Innovative Edge Session: The Pledge for Change Accountability and Learning Mechanism

At the RINGO Learn­ing Fes­ti­val in 2022, RINGO Lab mem­ber Isabel­la Jean (the Idea Car­ri­er) shared key learn­ings from devel­op­ing and test­ing the inno­va­tion:  The Pledge for Change Account­abil­i­ty and Learn­ing Mech­a­nism

How might we design a sys­tem that also holds INGOs and donors account­able to the local/national CSOs they sup­port or part­ner with?

This pro­to­type seeks to demon­strate a bot­tom-up cre­ative and inclu­sive account­abil­i­ty and learn­ing mech­a­nism, with the inno­v­a­tive Pledge for Change as the test­ing ground. The Pledge, con­vened by Adeso in Kenya, brings togeth­er lead­ers from large INGOs to devel­op prin­ci­ples and pub­lic pledges to decolonise their organ­i­sa­tions and influ­ence the wider aid sys­tem. The pledges demon­strate a mutu­al com­mit­ment towards build­ing a stronger aid ecosys­tem based on prin­ci­ples of sol­i­dar­i­ty, humil­i­ty, self-deter­mi­na­tion and equal­i­ty. The focus is on changes required from inter­na­tion­al “pow­er hold­ers”: 1) Equi­table Part­ner­ships; 2) Authen­tic Sto­ry­telling; 3) Influ­enc­ing the Wider Sec­tor.

The pro­to­type is devel­op­ing and test­ing a local­ly-led learn­ing and account­abil­i­ty equa­tion and redress­es pow­er imbal­ances in the sec­tor. Whilst being cre­at­ed for the Pledge for Change, this mod­el will have broad­er applic­a­bil­i­ty to demon­strate new and inno­v­a­tive account­abil­i­ty mech­a­nisms and process­es that go beyond con­ven­tion­al meth­ods.

Watch the record­ing of the Inno­v­a­tive Edge ses­sion here: