Corporate governance frameworks within South African-based non-governmental organisations in the human rights sector

Abstract

South Africa’s vibrant and growing civil society is often an important force in high profile legal matters on human rights, and has initiated multiple landmark cases to vindicate the rights contained in the South African Constitution. Unfortunately, the non-governmental sector is not immune from scandals and bad governance.

This mini-dissertation focuses on the role of governance frameworks within NGOs in the South African human rights sector, and how a framework can assist such organisations to achieve their human rights outcomes and to manage the internal and external dynamics within an organisation.

This research investigates to what extent NGOs in the human rights sector, based in South Africa, implement a corporate governance framework in their operations, and the effect the chosen framework has on the achievement of the organisation’s human rights objectives, and the impact it has on the organisation’s internal and external relationships.

The qualitative research in this mini-dissertation consists of small-scale in-depth interviews with key informants. The focus of the interview is the interviewee’s personal experience of the implementation of the corporate governance framework in the organisation.

The research showed that corporate governance frameworks are more than just compliance requirements. While compliance is important to ensure good governance within an organisation and secure more funding for the organisation, these frameworks can also assist to manage the power relationships that exist in an NGO.

NGOs that regularly review their governance frameworks are more readily able to respond to changes in their environment, and able to manage internal and external pressure. This allows an organisation to excel and effectively execute their mandate.