The NGO Accountability Debate April 11th, The Hague

Author(s): Sanne Karrenbeld
Publication date: Wednesday 28 March 2007

An International Seminar on NGO Accountability for NGO practitioners, policy makers, media and academics. Debates about "state accountability" and "corporate accountability" are already quite well known. In comparison, discussions about "NGO accountability" are of a more recent date.

For the last five years the conversations on NGO accountability have mainly been about 'mechanisms', with the 'politics' of the issue rarely discussed.

In this seminar Hivos, ISS and the Ford Foundation aim to discuss NGO accountability against a broader set of political questions. This is all the more relevant as today NGOs ?globally- operate in a much more difficult, and often more hostile- political environment than in the 1990s. The seminar will consist of three debates:

1. "Who do NGOs represent?" Is this question a "trademark of accountability" or a "red herring"? The first round will address the often voiced criticism that NGOs are not accountable because they do not represent anyone but themselves. As one of the main speakers Michael Edwards of the Ford Foundation will argue that NGOs do not have to be representative to be legitimate.

2. More accountability - Better results?
Concrete cases will be presented and discussed: examples of accountability pressure & NGO responses will be analysed in terms of their positive and negative conseqences.

3. Dutch Development NGOs and accountability demands in the Netherlands
What are the positive and negative consequences for Dutch development NGOs of accountability demands as expressed in the present co-financing arrangement ?

The seminar will close with the launching of the book NGO Accountability: Politics, Principles and Innovations edited by Lisa Jordan and Peter van Tuijl (Earthscan 2006).

Speakers and panellists in this seminar will include authors of the above mentioned book, NGO practitioners from the global south as well as from the Netherlands, academics and journalists.

For more details about the programme click here.

To register for participation in this seminar please click here.

For more information you may contact accountability@hivos.nl

Event Details:

Date:
11 Apr 2007 9:00 hrs until 11 Apr 2007 18:00 hrs

Location:
ISS The Hague