About the 12 Commitments
The 12 Accountability Commitments underpin Accountable Now’s approach and support to civil society. The Commitments represent a globally shared, dynamic understanding of accountability, helping us and our members to remain dedicated to the well-being of people and the planet. They also extend an open invitation for stakeholders to hold us accountable for our actions.
Click on the commitment icons below to explore relevant resources, and scroll to the end of the page to learn more about our partners and check out interesting resources!
Global Standard for CSO Accountability Partners
The Global Standard for CSO Accountability is recognised as a benchmark and tool for fortifying civic space, bolstering the freedom of association, and fostering locally-driven initiatives. Accountable Now and eight other accountability networks from Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, Latin America, and the Caribbean worked together for two years to develop the standard. It was designed in a bottom-up process that included iterative consultations with more than 1,500 CSOs working at the grassroots, national, and international level. Via this process, we captured key and universal elements about what an accountable CSO looks like that go beyond borders, culture, and sectors.
Today, we proudly cohost the 12 Commitments with our Global Standard Partners who work across tens of thousands of CSOs worldwide. Together with our partners we use the 12 commitments as a framework from which we customize and contextualize relevant protocols, actions, and practices that work to build trust between CSOs and their stakeholders and align their actions with their values.
The standard is externally recognized by:
- OECD DAC: Recommendations on ‘Enabling Civil Society in Development Co-operation and Humanitarian Assistance’
- DG NEAR: Guidelines for EU Support to Civil Society in the Enlargement Region
- Open Government Partnership: Actions to Protect and Enhance Civic Space
- BOND: Becoming Locally Led as an Anti-Racist Practice
Tools and Resources to Apply the 12 Commitments
The Rendir App is a self-assessment tool for CSOs to identify initial gaps. Available for CSOs and networks in three languages (English, French, and Spanish).
The Cooperation Committee for Cambodia maintains a standard for good governance practices for CSOs in the country. Available in Khmer and English.
The Australian Council for International Development maintains a good practice tool kit that provides indicators, guidance and resources on various accountability aspects.
Want to see how our members are advancing towards the 12 Commitments?
In addition to sharing their tools and evidence-based insights through our dialogues, workshops, peer learning groups, and more – many of our members undergo a reporting process – reporting against our framework which is grounded in the 12 Commitments.
Visit our members’ profile pages to read their accountability reports and learn about their innovative tools, processes, good practices, and other resources that demonstrate their work in strengthening their accountability, particularly towards the people and communities they work for and with.
