ABSTRACT
The online Business Dictionary defines accountability in the following way: “The obligation of an individual or organization to account for its activities, accept responsibility for them, and to disclose the results in a transparent manner.” 1 Agreeing to be held accountable builds trust and success. When people are held accountable, they effectively understand that their work is valued. For international development activities, which are predominantly funded by governments, whether directly or through intergovernmental organizations or nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), the taxpayer largely represents the original source of such funds. However, the eventual recipients and beneficiaries invariably are remote, the funds having passed through multiple organizations in order to reach their eventual destinations. In some cases, they may never arrive. It is relatively straightforward to analyze and address issues of accountability within any given entity that has its own governance structure; but the task becomes quite complex and even daunting when analyzing accountabilities across many distinctive organizations, each with its own governing body and many common but also many diverse stakeholders.
