This looks like a great idea, endorsed by some excellent folks.
M -----Original Message----- From: Henry McCandless [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: March 20, 2002 8:06 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Public Accountability Michael Gurstein, I am writing to draw your attention to a published Guide for citizens who are concerned about public accountability in areas of responsibility such as social justice, health, education, information or any other major public-interest area. Garth Graham, consultant in community online, gave me your email address as someone who might be interested in the Guide. The title is A Citizenıs Guide to Public Accountability: Changing the Relationship Between Citizens and Authorities, authored by Henry E. McCandless and co-published by Trafford Publishing and the Citizensı Circle for Accountability (CCA), both of Victoria, BC. The Foreword is by Dr. Ursula Franklin. Wherever citizens can identify important responsibilities that affect the public in important ways (responsibility being the obligation to act), there co-exists the obligation by those with the responsibilities to answer to the public for the discharge of their responsibilities. In other words, they are to explain publicly what they intend, for whom, and why; the performance standards they intend for themselves; what they actually did and what their outcomes were, as the authority sees them; and how they applied the learning to be gained. The Citizenıs Guide explains what public accountability means and how to exact from authorities the public answering that citizens need but which the authorities donıt or wonıt provide. A citizenıs guide is needed because present legislation in all jurisdictions is weak to non-existent in requiring adequate answering from authorities. The Guide sets out general principles of public accountability and a set of reasonable standards for public answering by authorities. These principles and standards are also laid out on the CCAıs web site, at www.accountabilitycircle.org. In terms of help to citizens, the CCA has several convenors representing accountability expertise in various disciplines. The web site gives a general introduction to public accountability, sets out what citizens are entitled to in public answering, and explains citizen audit as a last-resort strategy when authorities wonıt answer and elected representatives wonıt make them answer. The CCA web site also launches the Journal of Public Accountability as a forum for the exchange of ideas on accountability and as a means of raising and dealing with important accountability issues emerging after September 2001, the cut-off for the text of the published Guide. I hope this is useful to you, and that you might forward this note to interested others. sincerely, Henry McCandless
