NGO Accountability: Politics, Principles and Innovations

As the fastest growing segment of civil society, as well as featuring prominently in the global political arena, NGOs are under fire for being 'unaccountable'. But who do NGOs actually represent? Who should they be accountable to and how? This book provides the first comprehensive examination of the issues and politics of NGO accountability across all sectors and internationally.

It offers an assessment of the key technical tools available including legal accountability, certification and donor-based accountability regimes, and questions whether these are appropriate and viable options or attempts to 'roll-back' NGOs to a more one-dimensional function as organizers of national and global charity. Input and case studies are provided from NGOs such as ActionAid, and from every part of the globe including China, Indonesia and Uganda. In the spirit of moving towards greater accountability the book looks in detail at innovations that have developed from within NGOs and offers new approaches and flexible frameworks that enable accountability to become a reality for all parties worldwide.

Lisa Jordan is Deputy Director of the Governance and Civil Society Unit of the Ford Foundation, USA.
Peter van Tuijl has over twenty years of experience working on NGO capacity building, governance and accountability issues. He has been employed by Novib (now Oxfam Netherlands) and UNDP. He is based in Jakarta, Indonesia, and currently works as a Senior Technical Advisor on a project to combat corruption in the Indonesian National Police, supported by the U.S. Department of Justice