NGO Accountability

A critical survey

This publication is the result of workshops and interviews carried out all over Europe with representatives of associations between 2003 and 2007 by the Foundation for Future Generations (Belgium), in partnership with the Bernheim Foundation (Belgium), the Charles Léopold Mayer Foundation (France/Switzerland) and CEDAC (Belgium). The main lessons from this work have been drawn by Erik Rydberg, journalist and director of GRESEA (Belgium).

It aims to provide the reader with a series of reference points with regard to the issue of the ethics and responsibilities of associations. When and in which context have these concerns  started to emerge? What new vistas do they open up for citizen associations?

After having claimed pledges of virtuousness from multinational corporations, the associations found themselves obliged to endorse the same kind of accountability.  The philosophical considerations on the responsibility of associations, following that of the private sector, pose four key questions. Who should be responsible? To whom? What for? How?

But we need to raise other questions to go deeper into the discussion. Who defines the terms of this discussion? Can the responsibility of associations coexist with a mental prefabricated cast? Are the European "civil dialogue" and the European legalisation of associations part of the problem of responsibility or of its solution? Is there still room for plurality in a landscape of associations that is increasingly dominated by competition?

This critical reflection, carried out by the associations, is under a double external pressure: from public opinion and from donors. Consequently, there is a risk that it might embrace the real or supposed requirements of donors.

This publication should be considered as a contribution to the current international debate on the ethics and responsibilities of associations.

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