Apparently, as the power of unions has been declining in the past few decades Non Government Organisations (NGOs) have grown and surpassed them to become the eigth largest economy in the world worth about $1 trillion per year. They spend $15 billion on R&D and employ 19 million paid workers.
So who is watching the NGOs and to whom are they accountable to ? Among the issues discussed in this excellent article by Peter-Hall Jones on Public Services International entitled "The rise and rise of NGOs" are the definition of an NGO (apparently the Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation qualifies), their links to unions, their funding by governments (any potential conflicts of interest here?) and the outsourcing of government services to NGO's.
Nevertheless, although working for the common good is necessary, it is not sufficient to absolve them from scrutiny. The issue of control and accountability should be applied also to the NGO sector, as we do to Governments and public companies.
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