Accountability mechanisms of locally owned versus non-locally owned NGOs in South Africa

The aim of this paper is to investigate differences in accountability mechanisms used by local and non-local NGOs in South Africa. The question of accountability has been high on the development agenda in recent times. Through... [ view full abstract ]

The aim of this paper is to investigate differences in accountability mechanisms used by local and non-local NGOs in South Africa. The question of accountability has been high on the development agenda in recent times. Through this need to be accountable, different accountability mechanisms evolved, the most prominent of which is upward accountability towards the donors and mainly focused on financial accounting and project efficiency. As knowledge of the developmental aid mechanisms is expanding, donors and NGOs are becoming more aware of the importance of downward accountability as well –accountability towards receivers– especially considering that many see it to be closely linked to effectiveness. Very little research has been done on accountability in local NGOs. This paper reports the results of a quantitative study to explore differences in the implementation of accountability mechanisms between locally and non-locally owned NGOs in South Africa. It was found that locally owned NGOs more often claimed to implement downward and horizontal accountability mechanisms and also to implement such mechanisms better than non-local NGOs. Non-local NGOs, on the other hand, more often claimed to implement upward accountability mechanisms and to implement such mechanisms better than local NGOs. Even when taking into account the size, age, funding, gender of the decision maker, location and activity sector, the multivariate analysis (based on three seemingly unrelated equations) shows that local NGOs continue to stand out as more focused on recipients. The findings of this paper show that the strategies employed by local NGOs to account downwards could inform the strategies of non-local NGOs, and thereby improve aid effectiveness.