WDDM Accountable?

["Bruce Eggum" <bruceeggum(at)gmail.com>]

Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) should be held more accountable for their actions

Keeping Civil Society on the Straight and Narrow

  Moyiga Nduru (IPS)
A few years ago, this IPS correspondent posed a question at a workshop in Johannesburg, South Africa, about whether non-governmental organisations (NGOs) should be held more accountable for their actions. Afterwards, the key speaker at the event pulled me aside, and issued a polite rebuke for my "dangerous question".

The "dangerous question" has continued to crop up since then, however, reflecting a growing debate over standards of conduct within the humanitarian sector as it has assumed an ever more prominent role in public life. Civic groups are now being scrutinised over a range of issues -- from accounting practices, to whether they are truly serving the needs of communities.

"It's true that accountability is not being exercised to the extent that it should be. Quite a large number of civil society organisations and NGOs have no organically-evolved mandate from the citizens," Ozias Tungwarara, director of the Johannesburg-based Open Society Institute, itself an NGO, told IPS.

Notes an anonymous posting on the website of the Southern African NGO Network: "Many NGOs are not practicing what they preach and a good example is the HIV/AIDS activists. Soon after conducting a workshop, they are already getting promiscuous. Is it the money that attracts them to the job or the need to be socialists that want to see change in the society?"

"Having worked for NGOs for almost four years, I can safely say that most of these NGOs just want funding and if not monitored, they convey it to their personal use," added the writer.

http://www.ipsterraviva.net/tv/civicus2007/currentNew.aspx?new=854

WDDM is a "Non Government Organization" (NGO).  WDDM must be accountable, thus the need for structure. I believe it is impossible to develop accountable infrastructure without Hierarchy. Hierarchy is neither bad nor good, it is a system of organization. Those who hate hierarchy, are only looking at the label. HOW a hierarchy is developed, for what purpose and by whom is the issue. The PEOPLE must design the hierarchy for WDDM, so WDDM follows the directions (structure) which the people desire and are accountable for that work which the People desire.

The same goes for government(s). The people must design the infrastructure (Constitution / Charter)

Regards, Bruce

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Bruce Eggum
Gresham Wisconsin, USA
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