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Accountability

You have seen the word “efficiency” in many of our resources but wonder what it really means? You need the definition of a word for a reference? Please find below a complete glossary of organizational assessment.  With over 100 definitions available, this glossary should help you clarify the terms you need to understand organizational assessment in a comprehensive manner. You can find the words either by searching alphabetically or by selecting the exact word you are looking for in the list.


Accountability

Obligation to demonstrate that work has been conducted in compliance with agreed-upon rules and standards or to report fairly and accurately on performance results vis a vis mandated roles and/or plans. This may require a careful, even legally defensible, demonstration that the work is consistent with the contract terms. Note: Accountability in development may refer to the obligations of partners to act according to clearly defined responsibilities, roles and performance expectations, often with respect to the prudent use of resources. For evaluators, it connotes the responsibility to provide accurate, fair and credible monitoring reports and performance assessments. For public sector managers and policy-makers, accountability is to taxpayers/citizens.

All definitions are taken from the following source: 
OECD - Development Assistance Committee Network on Development Evaluation. (2002). Glossary of Key Terms in Evaluation and Results-Based Management. 40 pp.

This glossary is also available in French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, Italian, Japanese, Kiswahili, Russian, Swedish, and Turkish at the following website: http://www.oecd.org/.

The definition of terms followed by an asterisk symbol (*) was either slightly modified for simplicity reasons or was taken from:
Lusthaus, C., Adrien, M.-H., Anderson, G., Carden, F. & Montalván, G. P. (2002). 
Organizational Assessment: A Framework for Improving Performance. 210 pp.

The book can be read, downloaded or even ordered at the following website http://www.idrc.ca/.

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