The Recognition System is used to publicly recognize International Non Governmental Organizations (INGOs) who use effective internal mechanisms to uphold their responsibility to various stakeholders and to the principle of ‘beneficiary first’. The system uses criteria developed by priority stakeholders to audit INGO applications for Recognition. Associate groups of people working in INGO recipient countries conduct validating social audits and maintain the Recognition System with the assistance of GlobalScale and other concerned organizations.

The Recognition System intends to alter the trust dynamic by provoking INGO practice that favors the beneficiary.

The Recognition System has been built on the notion of Trust. Where does it come from? How does an organization obtain it? How can an organization maintain it? What does it mean to an organization? Who needs to trust whom? These questions areas are covered in some detail in the ‘Trust in a System’ section

For the most part, the general public does not always trust governments or big business. Ordinary people believe these institutions look after themselves first or have an agenda that may be different than their own. International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs), on the other hand, have been inherently trusted. It has been understood that such organizations have a higher, moral cause. The people who work in these organizations are thought to look after others, often at the expense of their own comfort and safety. However, recent questions regarding corruption, mismanagement, abuse of public funding, and a general lack of global improvement, have shaken the foundation of trust upon which INGOs stand.

The Recognition System has been created with the understanding that INGOs with internal operations in place to uphold certain principles may very well be worthy of the trust placed upon them.

Over the last decade, the common perception of what an INGO does and is has become blurred. Initially, INGOs were seen as paternal entities, often in the form of missionaries or care givers. Recently, INGOs have taken on responsibilities and powers that were generally reserved for governing powers - powers that spoke on behalf of their own people. Today, INGOs can be groups of people from outside of a country, wielding great power within that country, speaking on behalf of people who do not know who the organization is, or who they represent. The decisions the organizations make every day effect people’s lives, the environment, cultures, livelihoods, and the development of the country, traditions, policy, and practice. How do the public back home, the program donors, the people who work for the organizations, and more importantly, the in-country people affected, know that the organization can be trusted to make the right decisions?

This is why the Recognition System is so important. People, animals, cultures, environments, and countries are at stake. The vulnerable, who have little voice or recognition in the world, currently have little choice but to trust these organizations.

It is our responsibility to ensure that the organizations representing the goodwill of many are making decisions that will benefit and answer to the needs and wants of the most vulnerable, that their presence is desired by the intended beneficiaries, and will not, in the short or long run, do them harm.