Systems of Accountability, Webs of Deceit? Monitoring and Evaluation in South African NGOs

Abstract

International requirements that non-governmental organizations (NGOs) adopt systems of monitoring, evaluation and reporting for their funded development work are generating surprising effects. Although such systems were introduced to enhance the accountability of NGO staff and to better guide implementation, her research in South Africa suggests that they often foster fear and deceit, resulting in systemic distortions of information and limited improvements of projects and their implementation.