Civil Society Organisations
Audit Yourself Before You Audit Others

By Mukti Rijal

RECENTLY an international seminar on good governance held in Pokhara issued a declaration that binds morally the civil society organizations to respect the norms, values and principles of good governance and apply them in the respective organisations. The declaration was signed by representatives of civil society organisations from within and outside. The civil society organisations also decided to form a network to work on the issues relating to good governance with special focus on transparency, accountability, and participation and corruption free systems. The network, yet to be put into proper shape, as outlined in the declaration commits to raise voices against corruption and abuse of authority, exclusion of women, children and disadvantaged groups from the political process and absence of real public access to information. It will seek a legitimate space for civil society organisations as partner and stakeholder in any public discourses.

One of the important articles of the declaration commits to pursue to ensure adherence of norms, values and principles of good governance in the working of the different organs of the government, NGOs, INGOs, private sector, political organisations, multilateral organisations and in bilateral arrangements. This shows that the civil society organisations are not only committed to apply the norms and yardsticks of good governance inside their own respective institutions but also watch if the bilateral and multilateral funding agencies follow the same

What prompted the participating representatives of the civil society organisations to commit, among others, to look inward and introspect about how their respective organisations were applying to the tenets of good governance needs to be discussed. Today people are not only questioning government authorities alleging that bad governance practices have seeped in all their apparatuses, they are also carefully looking into how civil society organisations respond to the imperatives of democracy and good governance. Diwakar Chand, former member secretary of the Social Welfare Council, who had presented a paper in the seminar also gave introspective food for thought to the participants in the seminar He told ‘It is not just the government which is being questioned regarding issues on accountability, even NGOs fall under the hit list. The question that are being raised with regard to the NGOs are as to how much resources have really been received by NGOs and what are its sources? Where and how such resources are being spent?’

The NGOs are indeed subject to several scrutinies and auditing at different levels. They are responsible to the donors extending support to their activities. They are also accountable to target groups they intend to empower. Moreover, they are legally required to submit report to the government for their legitimate existence and working. However, these mechanisms are perceived to be insufficient in making civil society organisations accountable to good governance practices. Unfortunately, the audit report to be presented to the CDO merely comprises of a manifestation of revenue and expenditure account while it does not inquire about the source and means of acquiring it at all. Furthermore, there are no monitoring and checking mechanism as such which may possibly investigate into the sources of revenue and earning sources of thousands of NGOs that are mushrooming in Nepal.

In a democracy civil society organisations play an important role in articulating interests of the citizens and mediating between state, citizens and the market Civil society can not be an extension of government authorities and same logic of control and acquiescence should not be applied in the context of NGOs. No restrictions and regulations should impinge the civic spirit and no controlling mechanism should be allowed to daunt the enthusiasm of the civic groups and create obstacles in their activities. However, it does not mean that they should not be answerable and accountable The most effective checking mechanism for civil society organisation is a built in spirit to carry out self appraisal or evaluation because those questioning others should also look within themselves to ensure that no bad practices affect their rank and file. Strict and stringent state measures to monitor and subject civil society organisations to auditing and evaluation goes against the democratic spirit and forces the civic groups to kow-tow before the state authorities. Their independence, autonomy and flexibility can be undermined and they may not be able to play an important and critical role as mediator between citizen and state. Rather, it is time for NGOs and civil society organisations themselves to ensure that they create and follow transparency, accountability and participation as guiding norms in their functions so that the questions about their legitimacy and proprieties are resolved. This can give them credulence and credibility to raise questions about bad governance practices allegedly entrenched in government organizations. It is in this context that the Pokhara declaration of representatives of the civil society organizations is very important. The representatives of the civil society organizations have rightly committed themselves to apply the values, norms, and principles of good governance in their respective organizations. Let civil society audit themselves before they audit others.

Other Story

• Big Heart Of Kathmandu