Against the backdrop of the advances in globalization and the debate on the ‘retreating’ state, the role of non-state actors such as advocacy non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in public administration has become increasingly important. Experience shows that organized public demand and feedback can be used as an effective voice to demand greater public accountability. The system of “Report Cards’ for public services in the Indian city of Bangalore has been replicated and used by civil society institutions to create greater public awareness about poor performance of their public service providers, and to challenge the latter to be more efficient and responsive to their consumers.

Some advocacy NGOs in Pakistan are also adopting innovative approaches to encourage and facilitate citizens-consumers to avail (create a demand side of) grievance redress procedures that have been put in place for their benefit. The strategies include community empowerment to raise a voice for the entitlements of citizenship, policy advocacy to create space and avenues for public grievance redress, and service provision to facilitate consumers to articulate their complaints. Sungi Development Foundation (SUNGI), a leading civil society organization in Pakistan, for example, mobilizes local communities to address citizens’ grievances, on issues such as poor quality of utility services, non-functional schools, delays in local courts, etc. Organizations like SUNGI work to bring about policy and institutional changes by mobilizing deprived and marginalized communities with a view to creating an environment in which local communities could transform their lives.

Another innovative model is the Consumer Complaint Cell (CCC) of The Network for Consumer Protection. The Network began its CCC in Islamabad in 2002 to facilitate aggrieved consumers, recognizing that the demand side of justice had not been explored or activated in the country. Facilitation of consumers to gain redress for grievances is not only a basic consumer right, it is also a primary function of legal empowerment. CCC aims to activate the demand for public and private providers to offer safe, affordable and high quality goods and services, and to be consumer-responsive, particularly in areas that affect traditionally disadvantaged consumers. At the same time, by its very functioning, CCC aims to orient the appropriate mechanisms, for example complaint windows, in government and the private sector to respond to consumer concerns.