REGIONAL FORUM ON CSO GOVERNANCE CSO ACCOUNTABILITY: A GLOBAL SNAPSHOT AND PUSH FACTORS December 13, 2011 Borithy LUN Executive Director Vision: A strong and capable civil society, cooperating and responsive to Cambodia’s development challenges Host of the 2 nd Global Assembly for CSO Development Effectiveness – Siem Reap June 2011

MISSION VISION CCC Vision 2015 Goal 3: Influence DPs Goal 4: High quality services Goal 2: Enhance Effective Cooperation Goal 1: Strengthen Collective Voice Integrity Cooperation Responsiveness Quality Goal 5: Greatest impacts with a few resources

What is Good Governance? Good governance means the effective management of resources in a manner that is open, transparent, accountable, equitable and responsive to people's needs Orock Thomas Eyong Promoting Good Governance in the Management of NGO April 2001

What is accountability? The processes through which an organization makes a commitment to respond to and balance the needs of its stakeholders in its decision- making processes and activities, and delivers against this commitment From the One World Trust Global Accountability Framework & Reports

Why be Accountable? Normative Instrumental Internal External Live up to Mission and Values Ethical demand by staff and board of Governance Preventive against scandals and negative publicity Social contract and quality assurance Fiduciary custodian of public resources /funds Model the “talk” instead of walk the talk Downwards as well as upwards Consistently groomed for statutory obligation

How are NGOs responding to the accountability challenge? Organizational and sector initiatives Self-regulation as a preventative and protective tool Civil society space and role in governance Search for integrity and establishing ‘good’ performance as a sector

How are NGOs responding to the accountability and governance challenges? InitiativesSector LevelOrganization Level Certifications XX Peer reviews XX Information services XX Standard Operations Procedures (SOP) X Reporting frameworks X Conflict of Interests XX Complaint Mechanisms X Transparency Policies XX Code of ethics/conduct XX Partnership principles XX

Global Snapshot of CSO self Regulation

Oneworldtrust.org/csoproject /

What makes a “strong and effective” self-regulation initiative? Quality design and structure of the initiative, in particular to the following aspects: The authority of the scheme to grant and withdraw accreditation The level of stringency of the system The imposition of /adherence to high standards Strong verification mechanisms

Key operational issues 1.There is no one size fits all approach 2.Social, political and regulatory context 3.Detailed standards need to be balanced with wide participation

Key operational issues 3.Important to prevent self-regulation from becoming a tiresome tick box exercise rather than a tool for improving performance 4.Weak compliance mechanisms undermine overall mandate of scheme 5.Leadership/ownership in organizations and sector are essential for reform

CSO self-regulation: key political factors Self-regulation is an accountable and responsible tool for improving performance and good governance NOT a tool to control. The relationship of self-regulation with formal regulation at state level, and their complementariness needs to be better understood Self regulation is a behavior change tool, it can aid organizations to be naturally transparent and accountable over time. Legal framework will legally punish organizations for poor governance.

Thank you