We provide tailor-made, accountability-focused consultancy services to organisations from across

the non-governmental, public,  intergovernmental and corporate sectors. Our services include:

• detailed assessments of an organisation's accountability policies, procedures and practices

• training on specific areas of accountability such as transparency, participation, learning and complaints handling

• advisory services to assist in developing and implementing accountability reform

• facilitation and engagement of internal and external stakeholders in processes of accountability reform, including strategy, planning, policy, project and programme evaluation

In all that we do, our aim is to enable you to achieve your mission and purpose, while helping you address accountability challenges and questions that you may face. To locate and position you in relation to peers and general trends, we can provide sectoral studies that identify benchmarks, good practice and opportunities for learning.

As part of this work, we also assist funders, investors, and public bodies in understanding the accountability of organisations they support.
 
Have a look around our website to get to know us and what we do.  If you like what you see, please contact us and see how our expertise can fit your needs.

Some recently completed consultancies:

Client: World Vision International

Project: Performance Framework for Evaluation – Implementation Plan

Date: Current

We are conducting a review of World Vision’s existing Quality Assurance Framework for Haiti, revising it into a global World Vision performance framework for emergencies and develop an implementation plan that will make the framework operational, delineate roles and responsibilities and better ensure that World Vision meets its humanitarian commitments. 

Client: Commonwealth Secretariat

Project: Domestic and Mutual Accountability for Aid: Building Stronger Synergies

Date: March 2010- March 2011

This consultancy involved three country case studies, in Malawi, Cameroon and Tonga. The aim of the case studies was to understand better the linkage between mutual accountability and domestic accountability. In particular, it sought to understand how the domestic accountability context influenced the mutual accountability relationship between donor and government, while also understanding how the mutual accountability relationships influenced the domestic context.

Client: Disasters Emergency Committee

Project: Accountability Priority Assessment Validation

Date: December 2010– May 2011

We provided accountability services to the UK's Disasters Emergency Committee. 

Client: European Parliament’s Committee on Budgetary Control

Project: Financing of Non-Governmental Organisations from the EU Budget

Date: July- November 2010

In collaboration with consultants Blomeyer and Sanz, and the Centre for Strategy and Evaluation Services, an assessment was conducted of the effectiveness and transparency of the European Commission’s cooperation with NGOs. Drawing on stakeholder interviews, survey findings and case studies of other IGOs, the report produced a series of recommendations of ways in which the EC could improve its relationship with NGOs.

Client: Amnesty International UK

Project: AI UK report external review

Date: Oct 2010

We undertook an external accountability review of the process by which the Amnesty International UK Annual Report was conducted, based on interviews with AI UK staff.

Client: Bond

Project: Effectiveness frameworks review

Date: August 2010

We conducted a review of effectiveness frameworks in operation around the globe, exploring successes and challenges they experienced in their implementation. This led to us compiling a set of recommendations for Bond to use in developing their own framework.

Client: NGO Voluntary Organisations in Cooperation in Emergencies (VOICE)

Project: Accountability Training

Date: May 2010

We ran accountability training workshops introducing participants in the concepts, debates and different initiatives and frameworks concerning accountability. Furthermore, we introduced tools to strengthen accountability and the potential challenges to their implementation, and allowed participants to develop approaches for their organisations in complaints handling and participation. 

Client: Independent Evaluation Office, International Monetary Fund (IEO, IMF)

Project: IMF engagement with parliamentarians 

Date: May 2009

We analysed IMF engagement with parliamentarians through in-depth interviews in three case study countries in order to assess the quality of IMF engagement and provide recommendations for its improvement. Our work contributed to a wider evaluation of IMF interactions with member countries and enabled the IEO to address how the IMF engages with the elected representatives of global citizens.

Client: Department for International Development, Afghanistan (DFID A)

Project: State-building umbrella programme/multi-donor trust fund 

Date: March - June 2009

We helped to design an umbrella programme funding vehicle to deliver state-building funding for DFID A. This involved a wider process of consultation with a range of Afghan stakeholders, and addresses the priorities of DFID A, the government of Afghanistan and the needs of civil society while at all times keeping in mind the highly politicised and sensitive context. Drawing on experience in Afghanistan and expertise in statebuilding and aid effectiveness principles,  we were tasked to design the governance mechanisms and to plot the feasibility of evolving the mechanism into a multi-donor trust fund. 

Client: Oxfam GB – Horn, Eastern and Central Africa Regional Office
Project: Increasing communities’ involvement in programme governance

Date: April 2008 – Feb 2009

We worked with Oxfam GB programme teams in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea and Uganda to strengthen beneficiary participation in monitoring, reflection and learning processes and programme governance more broadly.  This involved focus groups and face to face interviews with beneficiaries and field staff to explore current levels of accountability, areas for improvement and barriers to progress.  Key outputs were a toolkit for programme managers on how to involve beneficiaries in monitoring reviews, a report detailing recommendations on how to increase the accountability of programme governance to beneficiaries, and a two day training for programme managers on increasing downward accountability

Client: Cordaid
Project: Review of Cordaid’s accountability structures and practices

Date: Feb 2008 – Feb 2009

We conducted an accountability review for Cordaid to identify ways in which it can strengthen policies, procedures and practices of accountability to key stakeholders, including staff, institutional donors, private donors and southern partners. More information

Client: Organisations for Economic Cooperation and Development - Development Assistance Committee (OECD-DAC)
Project: State-building in fragile situations – how can donors ‘do no harm’ and maximise their positive impact?

Date: October - November 2008

We were engaged for a project formulating principles for international donors on how they can do no harm in fragile situations, the One World Trust conducted the research and fact-finding phase in Afghanistan, as well as analysed the data and presented the synthesis of the cross-country study. The study included wide-ranging consultations within Afghanistan, running a workshop including civil society, govenrment and Parliamentary actors, and drawing key findings from a complex and highly sensitive international intervention.

Client: Christian Aid
Project: Accompany and facilitate Christian Aid’s self-assessment of its accountability to priority stakeholders

Date: March – June 2006

We facilitated the review of Christian Aid’s accountability mechanisms, identified ways and means of maximising their potential, and recommended options for plugging critical gaps in the organisation’s accountability to its priority stakeholders. 

Client: British Red Cross
Project: Training on accountability

Date: Nov 2008

We provided a one day introductory training course to UK and international managers in the British Red Cross on the importance of and how to realise accountability to beneficiaries.

Client: Directorate-General Internal Policies of the Union, European Parliament
Project: Study on the effectiveness and efficiency of the code of conduct for Members of the European Commission

Date: March - May 2009

Working in collaboration with Blomeyer and Sanz and the Center for Strategy and Evaluation Services, this consultancy provided the European Parliament’s Committee on Budgetary Control and the Committee on Constitutional Affairs with an independent evaluation of the current Code of Conduct applicable to Members of the European Commission.  The focus of the work was specifically on the effectiveness and efficiency of the Code’s conflict of interest regime and drew on the experiences and lessons learnt from ethics regimes in other IGOs such as the World Bank and UNDP, and EU Member States.

Client:   Child Helpline International
Project:   Toolkit on good governance and accountability

Date: April - Aug 2007

We developed a toolkit for Child Help Line International, an international nongovernmental organisation, that identified good practice principles for governance and board accountability for its member organisations worldwide.  More information

Client:   Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)
Project:   Independent Review of ICANN’s Accountability and Transparency – Structures and Practices

Date: Jan – March 2007

We conducted research into the accountability and transparency structures and practices of ICANN.  As well as encompassing ICANN’s Supporting Organisations, Advisory Committees and staff, the review also covered the decision-making and selection processes of the Board of Directors, and investigated alternative board models that strengthen stakeholder involvement in governance. More information

Client: OSI Think Tank Fund

Project: An Evaluation of Policy Research Institutes in Eastern Europe

Date: October - November 2005

We conducted an evaluation of the capacity and performance of a select group of public policy institutes in Bulgaria and Slovakia.

Client: Care International

Project: Compliance with accountability-related policies

Date: June - August 2009

We worked with CARE International to design a compliance system for its recently developed Humanitarian Accountability Framework (HAF). The consultancy involved mapping roles and responsibility for ensuring compliance with the HAF and identifying existing processes and reporting lines that could support compliance. Key outputs were a scoping report and three self-assessment toolkits to support national offices in their compliance with HAF benchmarks.

Client: Free University, Otto-Suhr-Institut for Political Sciences
Project: Evaluating international influences on democratic development

Date: May - December 2008 

The One World Trust team was contracted to co-author a case study addressing the influences of external actors on democratic development in Afghanistan. This case study offerd a comparative perspective between Afghanistan and a range of other case studies on post-conflict democratisation processes. More information