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Trust, accountability, and face-to-face interaction in North-South NGO relations

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Janet Townsend

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Abstract

We set out a qualified argument for greater personal interaction between Northern and Southern NGOs as a formal mechanism of partnership. We argue that increasing the number and quality of face-to-face visits can, in some circumstances and with appropriate safeguards, enhance effectiveness by fostering more open dialogue, improving upward and downward accountability and by making monitoring and accountability more rigorous and meaningful. At the heart of this argument is faith in individual professional judgment. At present, while everyone working in or around the NGO sector is well aware of the primacy of personal relationships, formal development discourses tend to be anxious, silent, even hostile on the subject. The paper is based on two research projects, and on a longer research and personal engagement with NGOs in Ghana, India and Mexico.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Mawdsley E, Townsend JG, Porter G

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Development in Practice

Year: 2005

Volume: 15

Issue: 1

Pages: 77-82

ISSN (print): 0961-4524

ISSN (electronic): 1364-9213

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0961452052000321613

DOI: 10.1080/0961452052000321613

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