Downward accountability for Victoria's 'Black Saturday' bushfire recovery: Evidence from reports of government and NGOs

In the circumstances of a natural disaster recovery, as occurred following the destructive 2009 Victorian bushfires, downward accountability to beneficiaries by government authorities and non-government organisations (NGOs) gains heightened importance. The concept of downward accountability will go beyond formal reporting to embrace various forms of communication with, and empowerment of, disaster-affected individuals and communities. This study will provide a preliminary analysis of indicators of downward accountability in written reports of the Victorian Bushfire Reconstruction and Recovery Authority and five of the most active NGOs in the bushfire recovery effort. Results are presented and discussed on the scope and readability of accounting and other quantitative information, the existence of themes of closeness and empowerment in the narrative, and the 'audiencing' of photographs contained in the respective reports. Comparisons are drawn between the positioning of downward accountability by the government authority, the international humanitarian-oriented NGO and the four Christian-based NGOs. Likely differences in upward accountability to funders and internal accountability to the organisation's weltanschauung are discussed as overlapping factors that partially explain the apparent positioning of downward accountability.