Audits and Accountability in Non-Governmental Organizations

Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) are becoming increasingly important as providers of development assistance in the Global South. As these organizations are gaining in importance, accountability concerns have grown. NGOs are considered to be accountable to a range of stakeholders, including funders, foreign governments where work is being performed, and the local communities being served. In spite of these concerns, there has been little research on the effectiveness of specific accountability mechanisms. This study empirically tests one such mechanism, the Single Audit, required by the United States\u27 government for organizations that receive federal grant funding. Unfortunately, it is found the results of the Single Audit have no effect on future funding decisions of USAID. This study only tests one accountability mechanism, and further research is necessary to understand both the uses and limitations of the Single Audit, as well as the effectiveness of other accountability mechanisms

Ask What Your Country Can Do For You: Social Spending and Satisfaction with Democracy in Latin America

Past research on social policy in Latin America has primarily focused on how each countries\u27 policies were formed, the institutional framework that bred the policies, or the economic constraints that necessitated certain reforms. Little work has been done to examine the effects those policies have had on the populace. This thesis attempts to determine if there is a relationship between social spending and satisfaction with democracy. The research takes two forms. First I present case studies of Brazil, Ecuador, and Venezuela. The second is an ordered logit hierarchical linear model utilizing survey responses from the 2005 Latinobarometer survey. In total 18 countries are analyzed. Both the case studies and the hierarchical linear model indicate that a country\u27s overall social spending has very little effect on a citizen\u27s satisfaction with democracy. However, citizens\u27 satisfaction with their access to healthcare and education are major determinants of satisfaction with democracy in Latin America. This would suggest that social policy does matter to Latin Americans, but that more important than social spending is how those policies are directly impacting the lives of the citizens