Accountability to Children and Communities in Consortia

The research is conducted by Charles Darwin University and Save the Children Netherlands to identify models of accountability in consortia to communities and to identify new models.

The study investigates the strengths and weakness of different models in development and humanitarian contexts. It is designed to provide explanations of how and why interventions work by identifying causal mechanisms that leads to desirable and undesirable outcomes. Additionally, it is focused on the perspectives of those offering aid, particularly in large INGOs.

The project used realist methodology, which is designed to provide explanations of how and why interventions work by identifying the generative causal processes that lead to outcomes, desirable and undesirable. Three research methods were used: a very rapid realist literature review, followed by a realist survey and case studies using realist interviews in Bangladesh, South Sudan and Nepal, conducted at the same time.

Where possible, evidence triangulated from each method was used to refine and/or generate the realist propositions.