Tuesday, 4 December 2007
UN Development Programme scores first in global accountability ranking

The UN’s development arm, UNDP, has been ranked first in a major report assessing the accountability of transnational actors. Joining UNDP in the top five were the UN Environment Programme and the UN World Food Programme.

The report, produced by the One World Trust, a British charity, evaluates the performance of 30 of the world’s most influential transnational organisations across four core dimensions of accountability: transparency, stakeholder participation, evaluation systems, and complaint and response mechanisms.

The report assesses three types of transnational actor: intergovernmental organisations, international non-governmental organisations, and transnational corporations. Bodies evaluated include the Asian Development Bank, the Council of Europe , Christian Aid, Human Rights Watch, General Electric and GlaxoSmithKline. The rankings are based on publicly available information, documents supplied by participating organisations and interviews with their officials, and input from key stakeholders.

The 2007 Global Accountability Report will be launched later today in Parliament by Lord Malloch-Brown, who before being appointed a minister in the Foreign Office served as UN Deputy Secretary-General and as the head of UNDP.

To download the report, or read about the One World Trust, click here