Between Public and Private: Accountability in Voluntary Organisations

Abstract

Voluntary and community organisations have been at the forefront of recent attempts to make welfare services more effective and appropriate. It is often assumed that voluntary sector organisations bring greater levels of democracy and accountability to welfare regimes. This article considers the capacity of voluntary sector organisations to introduce greater accountability through an analysis of notions of trust, the multiplicity of interests, the distinction between process and task and between diversity and equity. It concludes by urging voluntary sector organisations to develop more rigorous and sophisticated conceptions of accountability in order to remain at the forefront of democratic innovation.