Accountability - from Research to Practice

Recognising the need for organisations to be accountable to their stakeholders has gained increased support among researchers, policy-makers and practitioners working at national, regional and global level. But outside the jurisdiction of enforceable laws and regulations, accountability (particularly of organisations that stretch their activities across borders) takes place primarily on a voluntary basis. (Stakeholders: individuals and groups that affect, or are affected directly or indirectly by, an organisation’s decisions and activities.)

More often than not, policy decisions on organisational accountability are not effectively informed by studies undertaken in this area and reforms fail to respond to accountability gaps identified by (action-) researchers. In their turn, practitioners face the challenges of striking a balance between operationalising the new policies and responding to the various needs and pressures from stakeholders. (Action-) researchers are faced with the challenge of how to approach issues of accountability to ensure that their research will influence policy-makers. To start with, there is no empirical evidence that links accountability to the overall effectiveness of an organisation.  Would such an empirical study urge policy-makers to respond more quickly to accountability reform campaigns?

The broad aim of the workshop is to analyse the role of research in influencing accountability reform in general and to identify accountability-related research areas and strategies that would better inform and trigger policy changes. The workshop will have the following format:

 1) A review of research gaps on issues of accountability, followed by a very brief introduction to the Global Accountability Project and the impact it had on policy - TBC (10 minutes)

 2) Three panellists will share their experience with accountability reform, highlighting the relevance of research to their work; other factors that influenced accountability reform within their organisations; challenges to organisational change; and the type of research that would have been better placed to ensure an effective reform process. (10 minutes each)

• Antonella Mancini, Head of Impact Assessment, ActionAid International

• Tahmina Rahman, Independent Consultant

• Oliver Smith, Head of Planning and Performance Review, WWF-UK

 3) Q&A and structured discussion on the following topics (30 minutes):

• how accountability debates in general contribute to accountability learning or thinking within different types of organisation

• the main challenges to accountability reform;

• the most effective type of research to influences changes in accountability policy (or help in the implementation of accountability reform).

Page last updated: 12 October, 2004