Participatory approach to design social accountability interventions to improve maternal health services:a case study from the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Background:Social accountability(SA)comprises a set of mechanisms aiming to,on the one hand,enable users to raise their concerns about the health services provided to them(voice),and to hold health providers(HPs)accountable for actions and decisions related to the health service provision.On the other hand,they aim to facilitate HPs to take into account users’needs and expectations in providing care.This article describes the development of a SA intervention that aims to improve health services responsiveness in two health zones in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.Methods:Beneficiaries including men,women,community health workers(CHWs),representatives of the health sector and local authorities were purposively selected and involved in an advisory process using the Dialogue Model in the two health zones:(1)Eight focus group discussions(FGDs)were organized separately during consultation aimed at sharing and discussing results from the situation analysis,and collecting suggestions for improvement,(2)Representatives of participants in previous FGDs were involved in dialogue meetings for prioritizing and integrating suggestions from FGDs,and(3)the integrated suggestions were discussed by research partners and set as intervention components.All the processes were audio-taped,transcribed and analysed using inductive content analysis.Results:Overall there were 121 participants involved in the process,51 were female.They provided 48 suggestions.Their suggestions were integrated into six intervention components during dialogue meetings:(1)use CHWs and a health committee for collecting and transmitting community concerns about health services,(2)build the capacity of the community in terms of knowledge and information,(3)involve community leaders through dialogue meetings,(4)improve the attitude of HPs towards voice and the management of voice at health facility level,(5)involve the health service supervisors in community participation and;(6)use other existing interventions.These components were then articulated into three intervention components during programming to:create a formal voice system,introduce dialogue meetings improving enforceability and answerability,and enhance the health providers’responsiveness.Conclusions:The use of the Dialogue Model,a participatory process,allowed beneficiaries to be involved with other community stakeholders having different perspectives and types of knowledge in an advisory process and to articulate their suggestions on a combination of SA intervention components,specific for the two health zones contexts.

Application Responsibility Accounting to Sustainable Development in Vietnam Manufacturers： An Empirical Study

Vietnamese enterprises continue to face serious difficulties due to the influence of fmancial crisis in the past years. One of efficent management tools at present in the process of decision-making in management, operation, and control of the administrator＇s business operations, strengthen development of Vietnamese enterprises is Responsibility Accounting （RA）. However, responsibility accounting in general is a very new content in both theoretical and practice in Viet Nam. Therefore, determining theoretical framework of responsibility accounting and the level of responsibility accounting application enables enterprise administrators to make a decision exactly, promptly and comprehensively as content of important argument. This research aims to identify the development of responsibility accounting, from four primary elements of initial accounting responsibilities （Don ＆ Marynne, 2005） developed into seven elements （Gharayba, Fatena, Debi, Ma＇Moon, ＆ Nasar, 2011） and developed into 43 scales matching seven elements （Hanini, 2013） and some new items in this paper. The research also identifies the level application of responsibility accounting according to seven elements of responsibility accounting is medium or high application level and has solutions to improve level of responsibility accounting application in Vietnam＇s textile and garment enterprises. This is the scientific basis for Vietnam enterprises in general and Vietnam＇s textile and garment enterprises in particular have a successful application of responsibility accounting to improve performance. In this paper, SPSS （Statistical Product and Service Solutions） 22 was used to collect and analyse data by distributing 64 questionnaires on managers and head of departments from Vietnamese textile and garment manufacturers.

The Role of Accounting Information Systems in Activating the Role of the Responsibility in the Jordanian Industrial Companies

The study aims at examining the role of accounting information systems in activating the role of the responsibility accounting in the Jordanian industrial companies. The study population has consisted of accounting managers working in the Jordanian industrial companies, where a convenience sample of 50 managers has been taken and questionnaires have been distributed for them and then these questionnaires have been collected. The study has found that the attitudes of study sample have been positive toward the role of accounting information systems in activating the role of the responsibility accounting in the Jordanian industrial companies. The study has also found that there is a role for accounting information systems in activating the role of the responsibility accounting in the Jordanian industrial companies. The study also found that the role of accounting information systems in activating the role of the responsibility accounting in the Jordanian industrial companies does not vary depending on the educational qualification of employees. In addition, the role of accounting information systems in activating the role of responsibility accounting in the Jordanian industrial companies varies depending on the practical experience of the employee. The study has made several recommendations, including： focusing attention on the disclosure of social activities in industrial companies, in addition to focusing on the development of equipment used in information systems at the company.