Governments and institutions that are designed to meet the needs of people must be held accountable for doing so.

The process of holding a government or institution accountable varies by type of government or institution, number and placement of the advocates seeking to hold it to account, and the scope and intention of the program or policy for which the government or institution is being held accountable.

However, there are several key aspects of accountability in action that are consistent in most, if not all, situations.

• Start with acquiring information about the current policies and programs.
• From there, if there is a need to change those policies and/or programs, the accountability process continues with exposing/advertising the failure or shortcomings of current programs and/or policies, conveying a need for change (proposing an alternative to the way things are currently being done), and advocating for that change using various tactics including mobilizing popular support, the media, influential figures, and coalitions.
• Accountability is an ongoing process. If you are successful in winning a change in policy and/or program, you must continue to monitor the implementation to make sure that it is being implemented and that the implementation is successful in accomplishing its goals.

Women Won't Wait is focusing its accountability work on multilateral donors/institutions , bilateral donors , national governments , and civil society . You can find information about how to put accountability into action by clicking on the relevant link.