Global Accountability Week Ends – Our Work is Only Beginning
BCSDN celebrated the Global Accountability Week form the 1st till the 4th of October together with our counterparts on national level and with our partners on the global civil society scene. The Global Accountability Week seeks to gather civil society organizations around the world to promote how we are accountable to our constituencies but also aims to put the topic of accountability at the forefront of civil society development by promoting of our standard for work and ethics.
BCSDN as a member of an initiative called the Global Standard for CSOs Accountability has been promoting the dynamic approach to accountability where the people and organizations we represent are driving our agenda and are represented in all levels of what we do. We have been investing in our own accountability through learning from our partners and members in the last couple of years. We have adopted our Code of Conduct last year and have created an accountability framework that will allow us to actually test how accountable we are all in the spirit of learning and improving.
We as an organization have decided to celebrate this Week by active contribution to improving our own accountability and by supporting our members and Partners to do so as well.
BCSDN internal development
BCSDN has started conducting a Diversity and Inclusion audit this week. As part of the CIVICUS new initiative DIGNA we have been selected as one of the pilot organization where a Diversity and Inclusion audit will be conducted. It will be a process that will provide recommendation and a plan for improvement in the areas that will be identified as issues to be improved. It has been an existing start towards the implementation of our Code of Conduct where we will look into our policies ensuring diversity and inclusion in governance but also in how we work with others.
Code of Standards in Albania
On 26 September 2019, “Strengthening accountability, transparency, and sustainability of civil society organizations – Code of Standards for CSOs” event was organized in Tirana, Albania. The event was organized by Partners Albania for Change and Development and National Resource Centre for Civil Society in Albania where the Global Standard for CSOs Accountability was discussed together with our Code of Conduct and the path we took in creating it. The need and the plan for a National Code of Conduct was the focus of this that brought together about 55 representatives of CSOs, international agencies and donors in Albania. This event was the first of a several of meetings and other activities that will be organized in the forthcoming period aiming to contribute to the increase of accountability and transparency of civil society sector. We are excited that BCSDN Code of Conduct will be one of the basis for consultations for National Code of Conduct in Albania.
Global Standard for CSOs Accountability and AGNA Network
BCSDN is also a proud member of the Global Standard for CSOs Accountability initiative and the AGNA Network the leads in the Global Accountability Week Celebration. We invite our partners, members and interested parties to follow the website and social media of the Standard as resources for learning and best practices around the world.
We also invite you to follow us and participate in our work! Let’s #BeAccountable Together.
Ilina Neshikj