Bond's Approach to Quality

Bond's Report on Quality

In 2006 Bond commissioned Keystone and AccountAbility to conduct research with Bond members and produce a report on quality and accountability in the NGO sector.

Background to 'A Bond Approach to Quality in NGOs' report

Within the widespread debates about systems and standards to enhance NGO quality, Bond members find themselves navigating a complex array of options on how they approach the issue of 'quality' in their work. This project aimed to enable learning about members' current quality standards practice and consider the wealth of experience and the various voices within the issue. These issues are central to Bond's 2006-2011 Strategy and include explicit commitments to helping its members to respond effectively to demands for accountability and transparency and identifying a collective approach to quality in the sector.

The theme of NGO quality and accountability is rich in debate; from discussions about the scope, implications and differences between terms like 'quality' or 'accountability', to the differences in appetite of organisations for approaches that go from international standards to organisational learning models. Furthermore, the practices that organisations choose are informed by criteria as varied as their size and organisational complexity, as well as the scope of their work and operations.

Therefore, this research process was designed around a sensitive understanding of current debates on quality and accountability within the NGO sector, noting amongst other criteria:

The diversity of Bond's membership.
NGO's need for practical mechanisms to manage the tensions created by being accountable to different stakeholders.
The range of other initiatives working on similar issues.

Timeframe and Outputs

The research and consultation phases ran February - July 2006. The key outputs were engagement amongst Bond's members and a report describing practical options and recommendations on quality standards for further consideration by Bond's members. This phase was followed by further work on developing collective approaches to quality.