Following political promises through community reporting

Introduction

Political promises can shape what communities expect from their leaders and institutions.

But once an election or campaign period ends, it can be difficult to maintain a clear picture of what was promised, what communities are experiencing and which commitments remain unresolved.

Fuatilia Ahadi, a civic accountability organisation used WatchTower to help communities report what they were seeing in relation to issues and commitments that mattered to them.

“We remember what was promised. We want to know what happened after that.”

One report captures one person's experience. But when communities report on the same commitments over time, those reports can create a broader picture of what is happening across locations.

WatchTower helped connect community reports with the issues and commitments they related to, making them easier to follow over time.

Hearing what the numbers can miss

Official records can show budgets, projects and government activity. Political statements can show what leaders said they intended to do.

Neither necessarily captures how communities experience progress, delays or gaps on the ground.

People can report what they are seeing, what has changed and what remains unresolved.

Community reporting creates another layer of evidence, grounded in the experiences of people living with the outcomes of public commitments.

How we listened

WatchTower was deployed to help communities report what they were seeing and help the organisation connect those reports across locations and over time.

Reporting in familiar languages:

People could describe what they were seeing in languages they were comfortable using, making it easier to report local experiences in their own words.

Voice and text reporting:

Community members could submit reports through voice or text, giving them different ways to describe progress, gaps or concerns.

Translation and organisation:

WatchTower helped transcribe, translate and organise reports from different communities so they could be understood together.

Connecting related reports:

Reports could be connected to common issues, locations and time periods, helping the organisation track recurring experiences and changes over time.

Privacy by design:

Personal information could be minimised or generalised where necessary, particularly when people were reporting sensitive concerns.

A picture began to emerge

As reports accumulated, individual questions started to connect.

Related reports

86

Communities

17

Languages

5

Reporting period

9months

Where reports came from

Reports highlighted recurring concerns around public commitments, local projects, service delivery, implementation gaps and community expectations.

Together, these reports helped the organisation understand how communities were experiencing progress and unresolved concerns across different locations.

From evidence to action

Listening is only useful if what communities share can inform what happens next.

The organisation could use the evidence to support dialogue with local leaders and institutions, follow up on recurring concerns and bring community experiences into public accountability processes.

The reports could also provide a record of how community experiences changed over time.

Why it matters

Political accountability does not end when an election is over.

It also depends on whether communities can continue to observe, report and discuss what happens after commitments are made.

When people can report what they are seeing in their own languages and those reports can be connected across places and time, community experiences can become a more visible part of accountability.

WatchTower helps organisations follow what communities are reporting long after the campaign has ended.