The purposes of this paper are to explain the structure and the designing process of assessment system for “Excellence of Nonprofit”, and to discuss the role of assessment as a problem-solving measure. Firstly, we analyzed the current status of the NPO sector in Japan and identified considerable problems in relation to citizenship, social innovation and organizational management. Subsequently, we developed the structure and the procedure for designing the assessment system, and discussed these three problems through the developed procedure. Finally, we developed 33 standards with assessment tool. However, in order for the assessment system to functions as a vehicle for problem-solving, continuous analysis of the sector, discussion among stakeholders and revision of the assessment system are necessary.

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The seven necessary conditions for reliable nonprofit organizations (NPO) were put together through the discussions of NPO support center leaders across Japan. This guideline sets out the necessary organizational conditions through which nonprofit organizations, such as NPO corporations, can gain the trust of their beneficiaries and supporters, as well as society. The conditions were originally published in February 2004. This article reports on their historical background, process, contents, and an actual case study in Kumamoto Prefecture using the conditions as a method of self-evaluation for their training.

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Until mid 1990s, the Japanese NGOs were not keen on accountability initiatives. However, the rise in both the recognition of NGOs in the society, and the demand for social responsibility of all organizations, as well as the widely reported misuse of governmental subsidiary by NGOs lead the NGOs to see the clear need to take action on the issue. In 2002, JANIC, a network of NGOs, initiated a discussion on creating a framework for NGO accountability and composed the “Code of Conduct on NGO Accountability”. The code is a framework of 322 indicators structured using the following dimensions of: organizational management, project implementation,accounting, and public information In 2008. the “Accountability Self-Check 2008” was developed by amending the shortcoming of the previous code, reducing the amount of indicators and introducing a facilitator system to observe the self-assessment process. It is being promoted among JANIC member NGOs with the aim of enhancing both accountability awareness and the practice. With the aim of obtaining better reliability from the society, the system is planned to be revised to serve various type of NGO activities in addition to service delivery project type cooperation in the field, and to find ways to become part of organizational development practice.

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Government approved nonprofit corporations are automatically afforded preferential tax treatment in Japan. In contrast, recently institutionalized specified nonprofit corporations under the NPO law and the public interest corporation law are not afforded preferential tax treatment without acceptance of standards for public interest that are measured by citizen participation through donations or volunteers. This new system is remarkable for the Japanese tax system for nonprofit corporations since it is expected to exclude the discretion of the governing authority and to introduce citizens' valuation instead. However, the valuation of donations that is applied to nonprofit organizations under the NPO law has been amended seven times within ten years without sufficient verification, and the initial objective of the policy to promote citizen participation has been distorted. On the other hand, the valuation of volunteers is applied to the foundations and associations under the new public interest corporation law, but this valuation system has not been arranged yet. A unified accreditation system for the tax exempt status of nonprofit corporations should be established through cautious investigation of the effectiveness and influence of the system.

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Various approaches to participation in the formulation, implementation and evaluation of policy and programs have been introduced by cuttingedge local governments in Japan. An approach that involves people and various other stakeholders in the evaluation process has been widely discussed based on theory and methodologies of “participatory evaluation”. One characteristics of participatory evaluation is influence of stakeholders being involved in evaluation process on their perceptions and behaviors (=process use). This article discusses the effectiveness of such a participatory evaluation approach through a case study of actual participatory evaluation in local government. The impact of participatory evaluation has been observed in aspects such as the clarification of program objectives and content, program improvement, the degree of people's commitment and the reconsideration of policy issues. Among others, the effects of participatory evaluation on building a constructive relationship between local government and residents deserve special consideration. The process use of evaluation provides a constructive arena to amalgamate the public management interests of local government and the private interests of residents for self-actualization, which will eventually bring in more effective program formulation and implementation for both parties.

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With the growth of NGO/NPOs in Japan the public expectation of them has been also increasing. However, Japanese civil society lacks management capacity. Participatory evaluation is an approach to improve evaluation quality by involving stakeholders in the evaluation process. This paper examines how the participatory evaluation process strengthens projects, as well as management capacity. This is accomplished through facilitation work with some Japanese NGOs. This elucidates the process of management capacity building through reflection on their activities and administration, which brings empowerment and self-determination.

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This paper considers potentials and issues, promoting and hindering factors, and roles of civic organizations in introducing participatory evaluation to civil society under the assumption that participatory evaluation is an effective means of active citizen involvement in civil society in Japan. Major indicative findings are as follows: 1) the application of participatory evaluation can promote collaborative relationships between civic organizations and other major actors, and has merit for citizens, for example, with respect to access to information, empowerment, and awareness-raising; 2) legitimacy is an important factor for promoting the introduction of participatory evaluation in civil society; and 3) civic organizations are expected to establish systems to support citizen participation in evaluation. Key issues for future consideration are as follows: 1) the establishment of participatory evaluation criteria, indicators and guidelines focusing on the ways of collaboration among major actors is considered to be useful for its actual application; and 2) the development of the voluntary/civic sector built upon citizens' further understanding of the missions and roles of civic organizations is key to establishing a balance among the three sectors in achieving the development of civil society, and to citizen participation in decision making in the management of civil society.

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The goal of this paper is to examine the significance and functions of the policy evaluation conducted by NPOs. Chances for NPO to participate in the policy process are increasing with public budget pressures and a wave of civic participation. NPOs are being sought not just in policy implementation, but in all phases from proposal to evaluation.Using NPOs in external evaluation has been debated as a way to solve issues with internal assessment,including ensuring administrative transparency and evaluation objectivity, as well as the specialization of the evaluation. This paper makes the significance and functions of NPO evaluation clean as a political mechanism in regional management. This shift will encourage the move from administration-led regional management to regional management by civic participation.NPO accountability may be examined from two perspectives: one based on the evaluation process and the other on the system, organization, and activity patterns of the given NPO. In both cases, factors such as the aggressiveness (or lack thereof) or activeness (or lack thereof) of involvement and stance will determine the contents, nature, importance, and degree of accountability.Diverse accountability exists for NPOs involved in policy evaluation. Taking on diverse accountability (the object, contents, and nature of which vary) allows the validity of NPO involvement in policy evaluation to be guaranteed and the rationality of the result of that involvement to be secured.

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The purpose of this paper is to examine the project evaluation of collaborative activities between local government and Non Profit Organizations (NPOs), which is conducted as a part of administrative evaluation, and to re-question the present state of the evaluation work of collaborative activities by clarifying its policy structure from the viewpoints of NPOs and local communities respectively. Concretely, by giving meaning to the project evaluation of collaborative activities from the viewpoints of the policy structure of public administration and NPOs, this paper clarifies the characteristics of collaboration activities as subject of evaluation. In addition,without restricting the discussions to the project evaluation of collaborative activities itself, and by re-constructing a comprehensive policy structure from the viewpoint of public administration, NPOs and local communities,including collaborative activities as a part, this paper details the possibility of a role of evaluation on collaborative activities as a tool for reforming our society. Taking this approach also displays the state of the practical public sector. This kind of discussion on evaluation clarifies the potential of NPOs as a key role for collaborative activities and in the public sector.

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The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM), an international foundation of public-private partnership, was established in January 2002. The founding principles include: focusing on both prevention and treatment of the 3 diseases; providing additional fund; fostering country ownership, etc. As of September 2010, GFATM had approved 19.4 billion dollars in total for over 780 projects in 153 countries throughout the world.
In 2006, the GFATM Board approved 17.14 million dollar budget to implement the 5 year evaluation, and contracted with a consortium led by a US consulting firm. Under the oversight of the Technical Evaluation Reference Group (TERG), the evaluation focused on 3 overarching questions: (1) organizational efficiency and effectiveness; (2) effectiveness of the partner environment; (3) impact on reduction of the burden of 3 diseases. The 5 year evaluation revealed the effectiveness of the GFATM business model, as well as shortcoming such as lack of good quality data. TERG ensured quality of the evaluation.

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