Ms Karen Jorgensen:

When we visit field stations in partner countries, we try to talk to as many as possible of the stakeholders involved in the development process. We meet representatives from local civil society and they very often inform us about the activities taking place. They work with international NGOs, church organisations and others and we do get a view from there. What is more important is that there is strong pressure globally for transparency, and this includes the NGOs. Coming out of the Busan conference, everyone agreed that we must be really transparent about what we do, and that includes NGOs. There is pressure to be transparent and it is in the interests of local civil societies and governments to know that. However, we do not want governments to be controlling NGOs because they need a certain space in which to operate. They should know what is going on and let the organisations get on with that work.