Enabling environment for Civic Engagement signifies a set of conditions - often inter-related - that impact on the capacity of citizens and civil society organizations to engage in development processes in a sustained and effective manner, whether at the policy, program or project level. They include legal, regulatory and policy frameworks, and political, socio-cultural and economic factors. There are institutional factors within civil society that should be considered in thinking about this environment.

It is increasingly being recognized that civil society is an important agent of development alongside the market and the state. Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) are important actors in building necessary social consensus for economic reforms and long term development, in promoting effective governance by fostering transparency and accountability of public institutions, and in efforts to fight inequality and exclusion. CSOs also have an increasingly critical role in the direct delivery of social and economic services, and in improving natural resource management and environmental protection through collective action.

The existence of mechanisms of social accountability can lead to significant changes in both the decisiveness and accountability of governments. In terms of decisiveness, or fulfilling expectations, vertical mechanisms enable civil society and government to work towards:

• Improving public expenditure targeting of social programs through improved knowledge of citizen needs.
• Enhancing the quality of services delivered through the issuing of citizens’ report cards.
• Improving the allocation of budget resources through the incorporation of citizen feedback on budget proposals.
• Enhancing public expenditure effectiveness trough participatory tracking and monitoring systems.

These mechanisms also lead to a better management of expectations. They provide civil society with a more realistic understanding of budgetary constraints and the difficult choices inherent in deciding where best to allocate scarce resources and how best to meet the needs of a diverse population.