NGOs survive on public trust said Irene Khan, secretary general of Amnesty International one of the panelists at this year’s Edelman Trust Borometer Launch in London. Public trust in NGOs is high because the issues they work on resonate with the public said Khan. Following on from this year’s emphasis on the importance of peer-to-peer communication, Irene Khan added: NGOs are successful because they primarily consist of “people like you”.

According to The Edelman Trust Barometer 2007:

In many countries “conversations with friends and peers” is as trusted a source of information about a company as “articles in newspapers” or “television news coverage”. For example, within the nine European Union countries surveyed, 44% trust conversations with friends and peers while 33% trust newspapers.

Public trust in the NGOs in the BRIC countries: Brazil, Russia, India and China still remains lower than in the western world. Irene Khan put this down to the fact that NGOs in these countries do not always have the same accountability and transparency as elsewhere, sometimes NGOs in developing worlds are quasi government agencies she said.

Irene Khan talked about a new NGO Accountability Charter to be launched towards the middle of this year, hopefully this should help enforce a common standard around the world and increase trust in NGOs everywhere.

The Accountability Charter sets out core values and operating principles for international NGOs. These include good governance and management; fundraising and multi-stakeholder engagement. It also makes specific reference to respect for universal principles (such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights), independence, responsible advocacy, effective programmes, non-discrimination, transparency and ethical fundraising.

The Accountability Charter shows that international NGOs are, and are committed to remain, transparent and accountable, and merit the respect and support they have. All international NGOs — across different sectors — will be invited to sign-up to the Accountability Charter.