Title reads 'Accountability sessions'. At the top in yellow semi-circle text reads 'Tactic'. Illustration of a group of people sitting in chairs facing a stage with three people sitting on the stage.

Tactic: Accountability Session

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Introduction

The Accountability Session is a tactic used in community organising to demonstrate power and hold decision-makers accountable.  

Note on terminology

Candidate forums, educational forums and mass meetings have some similarities with accountability sessions. However, the accountability session has a precise structure often not found in those other events. 

Please note that ‘accountability session’ can also be used to refer to a workplace meeting where an employer holds an employee accountable. That meaning does not apply here. 

What is it and What can it Achieve?

An accountability session is a meeting between citizens and public officials. The purpose of an accountability session is to hold a decision maker – someone with the power and authority to give you something you want – accountable for the decisions he or she makes. – Source: Western Organization of Resource Councils WORC, p 1

An accountability session is not simply a community “speak-out” or legislator’s town meeting, although the community does speak out and the official is invited to speak briefly. It is a much more rehearsed and controlled event, but the real difference is that it is a big show of organizational power. It is your organization’s event and there is no reason to present the other side or give time to opposing opinions. – Source: Organizing for Social Change, Midwest Academy p 82

Accountability sessions can have valuable outcomes, such as: 

  • Decision-makers committing to delivering on your ask. 
  • Knowing exactly where a decision-maker stands, as they need to say ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ rather than waffling and obfuscating. 
  • Building your base of members prepared to take further action.  
  • Skilling leaders to recruit and coordinate the event, leading to greater preparedness for future actions. 
  • Empowering members and leaders through a well executed event with a different power relationship than the status quo. 

What are the Benefits and Challenges?

Holding an accountability session has the following benefits: 

  • It introduces a decision-maker to your organisation and its strong membership. It can be part of building a public relationship with a decision-maker, where they recognise the power you hold. 
  • It provides the membership with a different way to experience power relationships. The accountability session is on your organisation’s terms, not the decision-maker’s. 
  • It can be a powerful way to develop community leaders by playing a part in the session, such as greeting people, sharing their story, and scoring the decision-maker’s responses. 
  • Presentations by people affected by the decision-maker’s actions can be empowering 

However, deciding to hold an accountability session should not be taken lightly. 

An accountability session is a high-power tactic. It is usually used toward the end of an issue campaign after a great deal of strength has been built up. It requires the ability to turn out hundreds of people, as well as a sophisticated leadership that can run the meeting and put heat on the target. – Source: Organizing for Social Change, Midwest Academy p 82

Challenges include: 

  • Turning out a large crowd of members. 
  • Leaders from your organisation having enough confidence to run the event and not soften demands or try to make the decision-maker comfortable. 
  • Taking time to rehearse the tactic so that people know their roles, how to run it effectively, and feel prepared for the different responses from the decision-makers. 
  • Pressure from well-meaning supporters who want to hear ‘both sides’ of the situation. The accountability session is intentionally biased. Your organisation explains the issue and the impact on people in the community, and then asks direct questions for the decision-maker to respond to. It is not a discussion. 
  • Crowd control. This tactic requires discipline and focus. Active participation helps build pressure on the target, so the crowd can certainly applause, chant, and show disagreement, but it’s not an ‘anything goes’ situation. 

How to Run an Accountability Session

1. Choose your Target

Have a campaign strategy that identifies targets ie decision-maker/s on your issue. 

2. Research the Decision-maker

So you have a sense of their position to date on your issue, their background and affiliations, and their political situation eg. when they are up for election, what level of support they have in the community and within their political party. 

Are you clear about how much power the decision maker really has to address your demands? Make a list of all the ways the decision maker may try to avoid giving you what you want. Ask yourself: What would I do if I was the decision maker? – WORC, p 1

See ‘What makes your local member of Parliament tick’ in ‘How to get your local MP to listen to your community’ from Australian Conservation Foundation. 

Rule: An accountability session works only if the elected official believes that she has more to gain by cooperating with you than opposing you. – Source: Organizing for Social Change, Midwest Academy, p 87

3. Define Clear Asks

What can the decision-maker give you? How will you ask for what you need?

It can help to have a ‘low hanging fruit’ question to start with, to give your members a win and build momentum. Make sure your main ask is substantive. If you don’t get a Yes to this ask, you can use a fall-back procedural question, such as ‘Will you support an inquiry on this issue?’ or ‘Will you raise our concerns with the Minister?’ However, it can be effective to let the decision-maker’s No be heard clearly by everyone in attendance as this can agitate people to escalate the campaign and strengthen the pressure on the decision-maker. 

“The point of an accountability session is to win. When you win, the organization grows. People see results. If you don’t win anything, folks get discouraged and consider it all to have been a waste of time… Because accountability sessions need to end with a win, you must have at least one demand that you are quite sure you will get.” – Source: Organizing for Social Change, Midwest Academy p 85

4. Develop an Agenda 

The Midwest Academy’s, Organizing for Social Change, Midwest Academy Sample Agenda (p 89): 

  • Welcome and Purpose
    5-10 minutes.
  • Opening Prayer or Song
    5 mins.
    Open the event in a way consistent with the culture of your organization and/or community. 
  • Community Residents Speak
    45-60 minutes.
    These speakers emphasise the importance of the issue, the numbers of people affected, and the number of members they have, so it is a show of strength rather than persuasion by logic. 
  • Collection
    10 mins.
    Pass the hat around to raise money for the campaign.
  • What we Expect of the Target
    15-20 mins.
    Make the demands and hear the target’s responses. Use a scoreboard so it is clear whether they have said ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. Some organizations like to include a ‘Waffle’ column, while others score those responses as No. It can also be helpful to include ‘When’ on the scoreboard. 
  • Summary Statement
    5 mins.
    Summarise the outcome of the meeting and express the organization’s view on the decision-maker’s commitments (or lack of commitments).

We plan for reaction. That’s why we invite decision makers to our Assemblies so they’re sitting there listening to testimonies about how serious this issue is, how emotional this issue is, and we show them how powerful we are. We get all our organisations to get up on stage so they know we’re not just 190 people we’re 190 people who are in relationship with thousands of others. – Amanda Tattersall, Insights from the Sydney Alliance 

“Community residents or coalition members speak about why they want the target to respond in a certain fashion… The speakers should represent major organizations or institutions in the community that have political clout. The purpose of their talks is less to persuade by logic and more to show numbers and strength.” – Organizing for Social Change, Midwest Academy p 89

“Q: What if the decision-maker won’t respect your agenda or your leaders? A: Who’s meeting is it? If it’s your meeting, you lose the advantage (and you may lose the issue) unless your leaders are prepared to insist that the decision maker follow your agenda. Prepare the person who will chair the meeting to insist that the agenda is followed.” – Source: Western Organization of Resource Councils WORC, p 3

5. Invite the Decision-maker to Attend

Provide weight for your invitation by emphasising the number of people impacted by the issue, the high level of concern amongst your members, and your organisation’s activities to date.

Ensure the decision-maker understands the consequences if they do not attend the session or agree to your demands. For example, that you will treat non-attendance as a ‘No’ to your demands and you will publicise this to your members, networks, and the media. 

6. Define and Assign Roles

Having a number of people in clear roles will help the event run smoothly but will also develop leaders by giving them visible public responsibility. The Midwest Academy puts forward the following roles: 

  • Chair
  • Chair’s Messenger 
  • Scorekeeper
  • Chair’s Organizer 
  • General or Lead Organizer 
  • Panel Members (Community representatives who will speak on the issue)
  • Official Target Greeter 
  • Media Contact
  • Ushers
  • Microphone Holder: “Never leave a live mike unattended. It is a sure way to lose control.”
  • Facilities coordinator
  • Signer 
  • Translators

7. Rehearse the Accountability Session 

Gather your leaders and have a practice run-through, ideally in the same venue. If you can’t practice in the space make sure you know the measurements of the room, the location of the stage and exits, so you can plan the room layout.

Give everyone with a speaking role the opportunity to practice, either in the group or in pairs. Workshop any challenges that emerge during practice, in order to be better prepared at the accountability session. 

8. Run the Accountability Session

Follow the agenda (step 4). Make sure you gather the contact details of everyone who attends so you can follow up afterwards. 

9. Debrief

Make time for leaders to debrief the event, either on the day/night, or soon afterwards. Some useful questions to reflect on: 

  • What went well at this accountability session?
    This can be in terms of the decision-maker’s commitments, your team’s delivery of the tactic, turnout etc. 
  • What was challenging?
    This could cover tricky dynamics in the room, the venue’s constraints, mistakes and miscommunication etc.
  • What could we do differently next time?
    Make sure your organization learns from this experience. 

10. Follow up

After the event be sure to: 

  • Write to the decision-maker to thank them for their commitments and emphasise the timeline, as well as reiterating any demands they said ‘No’ to. 
  • Notify the media of the outcomes and connect them with spokespeople for comment. 
  • Inform your members about the outcomes from the session. Provide a next step action that members can take, to continue the momentum. 

Equipment and Room Set Up 

Room diagram from Organizing for Social Change, Midwest Academy p 92

Equipment: 

  • Whiteboard or easel for scoreboard (could also be projected)
  • Projector and screen 
  • Tables
  • Chairs 
  • Microphone and speakers 
  • Sign up sheets, clipboards and pens 
  • Bucket to pass around for donations or QR code linked to an online donation form
  • Basic refreshments

Online / Offline

Traditionally accountability sessions are held in person, and the energy of the crowd can play an important role in pushing the decision-maker to make commitments. 

However, accountability sessions can be held online and that format can fit the controlled nature of the event well. For example, the moderator will be able to mute all people on the video call, including the decision-maker if they go over time, waffle, or try to intervene while others are speaking. The Chair can emphasise the number of participants in attendance and the numbers of other people represented by the organisation or coalition. 

In person events may suit local communities campaigning on issues in their electorate or region. Online events may suit distributed networks engaged in national campaigns. Online may also provide better accessibility for people. We don’t recommend trying to do a hybrid accountability session with both in-person and online participants. 

Accessibility Options

Accountability sessions have a very intentional room set up, which can fit well with accessibility considerations. For example: 

  • Ensure corridors are wide enough for wheelchair users. 
  • Check step or ramp access into the building and ensure the toilets are accessible.
  • If sign language is provided, ensure people have a clear view of the person signing. 
  • Use amplification with mics and speakers. Consider a hearing loop for people hard of hearing. 
  • Provide masks and sanitiser to reduce the risk of transmitting viruses including Covid. 
  • Good airflow and HEPA filters can reduce the risk of transmitting viruses including Covid. 

Examples and Case Studies

The Sydney Alliance and Hunter Community Alliance Founding Assemblies don’t entirely fit the accountability session model, but they do show how speakers represent many members and communicate urgency for change.
 

Similar Tactics

  • Candidate Forum 
  • Educational Forum
  • Mass Meeting 
  • Barnstorm 

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  • Organisation: Commons Library
  • Location: Australia
  • Release Date: 2025

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