Since the 1990s there has been renewed interest in community participation has stemmed from both the neo-liberal agenda of mobilising community resources due to cutback on social budgets, and the emergence of radical debates on rights of citizens to participate in policy decisions, monitoring and evaluation. In the sphere of health, the neo-liberal perspective is reflected in many of the World Bank-supported health sector reforms in developing countries, while the radical perspectives are reflected in citizen action, demanding health service accountability. Reflecting both perspectives, the ICPD Programme of Action recommends that governments should involve NGOs and communities in decision-making, programme planning, cost recovery, training and expanding outreach, monitoring and evaluation. The World Bank assumes that reforms such as financing, decentralisation, evaluation, along with strategies to increase competition from the private and non-profit sectors, will strengthen public sector accountability.
