What is Social Accountability (SAc)? | | Accountability in common parlance means “answerability”. It is about holding people to account for their impacts on the lives of people and the environment. It involves the rights of those impacted and the obligations of those with power. Thus, accountability can be defined as the obligation of power- holders to account for or take responsibility of their actions.Thus, Social Accountability can be defined as ‘the duty to provide an account or reckoning of those actions for which one is held responsible. Thus, accountability involves two responsibilities or duties: the responsibility to undertake certain actions (or forbear from taking action) and the responsibility to provide an account of those actions’ (Rob Gray, 1996, Accounting & Accountability). | Social Accountability of NGOs | | The priviledge of being an NGO comes with the onus of benevolent and public purpose activities. An NGO comes into existence only with the pre condition of working for charitable purposes involving public benefit without having any profit motive. There is a big difference between the social responsibilities of an NGO and a profit making corporate. A profit making commercial organization may opt for various activities, which enhances its social accountability as well as credibility. An NGO on the other hand has to work for public purposes in order to retain its legal and ethical entity.As organizations interact with a number of other institutions, groups, and individuals in a number of different ways, NGOs have multiple accountabilities. They are accountable to outside donor governments, to other funding agencies, to the people for which they work, to other NGOs which they associate and lastly NGOs must be accountable to their own internal governance. The nature of accountabilities can take several forms: financial, legal, institutional, contractual and relational.The presence of such an array of obligations and responsibilities raises several questions: | Is there one organization or constituency to whom the NGO is first and foremost accountable? | | What forms of accountability are more readily or reasonably attainable or measurable? | | Are accountabilities to certain groups and individuals more important to an NGO’s goals than other? |
Accountability to Multiple Stakeholders:Stakeholders refers to “all those people or groups of people who are influenced or affected by an organization’s activity or are in a position to affect it. An NGO is accountable to various stakeholders in various degrees. Stakeholders of NGOs can be categorized as: | Primary Stakeholders and | | Secondary Stakeholders | Primary Stakeholders: | | Reference Community | | Staff of the NGO | | Donors | | Government | | Board of the NGO | Secondary Stakeholders: | | Other NGOs | | Society at large. |

There is a wide-spread concern that NGO accountability is directed primarily “upwards”- i.e. towards the state and other funders, to the point that accountability to other constituencies is neglected. The power of donor organizations and governments because of the degree to which NGOs are dependent on them for financial assistance, is of such magnitude that an NGOs accountability may be skewed in that direction, while its responsibilities to the community for which they work rather than its benefactors may be weakened. Accountability between NGOs may also be less likely to occur as they vie with each other for similar resources. However, several development thinkers argue that NGO accountability should be redirected “downwards”. It is to be recognized that a great degree of accountability to communities for which they work is vital for democratic and participatory developmentThus, by virtue of being an NGO, the notion of multi-faceted accountability is of paramount importance. There could be conflicting dynamics in the interest of various stakeholders. However, it is very important to ensure that the activities and decisions of NGOs are not only satisfying the canon of ‘maximum social advantage’, but they also have the mandate of all the affected stakeholders.Why is it important for NGOs to be Socially Accountable?Why is accountability agenda critical for NGOs? Are NGOs not already doing enough to justify their social accountability? Then why should an NGO devote additional energy and resources, which could have otherwise been used for charitable purposes? In this context, it is important to unravel reasons for the importance of social accountability with regard to the NGOs: 1. | Increased awareness: Social Accountability makes the flow of information more transparent, thereby increasing the level of awareness among the beneficiaries and community at large. | | | 2. | Peoples’ Empowerment: SAc initiatives would eventually lead to empowerment, particularly of the poor people. By providing information, and soliciting systematic feedback from the community, social accountability mechanisms provide a means to increase and aggregate the voice of the disadvantaged and vulnerable groups. | | | 3. | Better Governance: SAc practices enhance the ability of individuals and community as a whole to get involved in the development process in a more informed, organized, constructive and systematic manner. By inducing transparency, SAc would eventually make the governance more participatory and responsive to the needs of the people. | | | 4. | Increased Development Effectiveness: This is achieved through improved service delivery and more informed policy design. By enhancing the availability of information, strengthening people’s voice, promoting dialogue and consultation between stakeholders, SAc mechanisms can go a long way towards improving development effectiveness. | | | 5. | Enhances the Credibility: SAc also enhances the credibility of an organization and reaffirms the trust of its stakeholders. It provides a framework in which organizations can establish their own priorities, strategic plans and performance measurement criteria. | |