We are all in this messy, globalized world together. This is where, in part, established, credible networks like Interaction and the P-3 initiative can be of assistance in fostering business non-profit understanding and alliances.
Accountability
For any of this to work, for the sectors to trust each other enough to collaborate, there must be accountability. I have often heard it said by colleagues both in the private for-profit sector as well as in government, that they are leery of NGOs. The often heard refrains from them are "who are they?", "who do they represent?", "how do I know they are reputable or the right partner for us?", "they say they want to hold us accountable, but are they (the NGOs) accountable to anyone?"
Interaction members serve, by and large, at the pleasure of the public. Preserving and protecting the public trust goes to the heart of NGO survival. About ten years ago, Interaction members banded together and established a set of standards for transparency and reporting in governance, fundraising, and program implementation, to which they must "self"-certify their compliance each year. The adoption of our standards plays an extremely large role in the credibility attached to Interaction membership. And, accountability is at the heart of the public trust and of the willingness of decision makers-whether they be in government, multilateral institutions the media or the private sector―to have NGOs sit at the table with them and to report on their work.
The standards are more than just a mechanism to preserve the public trust. They are tools and guides available to the membership for annual self-reflection. They are not meant to be sticks for punishments if and when an agency finds that it is not in full compliance. Rather, they must be viewed by members as tools to help improve performance.
The Interaction membership should be proud to have had the courage to develop and live by its standards. Recent meetings that I have attended within the NGO community on the issue of accountability have confirmed that Interaction is a leader in its sector and we should and must continue to set this standard of excellence and to make our efforts widely known.
Several of our members are now taking the self-certification process several steps further. Interaction's child sponsorship agencies―those who in large measure take funds from the public to help children in developing countries―were confronted with bad press several years back that served to erode the public trust. In response, they developed standards, specific to child sponsorship agencies, that were adopted into the Interaction standards. At that point, they did not believe that self-certification would go far enough to renew public trust, so they signed a memorandum-of-understanding between them and asked Interaction, the secretariat, to identify a third party accrediting agency that could certify their compliance with the NGO and child sponsorship standards through peer review. It took over a year to release the Request For Proposal (RFP), review respondents and ratify a contract. I am delighted to report that the first phase of this peer review began on October 1, 2000.
The other Interaction members are monitoring the child sponsorship agencies very closely. A second group of members, those who work in pharmaceutical and medical equipment donations have established the Gifts-In-Kind Working Group. They, too, are developing their own set of standards which will be eventually submitted to the full membership for adoption into the standards. Whether they move toward peer review is not yet known, but they are being informed by the child sponsorship process. Interaction, the secretariat, is not suggesting that the entire membership move toward peer review. Such a decision must be membership driven and will be gradual.
