The Civil Society Legitimacy, Transparency and Accountability (LTA) programme is an effort to mainstream the legitimacy and transparency of CSOs and to build public trust in them by improving their individual and collective governance. It builds on past CIVICUS commitments to promote ethical practice and agreed codes of conduct for CSOs, including functional and effective CSO boards and other oversight mechanisms.

In March 2006, the revised version of a scoping report authored by Dave Brown of the Hauser Center for Non-profit Organisations at Harvard University and Jagadananda, "Civil Society Legitimacy and Accountability: Issues and Challenges", was completed and distributed to participants in various conferences and workshops held by the Hauser Center and CIVICUS. We expect that CIVICUS will publish the scoping report, with translation into other languages, in time for distribution to delegates at the 7th CIVICUS World Assembly in Glasgow, Scotland, in May 2007. Other materials are being collected and made available on the LTA Resource website which will be officially launched by March 2007.

The 2006 CIVICUS World Assembly exposed how important the topics of civil society legitimacy and accountability have become to civil society. A poll of delegates in the opening session identified "unaccountable leaders" as the most important problem facing the world today, and the keynote speaker (Mary Robinson of the Ethical Globalisation Initiative) remarked on the importance of accountability initiatives being highlighted at the Assembly. As a result, CIVICUS and the Hauser Center conducted a post-World Assembly workshop under the theme: 'Strengthening Civil Society Legitimacy and Accountability'.

CIVICUS and the Hauser Centre also co-organised a professional development session on LTA issues at The International Society for Third-Sector Research (ISTR) Conference in Bangkok in July 2006. CIVICUS presented the Civil Society Index (CSI) findings relating to LTA issues and due to the very positive feedback received for this initiative, the ISTR leadership proposed that the North America Association for Non-profit Sector Research (ARNOVA) invite CIVICUS to run the same workshop at their Conference in Chicago. This proposal was accepted, and in November 2006 the CIVICUS Assistant Secretary General - Programmes participated in the annual ARNOVA conference and presented in two sessions. There, he gave a presentation on the CSI approach and methodology, which led to an extensive and engaged discussion on the viability and pitfalls of comparative and participatory research on civil society.

2007 will see the LTA programme growing from strength to strength as CIVICUS makes it an imperative to help CSOs all over the world gain more and more legitimacy in the public arena through the development of sustainable and transparent systems of accountability.

Finn Heinrich
Assistant Secretary General - Programmes 2006