Grassroots accountability promises in rights-based approaches to development: the role of transformative monitoring and evaluation in NGOs

The aim of this thesis is to investigate the rights-based approach to development and how its embedded promise of self-determination is enacted in the accountability relationships between NGOs and their beneficiaries. In doing so, the thesis seeks to highlight accountability as a process that enacts a specified promise. This occurs not simply in terms of promising to provide an account of conduct or behaviour; instead the promise can stem from moral responsibilities, ones which have transformational and societal implications, and initiate strategic choices (for example, appropriate accounting practices) regarding the enactment of this promise (Brown & Moore, 2001; Dubnick, 2005). This conceptualisation of accountability is proposed as particularly relevant in the context of rights-based NGOs as this development approach has important moral, societal and strategic implications for the manner in which NGOs are accountable to their beneficiaries. The thesis draws on insights from transformative learning theory (Mezirow, 1978) to understand how the promise of self-determination is enacted in these accountability relationships. This theory demonstrates transformative learning as a process in which there is a paradigmatic shift in the world views or ‘meaning perspectives’ of individuals and communities. The thesis presents two interpretive case studies of NGOs – RuralLife and Unison - that sought to transform their target communities into active, engaged and self-determined citizens with the support of grassroots accountability practices of monitoring and evaluation. Findings indicate that transformative learning is not a uniformly consistent concept and has different meanings attached to it, particularly in situations where NGOs conceive their roles within the rights-based development landscape differently. The thesis highlights how these differences can be supported by grassroots monitoring and evaluation practices which vary in content and scope. It also demonstrates the extent to which the transformative intentions of these practices can combine with the more traditional purposes of accountability practice within NGOs.

Awards: Winner of the Mollie Holman Doctoral Medal for Excellence, Faculty of Business and Economics, 2016.