“The Accountability Principles of Research Organisations (APRO) report provides a framework for establishing accountability good practices and principles for policy-oriented research organisations working in developing countries. It discusses how One World Trust’s core principles of accountability – participation, transparency, evaluation and complaints handling – can be applied to research. In addition to providing arguments for both the ethical and instrumental need for accountability to a wide range of stakeholders, it also acknowledges the tensions and challenges that different organisations will face in formulating accountability principles.
By drawing on the experiences of sixteen research organisations, which reflect the diversity of evidence-producers in developing countries, the study identified a series of key processes common to most research organisations. For each process, it illustrates the opportunities that exist for research organisations to apply the principles of accountability to interactions with their stakeholders.
The next stage of the APRO project will be to work with partner research organisations to develop, refine and test the accountability guidelines.”
