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Developing a Certificate of Good Governance for Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)
Executive Summary - Pilot Program
October 2007
Participating NGOs
Arab Thought Forum
Center for Architectural Conservation - Riwaq
The Palestinian Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession - Musawah
Table of Contents
1. INTRODUCTION:
1-1 Background – Nazaha Project (Good Governance Certificate)
1-2 Goal of the Nazaha Project
2. SCOPE OF WORK
3. NGO CERTIFICATION PILOT PROGRAM WORK PLAN
4. NGO CERTIFICATION PILOT PROGRAM
5. TECHNICAL COMMITTEE MEMBERS
6. JURY
Background:
The Nazaha project is implemented by AMAN and within a memorandum of understanding with Konrad-Adenauer Foundation in Ramallah to strengthen the Palestinian civil society through enhancing the accountability and good governance in the NGO sector as part of the European Union’s “Initiative for Democrocy and Human Rights”.
Despite a long history of service delivery and institutional building, NGOs in Palestine have recently come under pressure to improve the legal framework under which they operate (Jarrar, 2005), to improve their governance and to be accountable for the funds that they receive. Although this call for better NGO governance is part of a worldwide “crisis of legitimacy” for NGOs, it has taken an urgent character in Palestine as there have been allegations of corruption brought upon Palestinian NGOs (Hammami, 2000). Responding to this crisis, the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) has worked on regulating the activities of NGOs in Palestine and their relations with the PNA by drafting the “Law of Charitable Associations, Social Societies and Private Institutions” (Allam Jarrar, 2005). NGOs, old and new, have to register at the Ministry of the Interior.
A Code of Conduct on Transparency and accountability in the Work of NGOs has been drafted by AMAN (Coalition for Integrity and Accountability or Min ajl al-Nazaha wa Almusa’aleh) with help from the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung/Foundation (KAS). The code was widely accepted and signed by over a hundred Palestinian NGOs in theWest Bank and Gaza.
The “Good Governance Certificate is one of Nazaha’s activities that is intended to contribute to the goal of enhancing transparency within the work of NGOs. To add an element of external oversight to the process, ForeignAID Ratings was invited to present the international experience in this field and to give technical guidance in creating a framework for a good governance certificate and to start a pilot project in conjunction with a task force of local NGOs assembled by AMAN.
1-1 Goal of the Nazaha Project (Good Governance Certificate)
The benefits of obtaining a good governance certificate for NGOs in Palestine include ensuring the continuation of the developmental role of Palestinian NGOs in building civil society. In addition, the good governance certificate will improve international credibility of the Palestinian NGOs, and international agencies will be less able to discriminate using corruption or lack of transparency as a reason for withholding funding to Palestinian NGOs. The entire process is seen in the context of corruption, the reduction of which in Palestine was a major impetus for the Nazaha Project, whereby it is expected that the good governance certificate will reduce corruption, and will strengthen accountability and transparency. Finally, the good governance certificate will be utilized as a pilot for awarding good governance certificates in other Arab countries.
2. SCOPE OF WORK
In order to prepare for the pilot program, AMAN conducted several workshops (13-18 August 2007) in Ramallah. The workshops were attended by Foreign Aid Ratings and a taskforce of Palestinian NGOs in addition to AMAN and Nazaha staff members. The workshop aimed at developing the framework for a certificate of good governance for Palestinian NGOs, and a work plan for the upcoming pilot project on a few Palestinian NGOs.
Foreign Aid Ratings presented the aim and rationale of the project, as well as the framework of the good governance certificate. During the workshop, an application form for certification was developed, as well as a list of the documents that the NGO will be required to submit with the application. In addition, the composition and qualifications of a technical team of experts that will review the documents was decided upon, and the process of site visits and interviewing key informants from NGO management and administration and beneficiaries was also decided. Furthermore, a methodology for scoring the performance of NGOs was developed based on the five domains of the ForeignAID Ratings NGO Star system. The framework for selecting a jury who will finally grant the certificate was put forth. It was agreed that an impartial nationally-recognized Palestinians would review the reports, prepared by the technical team, and scores taking into account the recommendations by the technical team, and award a certificate of good governance to the NGOs who meet the criteria confirmed. Finally, the criteria that must to be met by applicant NGOs, to be awarded the certificate, was developed.
3. NGO CERTIFICATION PILOT PROGRAM WORK PLAN
To improve governance, transparency and accountability of Palestinian NGOs, a framework for the pilot program of good governance certificate for NGOs in Palestine was developed including the following work plan:
Application to the good governance certificate by Palestinian NGOs
Revision of the application by the technical team
Site visit and interviews with key informants from the Board of Directors (BoD), executive committee, staff and beneficiaries
Analysis, scoring and report writing including sharing the draft report with the NGOs
Submission of the reports to the Jury, and
Award of good governance certificates.
The Palestinian NGOs that are eligible to be awarded the good governance certificate should be effective, sustainable and accountable. Effectiveness is measured by the relevance of outputs and outcomes to the stated mission of the NGO; and the socioeconomic and developmental impact of the NGO. Sustainability depends on the financial management of the NGO, growth of its revenues and institutional development. Institutional development, in turn, is determined by legal registration or incorporation in the country of operation, leadership and administrative infrastructure, and management of financial, technical and human resources. Accountability involves financial accounting, monitoring and evaluation of personnel and outputs for continuous quality improvement; community participation in planning, execution and monitoring and transparency. Transparency is achieved by proper reporting of activities and accounts through a public relations and information system and the ability of donors and beneficiaries to access reports.
4. PALESTINIAN NGO CERTIFICATION PILOT PROGRAM
4-1 In order to ensure that Palestinian NGOs are eligible for the good governance certificate according to this model, a questionnaire was developed and applied which included five major areas: (1) Institutional Development including legality and institutionalization, institutional leadership, human resources, procurement, strategic planning, documentation and filing system, (2) Socio-Economic Impact including relevance of the programs to local needs, how programs are developed, and monitoring and evaluation, (3) Financial Efficiency/ Health and Growth including financial and accounting systems, cost centers and projects cost allocations, and audits, (4) Accountability, Transparency, Reporting and Communication including communication of activities by media, internet, and print material, and records management and availability of records for public scrutiny, and (5) Sustainability including financial sustainability, revenues and in-house capacity.
4-2 AMAN developed a list of NGOs to be evaluated for the pilot project. The following NGO names were suggested, out of which 3 will be chosen for the pilot project:
1. Members of AMAN Coalition
MIFTAH
MUWATIN
Arab Thought Forum
Al-Mizan (Gaza)
Paltrade
2. Not members of AMAN Coalition
Center for Architectural Conservation - Riwaq
The Palestinian Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession - Musawah
4-3 The application form for good governance certificate was sent to the above-mentioned NGOs and others. Three NGOs volunteered for the pilot program, and those were:
Arab Thought Forum
Center for Architectural Conservation - Riwaq
The Palestinian Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession - Musawah
4-4 The pilot program commenced by The Technical Team reviewing the application form and the supporting documents submitted by the three NGOs. Documents included a copy of the registration at the interior ministry, internal administrative system, brochures and the last published financial report. After reviewing all the documents, the technical team informed the three NGOs that their institutions are suitable for the pilot program. Further documents, such as publications, evaluation reports, etc. were requested and studied before conducting the field visits
4-5 The three NGOs were visited individually. Meetings were held with staff, representatives from the Board of Directors as well as beneficiaries of each institution.
4-6 Individual reports, based on a comprehensive evolution of the institution and in accordance with the certificate’s requirements were drafted.
4-7 The draft reports were sent to the institutions for review, and second visits were conducted to discuss the evaluation for further clarification.. Scoring of the performance of the three NGOs was based on the five areas of the Foreign AID Ratings’ NGO Star model for evaluating NGOs. All three organizations earned more than (60 %) which is the minimum mark required for good governance.
4-8 The three reports were submitted to the Jury along with the score sheet.
4-9 The Jury, after studying the reports, decided to award the pilot program’s Good Governance Certificate to the three NGOs during AMAN’s Annual Conference held on 13 December 2007.
4-10 A final mission report was developed and submitted to AMAN. The report included recommendations for implementing the permanent program in the future which included the following:
² To continue conducting the comprehensive meetings, as in the pilot program, with the organization at the three levels: board of directors, executive director of the organization and key personnel, and a group of the beneficiaries or key stakeholders.
² To raise the minimum required score from 60 % to 70 %; raise the ceiling for the organizations to seek good governance and not only good management practices.
² To raise the scoring points allocated for the socio-economic impact and sustainability, as these two domains are the main reason organizations were established hence the degree of the effect of their programs on the target groups is of most importance. These domains also constitute a major part of good governance and accountability.
² To expand the document review to include all the documents mentioned in Annex 7 in the final report.
² To implement the good governance certificate process over two phases: the first phase should be solely for technical assessment; document review, scoring and holding meetings with the different focus groups and conducting interviews. The second phase includes jointly (whom??) developing a feasible realistic implementation plan for the organization to work on the recommendations of the technical committee. At the end of the second phase the technical committee would confirm the readiness of the NGO for receiving the good governance certificate and nominate it to the Jury that will make the final decision. (I believe that is what is written in the final report of ForeignAID Ratings.
² To specify a period of time for re-accreditation; this could be a period of three years.
² To develop a set of conditions which the organization needs to maintain after being awarded the certificate. Any violation of those conditions by the NGO should be reported and action taken by the Jury such freezing or withdrawing the certificate.
Technical Committee Members:
Jamileh Abed Project Director – AMAN Coalition
Ghada Zughaer Executive Director – AMAN Coalition
Shua’a Marrar Director General – Riyada Consulting and Training
Salam Kanaan Institutional Development Consultant – Riyada Consulting and Training
Jamal Milhem Executive Director – Talal Abu Ghazaleh and Partners International
Firas Abu Al Teen Financial and Administrative Consultant – Talal Abu Ghazaleh and Partners International
JURY:
Dr. Hanan Ashrawi; Parliament Member
Dr. Hadeel Qazzaz
Dr.Ali Jarbawi; Birzeit University
Dr.Sami Adwan; Bethlehem University
Copyright AMAN © 2007
