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The ANSA Arab World was an initiative to promote the use of social accountability methods and tools in the Arab region. The initiative included members from seven Arab countries: Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, and Yemen.

CARE International in Egypt was the secretary for the network with technical and financial support from the World Bank. The objectives of the initiative were i) to raise awareness about social accountability;iii) build capacity on concepts and tools; iii) provide technical and financial assistance to implement social accountability tools and iv) strengthen knowledge sharing around tools and approaches.

The ANSA-Arab World network has been designed around four issues, or “pillars”, that can be considered as key components of social accountability. These pillars help shape the activities of ANSA-Arab World namely:

1. Access to information: This pillar builds upon the fundamental human right of Freedom of Information, as per the Universal Declaration for Human Rights (UDHR) and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (CCPR). This pillar concerns the ability of citizens to see the information on which state decisions are made, as the first step towards holding leaders accountable. The pillar relates to whether a basic law exists and the extent to which the law is enforced or adhered to.

2. Budget transparency: This pillar refers to the publishing of financial information that relates to the provision of services, with a view to increasing accountability and for stakeholders to be able to influence the allocation of spending. Citizen involvement in budget decisions can be at many stages, from budget formulation to approval, execution and oversight.

3. Freedom of association: This pillar concerns the legality of civil society to organize and register. It is a right protected by the UDHR and ICCPR. Freedom of association has historically referred to organized interest groups such as trade unions and CSOs, however the Arab Spring and the emergence of decentralized youth movements and other coalitions has called into question the traditional understanding of how freedom of association is interpreted in practice.

4. Service delivery: According to the World Bank, public services usually fail the poor in their quality, quantity and access. Citizens can influence service delivery by influencing policy-makers or by participating in the management and implementation of services. In the same meeting it was also agreed to draft a Roadmap of the network's role in enhancing Social Accountability and Good Governance in the Arab World. The ANSA-Arab World was officially launched at the Regional Launch Conference that was held in Rabat, Morocco in March 2012 and attended by 100 civil society, government, private sector, media donors and regional and international social accountability practitioners.