Accountable Now is a global collective of civil society actors with a common goal to do good, better.
Together with our members and partners, we seek to build people-led, accountable, and thriving civil society ecosystems around the world.
We believe that accountability should be a dynamic and continuous process, not a ‘tick box’ exercise.
Following that ethos, we provide our members – and any other civil society organisations interested in becoming more accountable – with the tools and support they need to continuously reflect, learn, and adapt their work to achieve better impact. Our work focuses on supporting civil society organisations to strengthen or embed new ways of working grounded in processes of inclusive, participatory and meaningful engagement with all stakeholders. It goes beyond monitoring & evaluation, due-diligence and compliance, driving accountability as a process that centres communities’ voices, feedback, and preferences.
How We Work
We help organisations bridge the gap between commitments or values and action, when it comes to accountability.
Our Pillars + Approaches
Our work falls under three key pillars - our 3 E’s:
Examine
We ask tough questions and support our members and partners to reflect, take account, and improve. We bring a critical eye to review and understand trends and practices through research, reviews, and thought leadership.
Equip
We provide tools and advice for our members and partners to embrace and apply dynamic accountability. We design guidance and resources, facilitate learning and peer advice, and accompaniment for transformative change.
Enable
We support efforts to fortify and protect enabling environments for civil society ecosystems globally. We foster a stronger foundation for accountable, values-aligned, inclusive, and people-led work inside our members’ and partners’ institutions.
Our Cross-Cutting Approaches
1
Learning and Adaptation
Fundamental to AN’s philosophy of dynamic accountability is continuous learning and that our practices, advice, and support adapt to the changing world. We support learning and adaptation throughout our work with members, partners, and clients while prioritizing practitioner-focused resources, tools, and advice.
2
Powershifting
We are major advocates of the #ShiftThePower movement and moving towards a locally-led agenda. Those closest to the problem should have the agency and decision-making power to address these challenges. We use this lens to shift, share, and move power and resources to be closest to affected stakeholders. Our focus on practical and values-informed processes, tools, and contracts means moving beyond the talk and focusing on realizing this agenda.
3
Equitable Collaboration
Civil society can be a powerful force to fight for social justice if we work together to achieve systemic and long term change. Too often, our competition over scarce resources has led to division, difficult partnerships, and inequitable division of resources and power. Equipping collaboration efforts with critical infrastructure, agreements, and accountable actions, we aim to counter divisive issues and enable better collaboration for transformative change.
The 12 Accountability Commitments
Accountable Now is here to help its members and network embed dynamic accountability practices into their work. But where to begin?
Our 12 Accountability Commitments are the framework that underpins our reporting process and other tools and support for advancing dynamic accountability. They form a comprehensive set of standards upon which an organisation can assess their accountability, ensure they are living out their values and advancing towards their mission.
The 12 commitments are based on the Global Standard for CSO Accountability’s framework, which was co-created by Accountable Now along with 9 accountability initiatives and networks working around the world. In 2014, Accountable Now and eight other accountability initiatives from around the world joined forces to align our vision of accountability. Through a series of bottom up co-creation with over 1500 ICSOs, CSOs, networks and grassroots organisations worldwide, the Global Standard for CSO Accountability and the 12 Accountability Commitments were born.
These commitments are at the core of what we regard as good accountability practices, and ensure will help to build a more just, equitable, and accountable world where all people and the planet can thrive.
Designed to be actionable and adaptable, the 12 Commitments can be adopted by any organisation, big or small, to strengthen their accountability practices and get better, long lasting results – no matter their starting point.
Read more about the Global Standard
The Global Standard for CSO Accountability is a reference standard and tool for all civil society organisations. The standard comprises 12 Commitments, organised into three clusters: what CSOs aim to achieve, how to approach change, and how to shift internal practices.
What makes this standard truly powerful is its collaborative origin. It was developed together with over 1500 grassroots, national, and international civil society organisations worldwide. The intention is not to impose a rigid minimum requirement but to offer a useful starting point for organisations to further develop their accountability practices. Alongside our partners, we carried out interviews, consultations and surveyed how civil society organisations understand and practice accountability. The result is a framework that truly captures a shared and cross-cultural understanding of civil society accountability.
