Ghana G-SAM Impact Evaluation Baseline Household Survey

USAID’s Center of Excellence for Democracy, Human Rights and Governance contracted Social Impact, Inc. to conduct an impact evaluation of USAID’s Ghana Strengthening Accountability Mechanisms (G-SAM) program, which aimed to increase accountability of local District Assemblies in Ghana. This impact evaluation, a randomized-controlled trial, tested the effect of two distinct efforts to increase accountability and improve service delivery outcomes at the district level. One hundred fifty of Ghana’s districts were matched and randomized into one of three groups: a top-down treatment group that received performance audits conducted by the central government Ghana Audit Service (GAS); a bottom-up treatment group that received civil-society organization (CSO) led scorecard campaigns; and a control group that did not receive either intervention. Outcomes were measured across three surveys administered at baseline (2014) and endline (2017). This dataset specifically contains baseline data from a survey targeted at citizens, whom G-SAM aimed to empower to be better-informed participants in district governance.