| dc.description.abstract | Governance and accountability of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) have become
issues of concern in development discourse as the NGOs raise to positions of prominence
in delivery of public services and advocacy work. The role of NGOs in community
development; their relationship with donors, national governments, project and
programme beneficiaries, and the general public, is being interrogated by parties keen on
NGOs accountability to the latter entities. The purpose of this study was to examine the
influence of governance on accountability to stakeholders by NGOs in Kisumu
Municipality, Kenya. The objectives of this study were to assess the level at which and the
extent to which participation, rule of law, responsiveness, and efficiency-and-effectiveness
as elements of governance influence accountability to stakeholders. A descriptive survey
research design was used in this study and questionnaires were employed to collect
quantitative data in an attempt to answer the research questions. Using a structured
questionnaire, data were gathered from 96 NGOs in Kisumu Municipality on the various
aspects of corporate governance. Findings from the study indicated that regarding decision
on a project to be undertaken by the NGO, the donors and NGO staff members have the
greatest say at (48.7%) each, as reported by the participants of the study. Increased
participation of the beneficiary community is seen during planning of project activities
(53.9%); also (75.0%) of the respondents strongly agreed that the beneficiary community
is actively involved in implementing project activities. The test of hypothesis one (Ha)
showed a significant relationship between accountability -to stakeholders and participation
(p<0.029).F-test was also employed to test for- significance. The ANOV A performed
showed that there is significanfi~iociation between accountability to stakeholders and
efficiency-and-effectiveness (p<0.6""43).It was found out that having efficient and effective
systems and approaches in serving the project beneficiary community enhances
accountability to the stakeholders. The study concludes, among the stakeholders who
participate in decision-making, the strongest voice in regard to choice of project to be
undertaken by an NGO are those of the donors and the NGO staff. This study recommends
the following for policy and practice: synergy building among various NGOs stakeholders
in encouraging local community' participation in decision-making; inclusion in and
enforcement of an NGO Code of Conduct requirement that NGOs share financial
information with the beneficiary community, and improving ICT services as a means of
strengthening transparency. The study suggests future researches which are wider and
more qualitative to examine how government policies and NGO codes of conduct enhance
governance by NGOs. It also suggests that future studies should consider looking at other
components of the wider accountability concept such as legitimacy or complaints and
grievance mechanism and; evaluate how local community attitudes influence its
participation in governance and development activities of the NGO, and the resultant
influence on accountability of the NGOs to the beneficiary community. | en |
