Citizen Voice and Social Accountability in the Digitalisation of Social Protection in South Africa: Designing the use of responsible digital civic technology as an enabling mechanism

This research study aims to understand the nature of enablers and challenges of citizen participation and social accountability mechanisms throughout the digitalisation of social protection in South Africa.
Project status
Ongoing
Departments
International

The digitalisation of social protection aims to improve service access and efficiency through online applications, notifications, and payments. Paradoxically, in many contexts these digital transformations have impeded the right to social protection due to exclusionary, unaccountable designs disempowering vulnerable groups. In South Africa, despite the constitutional right to social security, digitalisation has faced myriad challenges undermining this – from unlawful biometric deductions to digital/financial exclusion, poor user interfaces, lack of offline application options, error-prone verification processes, data breaches, transfer theft when applying for others, and illegal staff deductions due to delays. This research study aims to understand the nature of enablers and challenges of citizen participation and social accountability mechanisms throughout the digitalisation of social protection in South Africa. Furthermore, it seeks to explore how responsible digital citizen participation can be designed to facilitate citizen-state interfaces that enable social accountability monitoring of the digitalisation of social protection programmes.

Research Team: Dr Caroline Khene, Institute of Development Studies; Dr Gugulethu Baduza, Rhodes University; Dr Becky Faith, Institute of Development Studies; Dr Hafeni Mthoko, The IIE's Varsity College

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