Third Sector Organisation Governance: Introducing the Themes and the Chapters

Abstract

In the World Bank ‘governance’ model, organisations that are neither part of the establishment nor created to distribute profi ts among the owners/members have vital roles to play in the economic, and political advancement of a country. These organisations are formed by people to offer a variety of services to themselves or to others or to advance a cause, but not to make money. They play a central role in public governance achieving and sustaining a prosperous economy and a just civil society. They are known variously as voluntary organisations, non-profi t organisations, Non-government organisations (NGOs), people’s organisations, community-based organisations, cooperatives and civil society organisations. Together they constitute a third sector, being separate from both government and business. While these third sector organisations’ (TSOs) importance in public governance is widely acknowledged, their sustainability is not guaranteed and depends to a large extent on the effectiveness and accountability of their own governance. The World Bank, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and many advocates of improved public governance in countries of the South pin a lot of hope on the capacity of civil society or the TSOs to hold governments accountable; for that to work, the former must model the attributes that are associated with good organisational governance. But what are such attributes? Is there a particular model of governance that if followed will ensure the virtues of transparency and accountability, as well as effective performance that the champions of civil society desire? Are TSOs similar to firms, so that models of good practice in the business world should be applied to them? And if governance implies a democratic rule, need the model of democracy followed be that of representative democracy—what of more participatory models? And if there is an ideal (or idealised) model of governance, is it widely followed, or widely ignored? This volume contains the first large-scale study of the practice of governance in third sector (or civil society) organisations in six countries in the most populous and the fastest growing region, Asia. The study entails current practices of TSO governance in the participating countries in order to document the variety of approaches adopted, to determine the