Exploring NGO Legitimacy and Accountability with Professor L. David Brown

Posted on 17 February 2010

By George Veth

On February 9, Professor L. David Brown joined the NGOs & Development study group, convened by the Hauser Center, where he led a discussion on “NGOs and the Puzzle of Legitimacy and Accountability”.

To tee up the discussion, he started by pointing out the recent failure of several supposed bastions of trustworthiness in our world.  Among others, he noted the controversial hanging chads in U.S. elections and the Catholic priest sex abuse scandals.  I would add the UN Oil for Food Programme as another well publicized example of abuse in the world of transnational institutions.  Each of these controversies has provoked increased skepticism of the trustworthiness of traditional public institutions (findings supported by Globescan surveys).  And NGOs, with their “do good” missions, have not escaped the scrutiny.  The question was then posed, “How do NGOs reestablish their place of legitimacy?  How do they reinforce a sterling standard of public accountability?”  These key questions were the focus of the study group discussion.

Without belaboring the point, a simple definition of both legitimacy and accountability were shared by Professor Brown.  He supplied the following basic definitions as a backdrop for the discussion.

Legitimacy – existence and activities recognized as justified and appropriate by wider publics
Accountability – answering for performance results to specific stakeholders

It was an interesting presentation and good questions were posed and discussed.  Several thoughts might serve as key takeaways for further online discussion.  First, NGOs need to answer to multiple constituencies: donors, Boards, customers, employees, partners, etc  Each of these stakeholders demands the organization’s consideration and a negotiated set of performance expectations.  Second, a key source of legitimacy comes from shared and upheld values.  In addition, civil society organizations get their energy from their stated values and mission.  Somehow, these standards need to become a source of accountability between NGOs and their constituents.  The idea of industry wide coalitions with common charters and shared accountability measures were highlighted by Professor Brown via a couple of case studies.  Third, and not discussed very much because our time ran short, performance measurement systems need to be put in place to bring transparency and dialogue to shared performance expectations.  If organizations want legitimacy, they need to maintain an evidence-based dialogue with their constituents.  The narrative is vital so that context remains intact to complement quantitative information.

It was a good group meeting but, honestly, it only scratched the surface of a topic that warrants a weeklong conference!  Feel free to join the dialogue by responding to this blog or by joining the next study group discussion on Thursday, February 25 at 4.00 pm.

George Veth is a Mid-Career Master in Public Administration (MPA) candidate at the Harvard Kennedy School.