Thomas Theisohn (2007) argues that improving accountability relationships between the demand and the supply stakeholders is an effective strategy for developing capacity. Effective accountability mechanisms induce public sector organisations to remain relevant and responsive to the needs and demands of the groups they serve. According to Theisohn notion of ‘rights holders’ and ‘duty bearers’ can be useful in illustrating the relationship between, for instance, service providers (supply) and users of services (demand), and the importance of accountability mechanisms in linking the two together. Duty bearers, such as government departments, provide public services. Rights holders are the legitimate beneficiaries of the actions of the duty bearers. As such, citizens are rights holders with regard to the public services provided by their government. Accountability mechanisms bind both sides with defined rules, rights and responsibilities. They help rights holders to voice their needs and demands and establish a responsibility of duty bearers to be responsive.

Responsiveness refers to the way in which duty bearers perceive the needs of, and respond to the demands of particular groups such as the poor sectors of society or the recipients of a particular service. Focusing on accountability can therefore be a strategic entry point or driver for promoting capacity development and performance. There are at least five reasons why such a focus should be part and parcel of any capacity development strategy.

1. Incentives - Accountability mechanisms allow demand side pressures to be exercised on those in power, and can have a bearing on the motivation of people and organisations to learn, to perform and to make use of their existing capacities.
2. Legitimacy - Accountability builds legitimacy in decision making, implementation and monitoring processes, and can thus boost the ability of individuals and groups to act on behalf of the groups they serve.
3. Empowerment – Accountability mechanisms can be used to empower people to claim their rights from the ‘bottom-up’, to forge a stronger democratic culture of participation and engagement, and to serve as the ultimate safeguard against the abuse of power.
4. Politics – Accountability loops provide checks and balances in a society’s decision making processes which increase transparency and limit the influence of vested interests on public policy.
5. Concrete Action – Accountability mechanisms can be defined, communicated, implemented and measured in tangible ways.

It can be seen from the above that having effective mechanisms of accountability is an important part of any well-functioning system. Accountability mechanisms enable social systems to learn, self-regulate, remain relevant to their constituencies, and to achieve their respective purposes. In addition to the above argument there is also a need felt to develop the capacities of the community as a standalone exercise on various social accountability tools to enable and empower them to question the governments and service providers for better accountability. Capacity building for social accountability can be very important for establishing transparent and participative governance systems.