Concerns about Nongovernmental Agencies

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Concerns about NGOs Generally, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are nonprofit, voluntary citizens’ association working to advance, improve, or better society and human well-being. They are considered forces of good and representatives of citizens’ concerns. Through research, advocacy, and involvement they provide professional services to the public and policy makers. Yet, despite the crucial role that NGOs fulfill, a variety of concerns remain that could challenge their effectiveness, impact, and status. One such issue relates to accountability, responsibility, and transparency. While accountability and transparency are important to NGOs’ operations, credibility, and status, no central standard or measure exists by which these are evaluated. Unlike corporations, they are “trusted to do what is right” as indicated (Williamson, 2005). Yet, only recently have they begun self-reporting to stakeholders and increased efforts concerning transparency and accountability. On top of that, the question arises to whom are NGOs responsible? Who are they representative of? This is by far not easily answered, as many of them are special interest groups, representative of only a small fraction of the population. By extension one wonders if their inclusion is even justified. Another issue relates to ethics and ethical behaviors. Because NGOs are viewed as forces of good, they tend to (naturally) occupy a moral high ground. Indeed, thus far NGOs have largely escaped public scrutiny. Even with some smaller incidents such as outrage over CEO salaries (i.e. United Way), embezzlement (i.e. American Parkinson Disease Association), and unethical policies (i.e. Goodwill paying veterans less than minimum wage), NGOs have managed to remain in the public... ... middle of paper ... ...003; Williamson, 2005). Many of them are working diligently to enhance their responsiveness, maintain credibility, and safeguard legitimacy. References: Chossudovsky, M. (2000). Disarming the new world order. World Socialist. Retrieved from http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2000/01/chos-j15.html Kim, J. (2003). Accountability, governance, and non-governmental organizations: A comparative study of twelve Asia-Pacific Nations. Seoul National University. Retrieved from http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.istr.org/resource/resmgr/working_papers_toronto/kim.junki.pdf Riff, D. (2002). Humanitarianism in crisis. Council on Foreign Relations. Retrieved from http://www.cfr.org/humanitarian-intervention/humanitarianism-crisis/p5261 Williamson, H. (2005). Under attack. Global Public Policy Forum. Retrieved from http://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/176/31417.html

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