Follower or Challenger? How Chinese Non-governmental Organizations Manage Accountability Requirements from Funders

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.

     

The Role of Indigeneity NGOs in the Legal Recognition of Adat Communities and Customary Forests in Indonesia

The main assumption of indigeneity NGOs in Indonesia is that state recognition will strengthen indigenous peoples’ rights to their land and forests against ongoing or future dispossession. In Indonesia, legal recognition has become central to the approaches of indigeneity NGO campaigns, while the local realities and problems among indigenous communities seem to receive less attention. Has legal recognition of indigenous communities turned into a national NGO project that does not solve the communities’ land and forest-related problems? In this article, we compare two locations where communities have succeeded in obtaining state recognition. By focusing our analysis on the steps in the recognition process, from articulating community problems to eventually solving them, we show how indigeneity NGOs have had a dominant role, but achieved limited success. Instead of resulting in community autonomy and tenure security, the legal recognition process reproduces state territorialisation over customary forests and communities.     

Saving the Moral Capital of NGOs: Identifying One-Sided and Many-Sided Social Dilemmas in NGO Accountability

The literature on nonprofit management has embraced the concept of “accountability” to target urgent challenges related to NGO probity and integrity, and there have been attempts in the literature to use rational-choice-based governance approaches to solve them. Although the existing principal–agent frameworks provide important insights, they are limited to the analysis of financial relationships between NGOs and donors. We contribute to the literature in developing a comprehensive rational-choice-based governance approach to analyze all stakeholder relationships of NGOs. Applying the research program of ordonomics, we unpack two fundamental interaction problems: (a) the “stakeholder dilemma” between the NGO and a single accountability holder as a one-sided social dilemma and (b) the “competition dilemma” among rival NGOs as a many-sided social dilemma. We show that improving NGO accountability in relation to intended beneficiaries, peer organizations, and the general public also requires identifying the underlying governance problem as a competition dilemma focusing on collective self-regulation as a solution.     

Reflecting on Grantee Evaluation Accountability to Funders: Exploring Power Dynamics with Grassroots Organizations in Communities of Color

Grassroots organizations in communities of color often struggle in their relationships with philanthropic partners, especially as it relates to the issue of accountability. This article focuses on exploring the nature of accountability within the social contract between the philanthropic sector and these grassroots organizations. Drawing on a review of the relevant literature and results of 11 structured interviews with leaders from the philanthropic sector and grassroots organizations in communities of color, key themes are identified. Recommendations are offered on how the hierarchy within the sector can be addressed and how the dialogue between these partners can be improved.     

NGOs’ transnational advocacy networks: from ‘legitimacy’ to ‘political responsibility’?

NGOs that operate as part of transnational advocacy networks face a number of ‘legitimacy challenges’ concerning their rights to participate in the shaping of global governance. Outlining the legitimacy claims that development NGOs make, the article argues that ‘legitimacy’ is a socially constructed quality that may be ascribed to an NGO by actors and stakeholders with different viewpoints. NGOs operating transnationally link disparate communities and conceptions of legitimacy, and undermine the discourse and practice of sovereignty. Therefore such NGOs will find it difficult to be universally regarded as legitimate, especially by states that hold a sovereignty‐based conception of legitimacy. However, relationships are the building blocks of networks, and efforts to improve them should not be abandoned simply because ‘legitimacy’ is too closely connected with sovereignty. In particular, NGOs ought to improve their relationships with the poor and marginalized communities whose interests they claim to promote. To this end, the concept of ‘political responsibility’ is suggested as a pragmatic approach to understanding power relations as they arise in transnational advocacy networks and campaigns.     

Funders as principals

This article examines the tensions that surfaced for three nonprofit funding intermediaries—tensions between their historic practices and the new practices required to use performance measurement to ensure greater accountability and results among their grantees—and analyzes these tensions in light of literature on philanthropic and accountability relationships. From this analysis, the article makes three points. First, philanthropic relationships are not equivalent to accountability relationships. Second, because of these differences funders that adopt performance measurement may encounter tensions as these new practices challenge the importance of other philanthropic concerns. Third, without a systematic way to attend to these concerns when adopting performance measurement, funders face an impoverished choice: reward measurable results or fall back on supporting good intentions.     

Community health needs assessment and action planning in seven Dominican bateyes

Haitians and persons of Haitian descent living in the Dominican Republic are often relegated to living in deeply impoverished communities called bateyes. Despite obvious needs and some NGO presence in the bateyes, little assessment has been done to identify specific needs as understood and experienced by community members themselves. This article describes a community health needs assessment and action planning process developed and implemented by university researchers, NGO staff, and community members to identify needed areas for community-based health intervention in seven Dominican bateyes. Surveys and focus groups were used to collect data about the needs and assets of the bateyes and their residents around the following broad topics: demographics, health, education, financial/economy, legal issues, and transportation/infrastructure. These data were then used to guide an action-planning process that identified clean water, access to food and nutritional diversity, and economic development as primary and immediate needs in the communities. The process, its outcomes, and lessons learned are discussed.     

Strategy,local sociology,political philosophy: Analysis of strategy of Non‐Governmental Organizations under radical intellectual leadership

The study discusses the relationship between NGO strategy (both toward government and community), contextual conditions, and the sociological and political‐philosophic background of the leaders of the organization. The empirical section focuses on a specific Israeli NGO (Bimkom) led by a radical‐intellectual leadership whose aim is to promote the interests of poor communities. The organization under research activated a dual complex strategy, one that both criticizes and negotiates with the government, at the same time advocating for and empowering communities. The study points to a clear linkage between that strategy and leaders' own background. In fact, the latter served as a source from which the leaders carved out guidelines, perceptions, policy tools, and abstract resources (which in turn also affected outcomes). On a basis of these findings, the study suggests a model designed to improve the analysis of strategic management.     

Paths of Local Development: Culture, Context, Power, and the Role of Nongovernmental Organizations

This article challenges the perception that non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are immune from attributes commonly associated with political parties, such as clientelism. Through a case study of an NGO and a political party in semi-urban Argentina, this article demonstrates that despite associational differences with local political party network, these two associational networks produced similar social outcomes??such as, dependency, exclusivity, and paternalism??a phenomenon traced to the NGO??s and political parties?? similar structures and tactics. Contrary to the prevailing positive view of the NGO, held by scholars, the media, and development practitioners, it was guided by financial interests and a continual focus on locating external funding sources to facilitate its goals. Not surprisingly, the political party was dominated by politically oriented interests and an ever-present focus on obtaining votes. However, these seemingly different associations had a similar objective, i.e., the continual effort to obtain sources of support thus demonstrating how powerful structures can still dominate poor communities even when forms change.     

Restructuring Civilian Payouts for Police Misconduct

A person is killed by police every 20 hours in the United States. Office-involved killings have increased about 25% in the past 20 years despite violent crime decreasing. Even more troubling, Blacks are 3.5 times more likely than Whites to be killed by police even when they are not attacking or when they do not have a weapon. Civilian payouts for police misconduct cost local jurisdictions millions of dollars when taxpayer money could be spent in ways that help to close the achievement gap and create jobs. Policy solutions to close this racial gap and improve police-civilian relations have centered mostly on the implementation of body-worn cameras and implicit bias trainings. Although beneficial, I argue these policy solutions fall short because they do not address the lack of accountability that police departments have to the communities they serve. In this article, I recommend a restructuring of civilian payouts for police misconduct from taxpayer money to police department insurances. This restructuring will improve police-civilian relations as well as reduce justifiable homicides and officer-involved shootings by increasing the accountability that police departments have to the communities they serve.     

NGOization,Foreign Funding,and the Nicaraguan Civil Society

A substantial section of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in the global South depend on foreign funds to conduct their operations. This paper explores how the availability of foreign funding affects their downward accountability, abilities to effect social change, and their relative influence in relation to traditional grassroots, membership-based organizations (GROs), which tend not to receive such funding. Drawing on a case study of Nicaragua, we challenge the notion that foreign funding of domestic NGOs leads to the evolution of civil society organizations, which have incentives and abilities to organize the marginalized sections of society in ways to effect social change in their interests. Instead, we find that foreign funding and corresponding professionalization of the NGO sector creates dualism among domestic civil society organizations. Foreign funding enhances the visibility and prestige of the “modern” NGO sector over traditional GROs. This has grave policy implications because foreign-funded NGOs tend to be more accountable to donors than beneficiaries and are more focused on service delivery than social change-oriented advocacy.     

Language Diversity and Accountability in the South: Perspectives and Dilemmas

This paper examines the need for accountability in language planning in multilingual contexts in the South. After a brief overview of language diversity in the South, it notes that this multilingual reality has often been ignored by policy-makers acting in their own interests, unaccountable to those affected by their decisions. It considers how world trends of increasing democratisation and strengthening of minority rights are generating calls for greater accountability and language rights, so that governments become more accountable to communities for their decisions about language. Some dimensions of accountability are explored, focussing on the need to integrate the perspectives of both government and community. Structures are addressed, with an emphasis on the role of local communities and illustrations from two particular African contexts, in Cameroon and Zaire. The paper concludes with a discussion of some practical dilemmas relating to policy and research, technical input, financial assistance and community ambivalence.     

Linking Local Government Discretion and Accountability in Decentralisation

Decentralisation offers significant opportunities to improve government accountability by exerting stronger pressures both from below (demand) and above (supply). The literature contains many examples, however, where the potential has not been realised, partly because decentralisation reforms have often been introduced without thinking through their accountability implications. Even when accountability is taken into account, the efforts tend to emphasise either the supply or the demand side of the equation, but not both. Drawing on the sets of literature on fiscal, administrative and political decentralisation, this article presents a methodology for studying this.     

Are We at the Cutting Edge or the Blunt Edge?: Improving NGO Organizational Performance with Private and Public Sector Strategic Management Frameworks

Bankruptcy or irrelevance are likely paths for not‐for‐profit organizations (NGOs) that do not reshape themselves to achieve greater impact, efficiency, and accountability in an increasingly global, competitive environment. But how relevant are public and private sector management frameworks for NGO repositioning? This article provides initial answers through a case study of CARE, one of the largest international relief and development nonprofit organizations in the United States. It explores the transformation frameworks employed at CARE between 1992 and 1997, assesses what worked and what did not, and identifies initial lessons learned for the broader sector.     

The strategies that bind: NGO coalitions and their influence

Abstract This article examines NGOs as strategic organizations that form coalitions in order to influence other actors, particularly international financial institutions. It has three primary aims: to examine NGOs as strategic organizations; to look at a particular type of NGO network, the coalition, which unlike a network involves more value and commitment; and to assess the factors that contribute to their strategies such as changes to the NGO environment. To do this, the resource dependency perspective is utilized to evaluate the influence of various resources (funding, legitimacy and information) on NGOs’ organizational strategy. Oxfam International, the NGO Working Group on the World Bank, and the Bretton Woods Project are three NGO coalitions examined. I conclude that there are differences between NGO networks and coalitions and that the coalitions strategically act and react to changing resources in their environments.     

Reconsidering the Case for Enhancing Accountability Via Regulation

This paper considers dangers and pitfalls associated with a range of oversight options and scenarios, including self-regulation, government regulation, donor monitoring and community participation. The paper outlines the blind spots and sources of potential bias associated with each of these oversight mechanisms. Examining the Ugandan case study we find that perceptions of corruption and ineffectiveness tarnished the reputation of the sector, but at this stage the proposed peer review mechanism and stricter government regulation are unlikely to improve NGO sector outcomes. Government regulation is anticipated to be ineffectual due to poor design and insufficient resource allocation, but both of these factors may be attributable to the underlying political motivations. Similarly, not much is expected from the peer review mechanism because participation is voluntary, offers few benefits and the list of guidelines is too long and contains too many vague and intangible quality standards. The paper argues for more empirical research to inform the design of oversight mechanisms and to monitor the impact of self-regulation and government regulation on the NGO sector. This may also help to expose and limit opportunistic interventions by government, often thinly concealed under the conceptual cloak of accountability and oversight.     

Discourse Failures and the NGO Sector: How Campaigning Can Undermine Advocacy

Within academic research, more and more scholars reveal the ambivalence of NGOs—the sometimes constructive, sometimes destructive role they play in solving societal problems. In this paper, we present a discourse analysis that illustrates how NGOs’ campaigning may undermine their reputation and advocacy function. We conclude that such discourse failures are frequently not merely an accidental by-product, but rather a not-intended consequence of deliberate NGOs’ campaigns. By applying ideas from political economy, we make particular note of probable discourse failures when campaigns attempt to deal with complex issues in an environment rife with wide-spread prejudices and where the NGO’s work is transparent. We present collectively institutionalized commitments for NGOs and commitment services enforced by political organizations as instruments that are suitable for increasing public accountability of the NGO sector. In conclusion, we argue that further research can benefit from systematically analyzing the interdependencies between discourses and institutions.     

NGO Networks,the Diffusion and Adaptation of NGO Managerialism,and NGO Legitimacy in Latin America

Nongovernmental organization (NGO) networks have become key instruments used by NGOs in Latin America. Because these networks have important roles to play in advocating for the sector, earning public support, and improving the provision of public goods and services, understanding these networks is important to understanding the NGO sector more broadly. The article examines how NGO networks use collective texts to diffuse and adapt managerial practices. NGO networks use elements of managerialism and their adaptations to signal quality, secure recognition in social development, identify strengths and weaknesses of the sector, and define civil society in order to garner sector legitimacy. While looking at managerialism from a critical perspective, the article finds that understanding NGOs networks and the diffusion and adaption of NGO practices can further pinpoint effective sources of sector legitimacy and help to strengthen the sector’s role in social development.     

Accountability as a Managerial Tool in Non-Profit Organizations: Evidence from Italian CSVs

The long-term performance of NPOs is based on their ability to link and maximize social value as defined in their mission. This involves legitimacy obtained from stakeholders influenced by and influencing NPO activities, and their operational capacity or economic efficiency. Thus, NPOs have to utilize multiple level accountability systems which should be compatible with their multiple objectives and stakeholders’ claims. The accountability system of an NPO should focus on its operational capacity, because in order to maximize its efficiency, an NPO has to measure its resource use, cost structure, and financial structure. Legitimacy obtained from stakeholders is also integral. If an organization is considered a social contract between multiple stakeholders, it has to consider the social economic effects of its activities and it has the duty to account for them. However, since the mission of an NPO is to create and distribute social value to a certain specific group, its social value creation has the most important role and an NPO should measure the social value it has created. This article analyzes the accountability system of a specific type of Italian NPO called Centri di Servizio per il Volontariato (CSVs)—namely centers which provide services for voluntary associations. The aim of the research is to verify if the accountability system adopted by CSVs satisfies their need for multiple level information (operational, legitimacy, and social value) and accomplishes their stakeholder claims, and to determine its impact on the definition and implementation of their strategy and on their long-term performance. The research was carried out using the action research model, and the findings are based on the analysis of a sample of 64 CSVs situated throughout Italy.     

Understanding Mexican NGOs: Goals,Strategies, and the Local Context

Research on non-governmental organizations (NGOs) largely focuses on the actions taken towards contributing to social change in communities and has characterized them into a typology of resisters or cooperators. Using extensive qualitative data, I use this case study to illustrate that NGOs use multiple repertoires of strategies that range from low to high risk. In this article, I show how and why NGO leaders in Monterrey, Mexico, choose their strategies based on their interpretation of the local sociopolitical environment and their assessment of how politically challenging a goal is within that context. By setting aside the dichotomy of NGOs as cooperators or resisters, I demonstrate the connection between strategies, goals, and the local sociopolitical context that is largely missing in our theorizing of NGOs (and other forms of collective action). These findings have implications for understanding how NGOs, as social actors, participate in an increasingly complex and interconnected global space.