Accountability Principles for Research Organizations / Principes de responsabilité pour des organismes de recherche

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    Accountability Principles for Research Institutes: On-line Forum Report, Feb-Mar 2008
    (2008) Whitty, Brendan
    The on-line forum which invited responses to the questions: (1) To whom are research organisations in developing countries accountable? (2) What is the nature of their accountability? This paper summarises the responses to the questions. The forum participants drew on their own experience and that of their research to propose the existence of a number of “ideal types” of research organisation, each of which has its own stakeholder profile. Acknowledging, however, that the diversity of research organisations defies easy classification, the participants teased out some of the dilemmas facing research organisations in defining and balancing the demands and level of engagement to different groups of stakeholders. They also proposed accountability mechanisms and approaches by which research organisations can best resolve these dilemmas.
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    Accountability of Innovation - A literature review, framework and guidelines to strengthen accountability of organisations engaged in technological innovation
    (2010-02) Whitty, Brendan; Gersten, Julie; Poskakukhina, Yulia
    Technological advances in fields such as health care, food security and clean energy offer vital solutions to the chronic problems facing human society today. Innovation is a key element of progress and improvement in the quality of life of people across the world. Yet since the Second World War there has been a significant change in the understanding of how technological innovation happens, and how technological innovation in different sectors can be improved. Literature and practice reveals in particular a growing awareness of the need when innovating to take into account a wider group of stakeholders, including the users, as well as a range of social, economic and cultural factors. It is vital therefore to be much more widely accountable and responsive. This paper synthesises some of the most important lessons learned arising from this new understanding of innovation, and provides a framework of accountability for organisations engaged in technological research and development. The guidelines focus on supporting organisations to become more effective, while simultaneously ensuring that they adhere to ethical standards in their innovation. Working towards principles of accountability in the innovation process including engagement with external stakeholders, evaluation, and communicating with them, helps to ensure their ongoing cooperation, acceptance and productive use of often complex technological and scientific innovations beyond the narrow group of experts. Starting from a literature review, the paper presents a set of guidelines which are designed to assist a research manager reflect on their accountability. It provides options and principles, rooted in the literature, which can help them address the processes and consider organisational change. The briefing paper is accordingly split into three main parts. The first articulates a theory of accountability, distinguishing between accountability which serves an ethical purpose and accountability which makes an organisation more effective. The second covers the literature addressing the new understanding of innovation, and analyses it for the relevance to accountability. The third part offers a set of guidelines, structured around distinct processes common to most organisations – strategic planning, project identification and design, conducting the research, and then concluding the research process.
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    Who do you work for? Establishing a better match between justifications of research and effective accountability to claimed beneficiaries
    (2008-05) Johnson, Carolina; Whitty, Brendan; Hammer, Michael
    Evidence based policy making relies on sound research. Yet while the policy making processes are themselves increasingly under scrutiny, little work has been done so far on the accountability of the research organisations that significantly inform and influence public policy. This paper explores the accountability of research organisations from all sectors triggered by their claims to work on behalf of particular groups of beneficiaries, and the challenges to operationalise these in a way that is meaningful to the people eventually affected by the policy implications of the research. It finishes by challenging those organisations that claim to work on behalf of very widely defined, hard-to-identify or inaccessible constituencies to be more rigorous and transparent about the way they propose to engage with these groups. The aim of this work is to help address accountability gaps that may harm the legitimacy of important research and the validity of its results, reducing the overall impact and effectiveness of a wide range of research organisations, including from civil society, in the public policy process.
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    Stretched in all directions: The demands, pulls and pressures acting on policy research organisations
    (2008-01) Whitty, Brendan
    This paper introduces some of the common demands and accountability relationships placed on policy-relevant research organisations, such as university research centres, think tanks, human rights organizations and others. The project explored policy communities working in the fields of agricultural science and governance in three countries: India, the Philippines, and Kenya. It questions and explores who generates information used for policy decision-making in developing countries, what demands are made on them, and by which stakeholders.
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    Addressing accountability in NGO advocacy: Practice, principles and prospects of self-regulation
    (2010-03) Hammer, Michael; Rooney, Charlotte; Warren, Shana
    Based on a world-wide survey of civil society self-regulatory initiatives, this paper examines how non-governmental organizations (NGO) have begun to address the accountability challenges they face when engaging in advocacy, and explains some of the strengths and weaknesses of existing self-regulation. The briefing identifies a set of initial good practice principles for advocacy organisations for each major dimension of accountability. Questions and concerns about whether an organisation indeed contributes to the public benefit have often been confused with the issue of how to assess and measure the impact of particular policy advocacy activities.
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    Accountability framework for technological innovation
    (2010-02) Whitty, Brendan
    To become accountable, research managers of organizations conducting R&D must identify and balance the interests of a range of stakeholders. This brief identifies paths and strategies to guide research managers through difficult decisions. Accountability processes need to be embedded in day-to-day functioning and the culture of the organization. Researchers face multiple tensions and choices: whose interests are priorities? What is relevant to the beneficiaries? Are donor agendas aligned with the beneficiaries and/or the researchers organizations? This brief aims to analyze frameworks for accountability and addresses important how-to questions.
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    Accountability principles for research organisations : final technical report; the journey
    (One World Trust, GB, 2012-02) Hammer, Michael
    Evidence is critical in the formulation and communication of public policy. Policy-oriented research reflects not only a government’s or intergovernmental organization’s recognition of issues, and potential ways to address them, but also determines flows of public funds, progress on a range of connected policy issues, and the shape and form of programs that affect peoples’ lives. The final framework for accountability processes promotes principles of accountability most useful for informing the structuring of relationships with stakeholders, such as duties that may arise in explicit and tacit relationships, and measuring openness to change and innovation rather than ‘performance.’
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    Accountability Principles for Research Organisations (APRO), phase II : putting the principles into practice
    (One World Trust, London, GB, 2009) One World Trust
    This one-page brief outlines the objectives of Accountability Principles for Research Organizations (APRO) to improve the accountability of research organisations working in developing countries. This can be achieved by testing practical processes and tools derived from the first phase of APRO, building their credibility, and disseminating them amongst research organisations thereby facilitating their uptake. The first phase of APRO formulated a framework which views accountability through four key principles: transparency, participation, evaluation and feedback management.
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    Accountability principles for policy oriented research organisations : a guide to the framework and online database
    (One World Trust, London, GB, 2011) Hammer, Michael; Whitty, Brendan
    After years of empirical research and collaborative engagement with a wide variety of organisations, the accountability framework supports research organisations’ ability to respond, in a structured way, to the challenges of increasing attention and demands for accountability. The Accountability Principles for Research Organisations (APRO) explores the meaning and use of concepts of accountability among organisations that conduct research which are influential in the formation of public policy. The accountability framework identifies core principles, work processes and types of stakeholders that are relevant to all policy-oriented research organisations.
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    Accountability principles for research organisations : toolkit
    (One World Trust, London, GB, 2008) Whitty, Brendan
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    Accountability principles for research organisations
    (One World Trust, London, GB, 2008) Whitty, Brendan
    The book encompasses motivations for organisational accountability, drawing on four central principles of: participation, evaluation, transparency, and feedback. It explores the tensions and constraints facing different types of organisations. For research organisations, it describes key stakeholders who should be consulted; it reviews key methods which will enable a research organisation to be more accountable, and discusses practical issues and tensions in their implementation. The study develops an ‘ideal’ holistic set of principles for accountability based on principles and arguments of effectiveness, both the normative and instrumental justifications for accountability.