-led data collection and participatory research as independent complements to official monitoring systems.
Citizen groups, civil society organisations, and academic institutions should be supported, through dedicated funding, access to government data, and protection for independent evaluation, to carry out research (e.g.: periodic surveys, needs assessments, etc.) assessing programme reach, inclusion errors, and on-ground implementation. Findings from these surveys would be publicly disseminated, debated, and integrated into annual policy reviews to strengthen transparency and adaptive learning.
Notable precedents include the citizen-led surveys of the Right to Food Campaign in India (2003–present), which exposed systemic failures in food distribution and mid-day meal schemes, and the People’s Audit of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in India (2006–2012), which mobilised thousands of rural workers to verify employment and wage data. Similar initiatives in Brazil’s participatory research on Bolsa Família and South Africa’s community scorecards for basic services demonstrate how citizen-generated evidence improves both policy design and public trust.
Institutionalising such community-led research ensures that governance is informed by lived experience and helps build collective power among citizens to hold institutions accountable and co-govern the transition to post-growth politics.
