NGO accountability

This paper seeks to make a contribution to the latest round of reform of the United Nations by assessing the strengths and weaknesses of Secretary General, Kofi Annnan's latest reform package 'In Larger Freedom: towards development, security and human rights for all'. More particularly Recommendation 162 dealing with the United Nations relationships with NGOs. It does this by evaluating the relationship between the UN and member states, the relationship between member states and civil society; and the formal and informal relationships between the UN and civil society.

Klein and  Myers (1999) stated that paradigm comes from the Greek paradeiknyai (to show side by side) and is a pattern or example of something.  The word  connotes  the ideas of  a mental picture or pattern of thought (Walsham, 1995). A paradigm may be viewed as a set of basic beliefs. Qualitative and quantitative research approaches are rooted in philosophical traditions with different categories of assumptions and beliefs which can be categorized in the groups, namely epistemological, axiological and ontological.
Epistemology relates to the theory of knowledge and the assumptions and beliefs about the nature of knowledge.  It explains how we know the world and the relationship between the inquirer and the known.
Ontology is concerned with the philosophy of existence and the assumptions and beliefs about the social nature of being and existence.
Methodology (Axiology) is concerned with judgements about the value. The axiological question how can the inquirer go about finding out whatever he or she believes can be known. Again, the answer that can be given to this question is constrained by answer already given to the first two questions, that is, not just any methodology is appropriate (Morgan, 1998).
Paradigms - models or frameworks that are derived from a worldview or belief system about the nature of knowledge and existence. Paradigms are shared by a scientific community and guide how a community of researchers act about inquiry.
Methodology - how we gain knowledge about the world or "an articulated, theoretically informed approach to the production of data" (Ellen, 1984, p. 9).

Bangladesh has around 40,000 NGOs and charities (registered and non-registered) as of 1 January 2015. Many actively engaged in religious proselytizing to convert them from their faith to something different. The two different faith systems that are being promoted are Christianity and Salafi extremism (Muslim). Bangladeshi Government recently canceled the licenses of 6,000 NGOs and charities due to their activities. Here only 2,333 NGOs in Bangladesh are registered by the Government. This list will be helpful for NGO researchers and readers.

"This Analytical Country Report is one of the major outputs of the Civicus Civil Society Index (CSI) implementation process in Macedonia, presenting the highlights from the research conducted, including summaries of civil society's strengths and weaknesses, as well as recommendations for strengthening civil society in the country.
The CSI employs 66 indicators, which are grouped in 28 sub-dimensions. These are then consolidated into five dimensions of civil society: Civic Engagement; Level of Organisation; Practice of Values; Perception of Impact; and External Environment. In Macedonia, these civil society indicators were studied using in-depth primary and secondary research, including: representative population surveys, a survey of civil society organisations (CSOs), in-depth interviews with stakeholders from other sectors, regional focus groups, a literature review and case studies."

Despite of persistent efforts from the part of organizations aiming to solve or to alleviate the
world’s most challenging issues, there are limitations of the current problem-solving system based
on hierarchical bureaucratic models. These are mainly related to the powerlessness of the profes-
sional sector when, alone, facing global issues of ever increasing complexity and uncertainty. The
current context often called “the network age” has in turn, supported and enhanced systems
which serve as means for coping with these complex and uncertain scenarios, such as the concept
of distributed cognition that leads (in its positive aspects) to collaborative, participatory and peer-
to-peer common oriented processes, including the emergence of decentralized systems as well as
the gradual empowerment of the civil society (overlapping with the latter); forming altogether,
the background of latent paradigm shifts. 
Concurrently there is the political discourse (driven by the UN) on Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs) and of a Data Revolution, where the claim is that the latter is indispensable for
achieving the former. The Data Revolution’s main purpose is to fill data gaps in order to leave no
one behind and its realization is also crucial for unlocking other latent paradigm shifts. This thesis
introduces the core concepts of such a paradigm shifts whilst focusing on two collaborative ap-
proaches for data collection and analysis: crowdsourcing and citizen science; most specifically on
their role and challenges in the context of the current data revolution. Crowdsourcing and citizen
science (also citizen journalism and other participatory monitoring activities) are not just part of the
context of latent paradigm shifts, but do play a major role for the realization of a data revolution,
once professionals and machines do not currently suffice to fill those data gaps. This hinders proper
accounting, planning and distribution of resources and hence spoils efforts to tackle the critical
issues involved in the SDGs. 
Unfortunately there is wide reluctance from the part of the institutions (UN, INGOs and
governments) in adopting these approaches as valid data/information sources. The main goal of
this MA thesis is to identify the reason behind this reluctance, shedding light on deadlocks ham-
pering the consolidation of a data revolution. In order to do so, the problematic was approached
from multiple perspectives, characterizing a truly interdisciplinary inquiry, which, based on the
approach of the “informed grounded theory”, presents the main challenges of crowdsourcing
and citizen science in multiple levels and from multiple perspectives. 
From a pragmatic perspective, issues related with data quality as well as the issue of little un-
derstanding  have  been  the  most  cited.  Withal  the  fact  that  both  issues  are  not  exclusive  to
crowdsourcing or citizen science has shown to be crucial for the present inquiry, although widely
neglected  in  the  literature.  Thus  for  this  and  other  important  reasons  to  be  further  discussed
throughout chapters 3 and 4, an alternative to the “quality-centred” approach towards crowdsourc-
ing and citizen science is appropriate, nevertheless the quality issue should not be disregarded, as it
is reasonable, but eventually addressed in a different manner as part of the problematic, but not as
“the problematic” itself. 
In addition, prejudice from the part of professionals has been cited by some expert inter-
viewees as the “real” reason behind the reluctance vis-à-vis crowdsourcing and citizen science as
valid data/information sources. Analysis has shown that prejudice is omnipresent with regards to new technologies or any novel approach. For there is no time to wait for wider acceptance, given
the urgency of matters, and as prejudice shows to result from ignorance linked to the clash of
paradigms, this thesis also focuses on the question of what lays behind prejudice. In order to
answer this question, other crucial parts of the problematic encompassing constrained profes-
sional autonomy, risk and blame aversion are discussed throughout the thesis, forming altogether
a hypothesis advocating that the resistance from the part of institutions towards crowdsourcing
and citizen science is not just rooted on prejudice, but also on lack of trust in society; being both
resultants of excess of accountability which has been ultimately delineated by public discourse.
After a rough analysis, the latter has shown to be in unbalance, overemphasizing the need for
accountability and consequently (based on the premise of a necessary balance between trust and
control/accountability), inadvertently, undermining trust.
Paradoxically the overdose of accountability in public discourse reflects an attempt to restore
trust in society. This paradox can be found also within the discourse on the data revolution, hinder-
ing this and other latent paradigm shifts of thriving, as for them all mutual trust is a requisite. If
there is no trust from the part of organizations towards the public, there will be no room (ac-
ceptance) for approaches relying on citizen-generated data, leaving data gaps and many people and
countries behind. The outcomes of this analysis are useful for those stakeholders contributing to
the discourses on the fundamental role of a data revolution, as they should reframe the latter giving
more weight to “top-down” trust, if we are to see the realization of such a shift.

What is the role of NGOs in society?

In the last three decades, a number of books and articles have been published about Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). Some focus on the marginal impact the NGOs have because they work within an existing institutional framework responsible for the absence of social justice. While some works praise the kind of unique services of NGOs to people in need, others are critical, stressing that NGOs’ goal is integration into an international political economy and institutional structure rooted in inequality and injustice. While it is beyond doubt that there are NGOs serving worthy humanitarian causes and acting as instruments of alleviating misery among the poor, refugees, and others in need, there are many more such organizations acting as instruments of globalization, and in some cases aggressive neo-imperialism.

The purpose of this article is to measure the effectiveness of an exemplary civil society self-regulation against its own objectives, and to map out reasons behind non-compliance. It focuses on a checklist of indicators (CDV) developed by Italian Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in the aftermath of the "Mafia Capitale" scandal when threatened by strict government regulation and by critical public opinion. Methodologically, this test of effectiveness is performed employing the blueprint designed by the One World Trust. To preview the outcome of this test of effectiveness, it will be concluded that self-regulation has been effective primarily in protecting the sector's autonomy against hypothetical legislative interferences. Even if quantitative findings indicate a medium compliance rate, qualitative findings suggest that there can be many reasons behind non-compliance which sometimes do not depend entirely on CSO's commitment to comply with voluntary standards. In this context, a distinction between objective and subjective reasons of non-compliance is drawn.

This paper explores the principle of accountability, particularly the accountability of powerful actors for the social and environmental outcomes of their decision making about natural resources. Powerful actors are institutions with decision making powers and influence over management of forests, fisheries, land, water, and extractive resources. While it focuses on government and the private sector, accountability is a principle common to all governance systems. Accountability is the requirement for powerful actors to accept responsibility and answer for their actions; it could be vertical and characterized by a hierarchical principal-agent relationship, horizontal where accountee is not hierarchically superior to the accountor, or diagonal and inclusive of citizen initiatives to hold powerful actors accountable. When vertical, horizontal and diagonal accountability practices are primarily civil society or citizen driven, they are referred to as social accountability initiatives (SAIs). There are five dimensions or aspects to accountability namely transparency, liability, controllability, responsibility, and responsiveness. The main questions being asked by the paper are: why is accountability an essential principle for natural resources governance; how has it been recognized internationally and by whom; and what are the key challenges and good practices related to holding powerful actors around the world to account? The paper finds that government has primary obligation for accountable management of natural resources on behalf of its citizens who are right holders over these resources. However, government is often reluctant to unreservedly hold powerful actors to account, especially business, preferring to allow business to opt for voluntary mechanisms of accountability or to self-regulate. This has given rise to citizen driven SAIs as external means of holding powerful actors to account, while contributing to strengthening formal internal accountability procedures. Thus supporting citizen driven accountability practices in vertical, horizontal and diagonal accountability systems, is a reliable way to ensure that powerful actors in natural resources management are held accountable for the social and environmental outcomes of their decision making and actions.

Money laundering (ML) is a major global concern. The minimum identifiable direct costs of organised crime in the European Union (EU) are estimated at around €166 billion a year. Europol, the EU's law enforcement agency and Eurojust, the EU's Judicial Cooperation Unit, estimate the minimum costs of fighting organised crime at EU level amount to €210 million a year.
To efficiently tackle ML the EU has stepped up cooperation with civil society, including non-governmental organisations (NGOs). NGOs are engaged as collectors of relevant information on illicit activities, and in developing standards and implementing anti-ML rules. At the same time, however, NGOs are considered 'subjects at risk' in the ML framework, either as fronts for terrorist organisations that raise and transfer funds, or as legitimate enterprises that indirectly support the aims of terrorist organisations.
This double-sided position for NGOs may impact on the efficacy of the measures currently in place at EU and international level to certify their transparency and accountability. NGOs, in turn, see such attempts to regulate their activities as a threat to their independence, and thus occasionally resist them.

We are at War! The heated debate between the environmentalists and the palm oil and logging industry in Indonesia provided ample of reason to come to the conclusion that we are at war. Companies are tagged as "climate criminals" and "forest destroyer" and NGO's like

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) sometimes disagree with their funders’ accountability requirements; however, their dependence on the funders’ resources makes it difficult to express their disagreement. This dilemma for NGOs may keep funders from substantively holding NGOs to account and cause mission drift for the NGOs. This paper analyzes an in-depth case study of an understudied scenario: how a newly founded NGO engages with multiple funders with varying competence in accountability practices. By analyzing a Chinese NGO’s accountability relationships with its funders, we found that the NGO’s responses varied according to its organizational interests and how it perceived the funders’ competence. Better trust meant better compliance. Therefore, to secure compliance, it is important to enhance NGOs’ trust in funders’ competence. Based on the findings, we suggest that funders be more aware of NGOs’ agency, be ready to engage in ongoing collaborative learning with NGOs and align NGOs’ interests with the accountability requirements.

This chapter has two themes: (1) the scope of formal and informal volunteering and of nonprofit, voluntary, membership associations (MAs) in the world, by which we mean the quantitative magnitudes of these phenomena at or near the present time, and (2) the long-term and recent (past few decades) trends in these magnitudes. Global data are used, when available, but we also report data for world regions and for specific nations when feasible. Besides such data, we also report on estimated magnitudes of association wealth and income, the economic value of volunteering, internal structures and processes of associations, participation rates in associations, and issues regarding computer mapping of data such as that presented in this chapter. Usable knowledge, future trends, and needed research are discussed.

This study is the first known academic study on the intergroup dynamics relationship between Indonesian Marxists and jihadists. The study was a result of a premeditated murder committed in the early morning hours of 13 July 2011 on Pulau Padang, Sumatra, Indonesia by what emerged are a combination of militant civil society groups and Marxist/Socialist militant cells. The appearance of jihadist language within the group context raised questions if the ideological motivation and group orientation between the militants is eroding and a new set of militants emerging in the Indonesian terrorist tapestry.

This study is the first knownacademic study on the intergroup dynamics relationship between IndonesianMarxists and jihadists. The study was a result of a premeditated murder committed in the early morning hours of 13 July 2011 on Pulau Padang, Sumatra, Indonesiaby what emerged are a combination of militant civil society groups and Marxist/Socialist militant cells. The appearance of jihadist language within the group context raised questions if the ideological motivation and group orientation between the militants is eroding and a new set of militants emerging in the Indonesian terrorist tapestry. With the killings, an unheard of new phenomenon appeared in the militant milieu of the Indonesian radical scene:the Indonesian communist inspired terrorist. With the political sensitivity, cultural and political taboo, the political leadership, policy offiicals, law enforcement,intelligence services, academia, and the general public have not addressed contemporary violent Indonesian Marxist-Leninist actors. Most of the studies are instead based on historical accounts and viewed through the lenses of the 1965 Indonesian Communist Party period or set in the context of preman(gangster) or an underground fringe movement (Brwon, Wilson, 2013). And although the new Indonesian Marxists are aligned with political powers of the incumbent presidential candidate, little research if any,focuses on the emergence of Marxist inspired violence and terror in Indonesia. Often, the debate quickly turns emotionally charged by either side, speaking for or against the Marxist causes. Little credible research is undertaken to study the contemporary socialist groups in Indonesia.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the concept of accountability as it relates to a non-governmental organisation (NGO) evolving through a period of considerable change in Sri Lanka. Design/methodology/approach: An in-depth single case study of a large NGO working in Sri Lanka is presented. Data collection involved conducting semi-structured interviews with a range of NGO employees and stakeholders, undertaking participant and non-participant observation and document analysis. Findings: This paper shows how accountability is a contested notion that is shaped by struggles among stakeholders within a field. The authors explore how the “widespread field” consisting of the aid context in Sri Lanka and internationally is rapidly shifting. This creates unique pressures within the “restricted field” of the case NGO and its constituents. These pressures are manifested in the contest between the different capitals held by various stakeholders to shape the NGO. The nature of access to these capitals is important in the way that the NGO is shaped by external forces, and also by the individuals within it. Research limitations/implications: This study adds fresh perspective to the growing body of work in NGO accountability. The paper highlights the tensions NGOs face through a holistic application of a Bourdieusian conceptual framework. The authors show how the habitus of the organisation is shaped in such a way that conceptions of accountability were captured by powerful external and internal constituencies. Ultimately, the nature of an organisation's agency is questioned. Practical implications: The authors present a more nuanced understanding of forces which shape accountability in an NGO setting which is of practical relevance to NGOs and their stakeholders. The authors highlight the struggle for an NGO to maintain its agency through resisting external forces that impact on its operations. Originality/value: This study presents a comprehensive and holistic application of Bourdieu's concepts and their interactions in an organisational setting. The struggle to harness various forms of capital in the field, shapes doxa and the habitus of NGO actors, illuminating the role of symbolic violence in the creation of an organisational identity.

Извештајот „Самоперцепција за граѓанското општество“ е резултат од анкетата со граѓански организации за нивната перцепција за работењето и управувањето на граѓанското општество.
Истражувањето е спроведено со интервјуа со претставници на 161 граѓанска организација во април и мај 2010 г.

After centuries of cultural and economic conquest of the Americas by European and Euro-American conquistadors, contemporary rhetoric in ex-colonial powers heralds the decline of material and ideological imperialism. Instead, it is purported that today's world is peopled by a great brotherhood, with the more affluent striving to relieve their less fortunate, underdeveloped kith. This conviction is inherent in organizations which dispense money, information, training, and other resources in the name of community development and endangered species and environmental conservation. What is rarely perceived-and practically never said-is that these "benevolent" foreign aid activities typically result in the concentration of resources and power in the hands of a few, the building of empires, and the compounding of already difficult situations, counter-productive to stated objectives. The Yucatán Peninsula is a classic case of persistent imperialism: the geographic name is a corruption of the Mayan "matan cub a than" ("I do not understand you"), while contemporary development and conservation programs habitually exhibit cultural ignorance and dominance. This paper explores a diverse literature on non-governmental organizations, reflects on likely consequences of cultural dominance, and implores professional anthropologists to be adventurous in propagating anthropological knowledge relevant to environmental protection.

Focusing on ethnographic material drawn out of a field work research at the area of Gazi and Metaxourgeio in central Athens (2002-2004), this article explores the complicated socio-political networks that bind together a Turkish-Muslim minority population residing there since the 1970s, with a growing number of voluntary or professional NGOs that implement welfare and educational programs in the area. The article is enriched by a follow up research in 2014. My findings focus on the fact that, in contrast to the contemporary ascendant discourse on civil society and volunteerism which construes NGOs as the generalized unalloyed “do-gooders” of the public sphere, a number of complicated power relations do exist between the multiple organizations and the minority groups, relations that urge for a closer examination. The main point of this article is to disclose and alert for the anti-political paths which 'civil society' initiatives often tend to follow through practices that might either ignore, cover, annul or decontextualize the deeply political character of the engagement and regulation of socio-cultural alterity.

This paper explores how and why Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) governance was disrupted by changes in an organisation's internal and external environment. A detailed single case study of a large NGO operating in Sri Lanka is conducted. Data collection consists of semi-structured interviews, document analysis and participant and non-participant observation. Laughlin's (1991) model of organisational change provides the theoretical foundation on which changes in the case NGO's interpretive schemes, design archetypes and organisational sub-systems are discussed. The changing of interpretive schemes and organisational sub-systems, in our case, was easier than changing design archetypes. Consequently, our paper introduces ‘protective reconfiguration' as a new change pathway to Laughlin's (1991) model of organisational change. The findings suggest that the NGO's governance systems and processes are being moulded in ways that may not achieve the overall purpose of these organisations. Greater attention to evolving design archetypes is necessary in order to create more deliberative, fluid and less organisation-centric governance structures for NGOs operating in the policy-advocacy space.

The purpose of the paper is to provide theoretical and empirical insights into NGO accountability in the context of public sector accounting. We present a case study of two advocacy Italian NGOs which act as informational surrogates in the accountability relationship between local governments and the civic public. We extend the concept of surrogate accountability by integrating accounting education as one of its features. Alongside making data accessible, NGOs in our case explain accounting terms and organise educational events. By doing so, they aim to “repair” the weak information link in the accountability mechanism of local governments.

“Civil society” is a term that became popularized at the end of the Cold War to describe what appeared to have been missing in state-dominated societies, broad societal participation in and concern for governance, but not necessarily government. Civil society is thought to be the necessary ingredient for democratic governance to arise. NGOs are one part of civil society.
While it is often argued that NGOs are the voice of the people, representing grassroots democracy, a counter argument is made that NGOs have tended to reinforce, rather than counter, existing power structures, having members and headquarters that are primarily in the rich northern countries.  Some also believe that NGO decision-making does not provide for responsible, democratic representation or accountability.
NGOs themselves can be local, national, or international. Sometimes international NGOs are referred to as INGOs. Historically, most NGOs accredited to the UN Economic and Social Council have been international, but contrary to the popular wisdom, even the first group of NGOs accredited to ECOSOC in the 1940s included some national NGOs.

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) sometimes disagree with their funders’ accountability requirements; however, their dependence on the funders’ resources makes it difficult to express their disagreement. This dilemma for NGOs may keep funders from substantively holding NGOs to account and cause mission drift for the NGOs. This paper analyzes an in-depth case study of an understudied scenario: how a newly founded NGO engages with multiple funders with varying competence in accountability practices. By analyzing a Chinese NGO’s accountability relationships with its funders, we found that the NGO’s responses varied according to its organizational interests and how it perceived the funders’ competence. Better trust meant better compliance. Therefore, to secure compliance, it is important to enhance NGOs’ trust in funders’ competence. Based on the findings, we suggest that funders be more aware of NGOs’ agency, be ready to engage in ongoing collaborative learning with NGOs and align NGOs’ interests with the accountability requirements.

This paper conceptualizes NGOs as active norm takers on the basis of conflicts over norms-understood as standards of appropriate behavior-that become manifest in three recent rules and principles of humanitarian aid: responsibility to protect, resilience, and accountability. These are formulated by international organizations or by NGOs themselves, which are to enact and implement them. Before implementation, these rules and principles are (partly) rejected, adopted, specified, or adjusted within humanitarian NGOs during processes of norm translation. We argue that norm translation can be a fruitful avenue for analyzing the autonomy of humanitarian NGOs in relation to one another and in relation to norm-formulating donor institutions. Conceptually, this paper is situated between norms research (with its focus on norm contestation and translation) and organizational research (with its focus on internal organizational dynamics and organizational autonomy).

Within the context of evolutionary governance theory this contribution develops a particularly co-evolutionary view of governance by understanding governance frameworks as forms of transfer. World society consists of multiple types of normative orders. It is within this structural setup that a governance phenomenon has emerged as the form through which expectations between different normative orders are stabilized. In addition, governance institutions serve as the central channels through which transfers between such orders are made possible. They structure the transposition of condensed social components such as economic products and capital, political decisions, legal judgments, scientific knowledge, and religious acts of salvation from one order to another, thereby allowing coevolution to unfold. In this context, law and legal instruments gain a central role since legal formalization is the central element that enables successful transfers to take place.

After centuries of cultural and economic conquest of the Americas by European and Euro-American conquistadors, contemporary rhetoric in ex-colonial powers heralds the decline of material and ideological imperialism. Instead, it is purported that today’s world is peopled by a great brotherhood, with the more affluent striving to relieve their less fortunate, underdeveloped kith. This conviction is inherent in organizations which dispense money, information, training, and other resources in the name of community development and endangered species and environmental conservation. What is rarely perceived – and practically never said – is that these “benevolent” foreign aid activities typically result in the concentration of resources and power in the hands of a few, the building of empires, and the compounding of already difficult situations, counter-productive to stated objectives. The Yucat´an Peninsula is a classic case of persistent imperialism: the geographic name is a corruption of the Mayan “matan cub a than” (“I do not understand you”), while contemporary development and conservation programs habitually exhibit cultural ignorance and dominance. This paper explores a diverse literature on non-governmental organizations, reflects on likely consequences of cultural dominance, and implores professional anthropologists to be adventurous in propagating anthropological knowledge relevant to environmental protection.