Good Governance and Accountability in the Nonprofit Sector The Global Accountability Project Monica Blagescu 2 December 2004

Balancing levels of accountability International humanitarian NGO Trade-unions Local CSO (partner) Local associations Government Agencies Community alliance The public at large Board/Council Mission Various departments Affected populations

Forces shaping the debate Global decision making increasing Mediated representation National Governments The nonprofit sector, CSOs Independent citizen action (the “global associational revolution”) Visible social justice movements at local, national, regional and global level Unprecedented interconnectedness, capacity to exchange information and communicate

The GAP Model Accountability: power relations between various actors which interact or affect each other Stakeholders at the forefront of the debate: internal and external Accountability at policy and project levels Accountability: inwards, upwards, downwards An accountable organisations takes active and proactive steps to address the needs of its internal and external stakeholders and perform according to its mission. Who is accountable to whom and for what ?

The Accountability Framework: basic, widely applicable elements Complaints and redress EvaluationParticipation Transparency

The Accountability Framework Self-assessment and training tool Peer assessment tool Tool for beneficiaries The Global Accountability Index specific areas for improvement within the accountability of the assessed organisations best and worst accountability practices a global perspective on accountability trends and challenges

Key Challenges Challenges Rhetoric versus practice Lack of power and political will to lack of resources Context-driven practices Making the normative case Positive and negative effects Linkages between accountability and performance “ Embeddedness” at different levels Capturing lessons learnt

Diversity of contexts and diversity of nonprofit sector – is there a one size fits all conceptual framework? The accountability debate of nonprofit organisations that operate in politically sensitive countries Incentives versus “punishment” for non-compliance Building a culture of organisational learning