In any democracy, accountability to the public is a critical performance incentive for elected leaders. Yet, citizens often lack access to basic information about government in many developing democracies, which creates space for corruption and poor governance.

The ‘Your Voice, Your Opportunity’ campaign, developed as a collaboration between a researcher from Columbia University and the Indonesian NGOs PATTIRO and LPAW, is an effort to raise awareness about budgeting and government management of public finances at the most grassroots level. From March-May 2010, campaigners traveled to 93 villages around the resource rich district of Blora in Central Java, presenting the campaign to more than 1860 individuals. Participants were also given the opportunity to return postcards to their district leaders, communicating their hope for better government …