BECOME A MEMBER

The Global Standard for CSO Accountability: Review at the 10 Year Mark!

Why a review?

The Global Standard for CSO Accountability will soon turn 10 years old! The context around us has also drastically changed since its launch:

  • The Official Development Assistance (ODA) cuts and lack of civil society funding over the past several years is driving a resource competition for CSOs.
  • Worldwide, civil society is navigating a significantly worse operating space and facing even more intense scrutiny, compared to when the Standard was created.
  • Accountability is more important than ever, as demonstrated by the fact that CSOs who have adapted best to this new environment are those who can demonstrate accountability and build connection with the people who they serve.

With this background, the Global Standard Partnership is looking to undertake the review of the Standard’s utilization and content.

What are we reviewing?

1

The use and uptake of the Global Standard

This review includes the current use-cases of the Standard for civil society organizations and actors worldwide, the challenges of CSOs in using and applying the Standard, and the opportunity to have the Standard occupy a more unifying and leading role in defining what accountability means for civil society.

Expected outcome: This review will enable us to look back at how organizations have used the Global Standard and plan ahead for an updated positioning of the Standard.
Support us! This review is currently planned as an internal process among the Global Standard Partners. If you are a funder who is interested in investing in this process so that we can include other participants, let us know!

Talk to Bao Han About Funding
2

Each of the 12 Commitments

At the same time, we hope to review each Global Standard Commitment too — especially to check on each of their relevance, indicators, and what "good" looks like. Together, we will examine if there are needs to replace or revisit the language of each commitment, adding new ones and removing any redundancy too!

Expected outcome: This process will enable us to understand what are the obstacles, challenges, opportunities, and relevance of each current Global Standard Commitment, and it will inform the revision process which will happen in 2027.
Support us! Are you a sector practitioner, expert, or leader in civil society accountability? We’ll be sending out a survey in the coming weeks — register your interest in participating here! Funding is also welcomed and will enable us to undertake a much more thorough review.

Register Interest

Download the review overview

Prefer the offline version, or want something to share internally? The full review brief is available as a PDF.

PDF
The Global Standard 10 Year Review Overview What's being reviewed, why, and how to get involved
Download

Questions? Want to connect?

Email Bao Han to learn more about these processes and how you can get involved!

Email Bao Han

A Decade of Impact, a Moment to Renew

45,000+ organizations operating in 180+ countries are using the Global Standard to guide their work and put people at the heart of their accountability measures. Now, the 10 cohosts are working to review and refresh the Standard to ensure its fit for the future too. If you work in or with civil society, and believe our accountability practice should center the people we work for and with, we want to hear from you.

Get Involved