Alliance Online - September 2007

Lighting up civil society

Caroline Neligan

Transparency and access to information are preconditions for the continued growth and health of civil society. Without information on the activities, accomplishments and finances of CSOs, those who seek to support them are unable to effectively allocate resources, while those who seek to minimize their role make claims that cannot be disproved. There is a real risk that the critical work of CSOs will be undermined through lack of trust and disappointment in their ability to deliver. The internet, because of its extensive use and reach, can be the means par excellence of communicating information about CSOs. But there are drawbacks, too, such as the plethora of information on the web and the sometimes prohibitive expense for smaller CSOs of developing effective internet presences. GuideStar International can help furnish a solution.

Civil society’s role in ensuring progress and well-governed and vibrant societies is widely documented and broadly accepted. A strong civil society not only provides means for direct citizen oversight of government practices; it also ensures an enduring counterweight – the alternative capacity to deliver services, ensure human rights, preserve the environment, provide education, develop policy and conduct research. CSOs are closely connected to the grassroots, more flexible than government, and more socially inclined than business. The strength of these private social initiatives ultimately determines a country’s quality of life and the quality of its governance.

The recognition of their central role has made CSOs much more visible at all levels of decision-making. At the same time, they have become more directly challenging to governments, contesting global rules of trade and decision-making and promoting development policies to take account of the world’s poorest people.

However, this prominence has led inevitably to questions about their legitimacy, effectiveness and accountability. Increasingly, governments, wary of the political influence of CSOs, seek to disable them by tightening regulation, and in some cases imposing even more draconian controls. Media’s simplistic response doesn’t help matters as the donor public is bombarded by stories of CSOs’ abuse, or ineffective use, of funds.

CSOs are understandably eager to address these challenges and to define solutions themselves before they are imposed upon them. But to whom should they be accountable and for what? CSOs’ multiple stakeholders have different reporting demands, which place a burden on CSOs, especially the smaller ones.

At the same time, funding for infrastructure initiatives is inadequate, ephemeral and, in the case of private funders, actually declining. With this decline, the ability of organizations to demonstrate their legitimacy and effectiveness is further compromised. We all lose as a result.

The power of the internet together with the increasing need for CSO transparency makes online visibility of CSOs imperative. In one response to this need, GuideStar International works to illuminate the work of the world’s CSOs through its online information systems. It is a grand vision but one we aim to realize through the development of nationally owned and operated GuideStar systems. These national GuideStars aggregate information from annual government filings as well as actively encouraging CSOs to produce high quality reports on their organization’s mission, governance, objectives, activities and finances.

CSOs play a vital role in providing critical social services, advocating for a vast array of otherwise unheard voices, and generally promoting conditions that enable responsive and accountable national governance.

But without clear and effective communication of what they do – to friends and enemies alike – CSOs will be unable to live up to the expectations placed upon them to transform the development experience of countries and make possible the emergence of well-governed, just and strong societies.

Note This article provides a point of departure for discussions that will take place over the course of the GuideStar International Assembly in London on 19-20 September 2007. A longer article, informed by the contributions of panellists and delegates, will be published later in the year.

Caroline Neligan is Director of Programmes, GuideStar International. Email cneligan@guidestarinternational.org

For more information
www.guidestarinternational.org

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