From framework to practice
Overview
Building on the Digital Accountability project‘s research and framework, Accountable Now moved from theory to practice: publishing the New Accountability Paradigm report, producing practical guidance tools for CSO practitioners, and piloting new processes for stakeholder-driven decision making with six organisations around the world.
The project unfolded in two connected phases: developing and publishing the framework, then testing it in real organisational contexts with analytical support from CPC Analytics and coordination through CIVICUS.
Radical clarity on the value you add in an environment where support of active people and groups should be at the forefront of CSO work.
Define clearly what is and is not people-led. Give people genuine agency within an agreed space while maintaining overall organisational integrity.
Move beyond annual reporting toward in-time, on-demand transparency that enables genuine co-creation and stakeholder participation.
Focus on increasing the quality of empowering relationships to people and partners and using that as a success indicator in and of itself.
Identifying, monitoring and evaluating impact should be a shared process driven by ongoing stakeholder feedback, not periodic donor reporting cycles.
Let go of control where doing so enables greater stakeholder engagement. Protect the organisational core where it matters most.
Funded by the Oak Foundation and coordinated with CIVICUS, six organisations participated in year-long pilots, each designing and implementing new processes for integrating stakeholder feedback into regular decision making, supported throughout by CPC Analytics.
The core premise: integrating feedback from stakeholders into decision making more frequently helps achieve two key challenges at the same time: working more effectively with stakeholders and tracing more effectively with stakeholders
How to integrate external stakeholders in campaign design in a data-driven, transparent, and more inclusive way, with a focus on co-creation of campaign stories.
How to integrate external stakeholders in campaign design in a data-driven, transparent, and more inclusive way, generating fast feedback by Youth Action Teams.
How to ensure we notice the needs of volunteers in a timely way, providing regular feedback to management.
How to get regular feedback from stakeholders to improve services, specifically to improve Restless Development's support and identify impact across 168 partners in 41 countries.
How to get regular feedback from strategic affiliates to improve services, with quick and regular operational exchange.
How to get regular feedback from stakeholders to improve services, focusing on satisfaction and feedback from smallholder farmers across 98 milk collection centres.
Christian Franz and his team from CPC Analytics worked with each piloting organisation to establish practices and tools to collect and analyse in-time, comparable stakeholder data. They introduced a four-phase implementation process, Open up, Understand, Interpret, Evolve, designed to help organisations move from data collection to genuine feedback-driven decision making.
Phase 2a · 2016–2017
Full report · January 2017
Comprehensive report setting out the six principles with detailed case studies and practical examples from Amnesty International, Greenpeace, Transparency International, 350.org, Avaaz, and others
Six one-page guides · 2016
Practical one-pagers for six organisational roles: Board Member, Strategy Director, CEO, COO, Campaign/Programme Director, and HR Director. Each guide spells out what people-powered accountability looks like from that role’s perspective, with links to real-world examples.
Phase 2b · 2017–2018
Insight · November 2017
Introduces the four-phase framework: Open up, Understand, Interpret, Evolve, with examples from the TECHO, Restless Development, and BRAC pilots.
Insight · December 2017
Synthesises key learnings across all six pilots with detailed examples from BRAC Dairy and Greenpeace. Describes how regular data collection can serve both stakeholder listening and operational management.
Restless Development Pilot study report
Documents Restless Development’s participation in the pilot, studying 11 Youth Power Partners across 41 countries to improve stakeholder-driven decision making in their Youth Power campaign.
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.
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