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 organizations 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 organizations 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 centers communities’ voices, feedback, and preferences.
We help organizations bridge the gap between commitments or values and action, when it comes to accountability. Our work falls under three key pillars – our 3 E’s:
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.
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.
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.
Accountable Now helps its Members and partners enhance accountability by applying the 12 Accountability Commitments as a central framework. These commitments, created through a global co-creation process with over 1,500 civil society organizations, networks, and grassroots group, provide practical guidance for evaluating values, engaging stakeholders, and fulfilling organizational missions.
In 2014, Accountable Now collaborated with eight other accountability initiatives to align their approaches, resulting in the Global Standard for CSO Accountability, from which the 12 Commitments were derived.
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.
Interested in learning more about how adopting the 12 Commitments can help your organization advance its mission of helping people and the planet?