March 2, 2010
Self-Regulatory Measures in NGOs
Accountability & Transparency Trends
One World Trust in association with the Commonwealth Foundation recently released four regional toolkits that provide assistance to NGOs and civil society organizations (CSOs) in putting accountability into practice: India, Belize, Uganda and the Pacific countries. Each toolkit was developed with input from umbrella groups in the country or region covered. A significant portion of the toolkit is dedicated to a self-assessment accountability table and the ramifications of each of the items in the table, ranging from legal registration to whistle-blower protection. The toolkit further explores each of the measures, explaining why the given measure is important, the challenges to implementation and the tools that can be employed. This initiative is part of the One World Trust self-regulatory portal for CSOs, which has as its goal to facilitate the access to different international regulatory initiatives from CSOs around the globe. CSOs are facing increasing pressure to demonstrate their accountability, legitimacy and effectiveness. In response, a growing number are coming together at national, regional and international level, to define common standards and promote good practice through codes of conduct, certification schemes, reporting frameworks, directories and awards. In this regard, the project sees itself as the first comprehensive inventory of self-regulatory initiatives.
Transparency International has recently published a handbook on practices aimed at deterring corruption in humanitarian emergencies. It compiles information on issues ranging from the institutional polices to the actual on the ground action to reviewing and management process afterwards. It emphasizes how to better manage the possibility of corruption at NGOs working in humanitarian assistance situations. The handbook in itself is arranged by different categories of risks and actions that ought to be taken to prevent it. Its goal is to address corruption in all the levels of the humanitarian assistance effort and to embed the standards of corruption-fighting in all levels. The general idea is to promote anti-corruption mechanisms and practices throughout the whole effort of humanitarian assistance.
Frederico Ferreira is a Spring researcher at the American Enterprise Institute
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