Paper short abstract:

Drawing on the difference between 'responsibility' and 'accountability', we explore how contemporary innovations within INGOs ( such as beneficiary feedback mechanisms, decentralisation,...) could contribute to (re)defining the power relations between INGOs, their Southern partners and the poor.

Paper long abstract:

INGOs have always maintained a strong rhetoric for 'downward accountability'. However the strong focus of INGOs on their donors seems to have been detrimental to putting this rhetoric into practice. Due to the strong focus on donors INGOs paid insufficient attention to giving Southern partners and the poor a voice in their internal debates and decision making processes (Brett, 2003; Atack, 1999; Litovsky & Mac Gillivray, 2007; Edwards & Sen, 2000)

Since the beginning of the 21st century this seems to be changing. Pioneering INGOs invest in beneficiary feedback systems, go through processes of decentralization, implement accountability learning and planning systems,… These innovations could be seen as conscious attempts to bringing the voices of the Southern partners and the poor closer to the INGO strategic decision making level. In this paper we explore these new initiatives. After a introductory historical sketch, we suggest that the rise of the right-based approach to development might have been an important push-factor contributing to these innovations. Next, drawing on the conceptual differences between responsibility and accountability (Schedler, 1999), we explore if and under which conditions these innovations might contribute to (re)defining the power relations between INGOs, their Southern partners and the poor. Last we suggest some pathways for further research.