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When: 19th-21st, December 2022 (arrival at venue on 18th Dec 2022)
Where: Umerkot, Sindh
Language: Urdu and English
Interested Applicants: Click here to register
Last Date to Apply: 5th-Dec-2022 (incomplete applications will not be entertained)

Training Objectives: Through this training, you will be able to:

  • Identify the key Q&A initiatives and their tools to support Project Cycle Management
  • Select and adapt existing Q&A tools and resources to overcome challenges throughout the Project Cycle
  • Outline the opportunities and challenges faced by humanitarian workers in implementing Q&A approaches and tools throughout the project cycle
  • Identify means by which you and your colleagues can collaborate and coordinate with other agencies to improve the quality and accountability of a humanitarian response
  • Introducing and mainstreaming quality and accountability mechanisms through the organisation

Training Purpose

The impact of humanitarian work on communities depends greatly upon the quality of services and accountability of actions both during emergency and non-emergency times. With millions of people affected by disasters and conflicts, the importance of Quality & Accountability (Q&A) is undeniable. The effective implementation of Core Humanitarian Standard on Quality and Accountability (CHS) requires a commitment to build institutional and individual capacity of people engaged in designing and implementing humanitarian as well as development projects.

Community World Service Asia (CWSA) aims to ensure that all relevant agencies including NGOs, INGOs, UN, donors, universities and government agencies, playing an active role in the disaster response & rehabilitation are given the opportunity to implement Quality and Accountability approaches and tools in their work.

Number of Participants

  • 20-25 participants will be selected for the training. Women and staff belonging to ethnic/religious minorities are encouraged to apply.
  • Preference will be given to participants representing organizations working in Umerkot and surroundings.

Selection Criteria

  • You have experience in managing a key position
  • You have an idea about the Q&A initiatives
  • You are interested in introducing Q&A mechanisms in your organisation
  • You have a ‘good enough’ command of English.

Fee Details

  • Training fee for each participant is PKR 10,000. Fee concessions and scholarships are available for participants belonging to marginalised groups and NGOs with limited funding.
  • No TA/DA will be given to participants and travel expenses will be incurred by participants themselves.

REGISTER NOW!

Community World Service Asia (CWSA) is a humanitarian and development organization, registered in Pakistan, headquartered in Karachi and implementing initiatives throughout Asia. CWSA is member of the Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS) Alliance, a member of Sphere and their regional partner in Asia and also manages the ADRRN Quality & Accountability Hub in Asia.

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Date and time

Friday, December 9, 2022, 9:30 AM – 12:00 PM Thailand Time

Location

Rembrandt Hotel & Suites Bangkok

We know the bad news of structural constraints in the sector, but what about the successes? This conference features reflections on how we deliver aid despite the obstacles.

Join us at the ‘Beyond Despair’ Regional Humanitarian conference marking the launch of the annual Regional Humanitarian Partnership Week 2002 (RHPW) in Bangkok this December.

Reserve your spot here:  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/beyond-despair-tickets-453931410067

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The death toll from the Pakistan floods is now recorded at 1,700, with over 33 million people affected. Quoted as the ‘tenth costliest’ disaster in a decade with some areas still under flood water which could possibly take a few more months to recede. Areas where flood waters have receded, the needs of children and women are becoming more and more urgent and critical. Malnourished, hungry children are struggling to fight against malnutrition, diarrhea, malaria, dengue fever, typhoid, acute respiratory infections, and painful skin conditions.

Millions of agrarian communities have lost their homes and livelihoods and have no access to food, shelter, or clean drinking water.

Community World Service Asia, with the support of its partners, is on the ground in Pakistan, providing immediate support to some of the most hard-hit and remote flood-affected communities.

Our response is currently focused in four districts of Sindh, the province most severely hit by the disaster. We have deployed seven Mobile Health Units (MHUs) that are operational across Mirpurkhas, Matiari, Umerkot and Khairpur.

The Mobile health Units are providing curative and preventive health care through experienced and trained health and medical practitioners to flood-affected communities living in temporary shelters and camps as well as communities that are currently hard to reach due to stagnant flood-water.  The most common illnesses reported at the MHUs since its operations are skin diseases, diarrhea, malaria, eye infections, and more. We are also conducting health awareness sessions on common diseases found in the area such as scabies, malaria, diarrhea, Acute Respiratory Infection (ARI), hepatitis C as well as on family planning, malnutrition, maternal and neonatal care.

CWSA’s Emergencies teams are closely working with government health departments to identify areas and communities who are still left unreached. Further needs assessments and participants selection is underway with the engagement of affected communities for our cash support projects which will also start implementation shortly.

28,007 Flood affected people reached through MHUs

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Twenty-five year-old Vadhri of Rohiraro rarely leaves home. Even though her village is just sixty kilometres southeast of Umerkot, she has not been to town for a couple of years. She may have had some liberty had her husband been alive, but since his death in 2018, she has been under the constant watch of her meddlesome, overbearing father-in-law.

Vadhri’s husband was a maker of the famous farasi (camel and goat hair carpet) of Sindh. Working ten hours a day, seven days a week, he made around PKR 4000 a month (Approx. USD 20). Though it was a pittance for the masterful work he was doing, he kept at it but remained perpetually in bondage to the middleman who provided him the required materials for the product. To this loan shark he was obligated to sell his produce at a price set by the buyer. That, it goes without saying, was considerably lower than the market price. Like hundreds of other Meghwar men engaged in this craft in Umerkot, he was too poor to procure the materials and become independent of the exploitation.

What little time he got, he laboured in the five-acre plot of land he owned in the village. Long years ago, when his father was a young man, rains were timely and plentiful and this holding provided the family with sufficient food for the year. But things had changed and now there were years when rains failed and he lost what he had invested in his land.

Meanwhile, even the priceless and exquisitely beautiful farasi was going out of fashion. Once a prized adornment in any self-respecting Sindhi home, its demand dwindled and craftsmen turned to other professions. Vadhri’s husband resolved to become a driver. From what he knew, that was a line of good and regular income. But to be a driver he did not have to go to school. All that was needed was to attach himself to a vehicle as helper to the driver.

The rules for this apprenticeship are that he was to clean the vehicle, fetch the master his cup of tea and food and be much like a slave. The master considering he was doing the apprentice a favour by teaching him a valuable skill, did not pay any salary. And so from being a slave to the farasi middleman and making a meagre living, the man became a slave to the driver without a salary.

Over time, he was permitted to do a little bit of reverse and forward practice in the village. But before he could actually master the skill, misfortune struck. On a journey perched precariously atop some baggage on a desert road, the vehicle he was riding struck an unseen speed breaker. The jolt threw the poor man onto the road where he quickly gave up his ghost because of a head injury. He was barely twenty-five years old.

Vadhri was left alone to fend for herself and her three little children. It was just as well that she was a skilled embroiderer of the prized Sindhi cap. But she too was in bondage to the buyer who supplied her the materials and purchased each complete piece for PKR 800 (Approx. USD 4). It took Vadhri a week to finish one cap, but there never was a month when she had work all four weeks. Her income therefore floated around PKR 2500 per month (Approx. USD 12).

She was fortunate to receive the monthly monetary aid under the Benazir Income Support Programme1  (renamed Ehsas) which allowed her to maintain her eldest child in the local school. Evidently a very foresighted woman, Vadhri dreams of enrolling the other two when they reach the age because, as she says, it is only be through education that they will break the shackles of poverty.

Despite the BISP support being just PKR 1000 per month (Approx. USD 8) and her own income only a little more, Vadhri, began to put away little by little. When she had saved about PKR 5000 (Approx. USD 24), she started a small general merchandise store in the village. This she gave to the charge of her father-in-law. Once again, the profit was not consumed but ploughed back into the business to constantly increase it. Meanwhile, she herself continued diligently with her cap making to feed her family.

But PKR 2500 Approx. USD 12) can scarcely keep a family of four fed for a month. Therefore, while she restricted herself to two meagre meals a day, she ensured that her children were fed as best as they could be given the tiny resource. And so, if the CWSA field staff picked a deserving candidate for food aid under the Humanitarian, Early Recovery, and Development project, it was Vadhri. This was just in time because the PKR 7000 (Approx. USD 34) accrued from selling her 2021 autumn crop of millets, guar and lentils was all but used up over the winter when children need more nourishment.

Since April 2022, her three children have food much better than they had ever had in their lives. Vadhri herself is now eating three meals a day. In mid-May, her larder still contained some of the supplies of the first handout even as she expected the second instalment the next day. She will not have to sell her goats to feed her family, she says. Why, in those difficult days of the Corona virus she had to sell two of her eight goats and had fretted that she soon might be left with no goats at all.

In May 2022, with food secured, Vadhri was yet putting away all her cap income for she had no idea how much longer the food aid would continue. There will be a time she will have to buy her own food for which she needed to save up, she said. Her next concern was that the PKR 500 (Approx. USD 2) that she spends every month on her school-going child should always be at hand. Soon the next child too will be eligible for enrolment. The food aid has made that possible.

Meanwhile, as her store continues to grow, one can only wish her well and would like to see her blossoming into an entrepreneur in a year or so.

1 The Benazir Income Support Programme is a federal unconditional cash transfer poverty reduction program in Pakistan.

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Community World Service Asia has launched a virtual learning series focusing on promoting quality and accountability (Q&A) and facilitate humanitarian organisations responding to the Pakistan Floods 2022 to discuss challenges, opportunities, and best practices as a group. This provides a platform to engage, interact and learn from each other and ensure a coordinated and principled response, guided by global Q&A standards.

Session 1: Using Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS) in Pakistan Flood Response 2022

The webinar aimed at introducing the CHS guidance in response to the floods, and revisit fundamental principles of CHS which are crucial to a successful, holistic intervention. “In the current flood response, Q&A is not being integrated widely and effectively in checklist for assessment, project design, and monitoring as per CHS/Sphere Standards and indicators to ensure that Q&A is implemented, thus leading to unstandardized aid,” highlighted Rizwan Iqbal, ACT Alliance.

Participants who are working directly with affected communities underlined the challenges that have emerged. Some of these issues include cases and reports of sexual harassment in camps, inadequate facilities for pregnant women, rampant spread of diseases including malaria, sudden cost increase of materials such as tents and mosquito nets, and coordination challenges owing to lack of internet connectivity in affected areas.

“The challenges that have emerged in the flood response cannot be resolved by one organisation on its own. It has curated a need for collaboration, coordination and cooperation among all humanitarian entities working there in addition to advocacy and capacity enhancement on Q&A standards,” emphasised Ayesha Hassan, Community World Service Asia (CWSA).

Session 2: What Does It Take to be Good Enough: Quality, Accountability and Safeguarding in Pakistan Flood Response

The second session focused on improving participants’ understanding on the Do No Harm and People-Centred Approaches in the current context and how the Humanitarian Charter, Code of Conduct and an effective Complaint Response Mechanism plays a role in ensuring accountability. Placing people and communities at the centre of all programming was flagged as most crucial to ensuring an accountable humanitarian assistance.

“It is the right time to mainstream the basics of Q&A in Pakistan flood response. Your common sense, knowledge of the context and connection with the community is key. This will build on those lessons, tools, frameworks and policies,” shared Sylvie Robert, Q&A expert and mentor.

Session 3: Applying Quality and Accountability in the Project Cycle to Build Back Better

To overcome the challenges that humanitarian workers face in implementing Q&A approaches, it was recommended that the aid community collaborate and coordinate with each other to improve quality and accountability in a humanitarian response. This session focused on how humanitarian organisations can adapt key Q&A initiatives and their tools to support project cycle management.

Participants shared challenges that they face while applying standards in previous and the current humanitarian response in Pakistan.

  • There is a lack of awareness and limited capacity on new and even existing quality and accountability tools and techniques among the aid community and affected communities
  • There is always a greater focus on providing quick and timely humanitarian response as opposed to prioritising the quality of the response and accountability to affected people
  • There is still mistrust among stakeholders engaged in response at the local and grassroot level that doesn’t welcome standards and tools being imposed from regional and international actors. There is a need for more relationship and trust building among local, national and international responders
  • There is a lack of coordination among NGOs and government in some districts key areas such as information sharing and assessments
  • Inadequate action on Complaints Response Mechanisms and limited efforts to develop effective and joint CRM for each district to be used by all responding actors

These challenges were discussed and possible solutions were shared among participants. Sylvie Robert reiterated, “Quality and accountability starts from day one and it is not negotiable. There will always be challenges in its implementation but we must stick to these principles. It is a question of attitude and mind-set.”

Participants and speakers collectively agreed that while responding to an emergency could be challenging, integrating Q&A in the project cycle creates an opportunity in emergency response, paving a way for building a better future and prioritising disaster mitigation. An effective complaint and feedback mechanism was highlighted as a key to ensure consistent community engagement and information sharing.

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The importance of project management in organisations cannot be overstated. When it is done right, it helps every part of the organisation run more smoothly. It allows teams to focus on the work that matters, free from the distractions caused by tasks going off track or budgets spinning out of control.

A Project Cycle Management (PCM) training was designed to impart practical skills and knowledge, confidence related to the conceptualisation, planning, implementation, management and evaluation of community projects. Such trainings are conducted to enhance the capacity of NGOs in Pakistan thus enabling them to better comply with regulatory bodies such as the federal Economic Affairs Division and provincial Social Welfare Departments. Yasmin Khakwani was one of the fifteen development aid practitioners who attended the three-day residential training, which covered the principles and terminology of project cycle management as well as the many stages and analytical tools used by humanitarian aid workers.

“Handling projects tends to be a daunting task. It requires a thorough understanding of project scheduling, planning, reporting, tracking, and the importance of project management. To become a competent humanitarian aid and development professional, one needs to have a detailed understanding of project management and its importance and the various job roles,” stated Yasmin, President of Savail Development Organisation (SDO), a local NGO in Multan. Yasmin has worked in the development sector for the past two decades, and she credits her mother, who is a development aid practitioner herself, for inspiring her to pursue a career in social services and development.

In mid-November, the PCM training provided Yasmin the opportunity to learn how to apply skills, information, tools, and procedures to project activities in order to achieve project needs. “SDO lacked up-to-date rules, concepts, and processes to manage a project from start to finish. The training provided essential knowledge for staying current with project management trends and technologies. The session on donor management focused on developing a case for support, identify and assess prospective donors, match a donor’s interests and needs with your organisation’s mission and goals, structure a successful solicitation, and respond to ethical dilemmas. Furthermore, a group exercise on identifying challenges faced by NGOs at various stages of the Project Life Cycle provided peer learning, allowing us to learn from experiences and come up with solutions.”

Yasmin returned to SDO and immediately set on revising the organization’s policies on child safety, project operations, and resource management. “Our policies had become obsolete. We revised our policies to meet international standards, particularly our child protection policy, because we work with children primarily. In addition, I led a session in which I highlighted significant takeaways from the training. Thirty people attended the session, including SDO officials, representatives from civil society organisations, and members of Saya, a district-level network.”

One of the key achievements of Yasmin was to secure its first project funded by an international donor. “We upgraded our policy framework and aligned the proposal as per donor’s requirements and fulfilled all the proposal sections accordingly. Moreover, we compiled the proposal and got it reviewed by our board members as well. This was the first time we did this. After a thorough review, we submitted our proposal. Soon after, we got the good news of our project acceptance.”

“I plan to send the staff of SDO in future training events conducted by Community World Service Asia. I believe, such trainings are beneficial for the growth and development of local organisations who have limited resources to progress,” concluded Yasmin.

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Local and national non-profit organisations and Disaster Management Authorities (DMAs) are most often the first responders to a disaster, besides communities themselves. While being at the forefront and equipped with rich indigenous knowledge and experience, they face a multitude of challenges while responding to multiple crises due to institutional and staff capacity constraints. “Local organisations are often focused on their project work and have limited resources. The knowledge and opportunities to mainstream accountability in their working mechanisms is limited and complying with all international standards becomes difficult. Therefore, there was a need for formal capacity building of local organisations and disaster management authorities, on quality response and accountability to affected people” says Aamir Malik, Director RAPID Fund, Concern Worldwide.

As a Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS) Alliance member and Sphere regional partner and focal point, Community World Service Asia partnered with Concern Worldwide (CWW) to augment the skills and competencies of Concern’s staff, their partner organisations and DMAs, on Quality and Accountability to Affected Populations (Q&AAP) through a series of workshops. “Concern assessed institutional needs for training and identified gaps between project interventions and the application of Quality & Accountability standards. Concern collaborated with Community World Service Asia, who already have substantial expertise in the field of mainstreaming Q&A, Sphere, and Core Humanitarian Standard in humanitarian action,” shared Ishtiaq Sadiq from Concern Worldwide.

After an MoU was signed between the two organisations in 2019, a thorough consultative process between the two parties took place. Multiple meetings were arranged to discuss and finalise course outlines of Q&AAP trainings; complete workshop materials were developed and finalised as per CWW feedback. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, the trainings transitioned into a virtual model. Since the start of the collaboration, eight workshops have been conducted for 187 participants representing 87 different partner organisations from Sindh and Balochistan as well as PDMA Sindh. These workshops aimed to raise awareness on key standards such as Sphere and the CHS that support organisations with effectively mainstreaming and implementing quality and accountability through a people-centred approach. Through the learning series, participants were enabled to outline opportunities and challenges in implementing Q&AAP, and were provided a platform for experience sharing and peer learning on its practical implementation

Participants strengthened their skills on Q&A standards and commitments and learned to apply them according to their contexts. They also designed a Q&AAP learning action plan tailored to their specific needs and identified ways of collaborating and coordinating with other partners to improve Q&AAP in a response. “We not only designed a training workshop for the participating organisations, but we provided technical support in mainstreaming the standards in the organisation systems and policies,” shared Aamir.

Concern’s Rapid Fund collaborated with CWSA on its Q&A interventions and jointly developed a plan for its implementation. CWSA conducted the Q&A focused trainings for them with the facilitation of the Rapid Fund team.

Lessons Learned; Improving Accountability Together

A virtual meeting was held in June 2022 to draw conclusions on the workshops’ successes and failures to improve content and resources for future workshops. During the meeting, the objectives and methodology of the workshop were shared, the draft content was presented and analysed and results and challenges thoroughly discussed. By the end of the meeting, recommendations for future learning events were brainstormed and shared.

Participants’ Selection, Self-Assessment and Pre-Training Coordination

Gender balance was ensured during participants’ selection which was done based on relevance and experience of the training topic allowing richer, more contextualised discussions and peer learnings.
Self-assessment done by each participating organisation to evaluate its structure, policies and procedures was an effective tool to gauge organisational standing on Q&AAP and identify improvement areas. This led to effective development of training plans and agenda based on participants’ needs and expectations.

Resources such as Sphere handbooks shared prior to the training were useful, allowing participants to review them and come prepared with some knowledge of the topics to be discussed. WhatsApp groups were created for participants, which allowed peer learning and continuous coordination.

Workshop Assessment

Appropriate time allocation and pace, and recap of learnings from the previous day played a key role in keeping participants engaged throughout the workshop and ensured consistent productivity during the sessions. The workshops were conducted online for which orientation on Zoom was given to participants in addition to provision of internet devices to prevent technical glitches. The training was made interactive and engaging through open discussions, breakout rooms and utilization of Google Jamboard. Comprehensive sessions on Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) increased awareness of most organisations. Case studies for Q&AAP guidelines were shared from the Asia Pacific region such as a CRM developed by World Vision in Sri Lanka, giving participants contextualised and local examples from the region.

Pre- training resource sharing proved to be effective and were used post-training by participants to refer to guidelines, standards and other tool kits. The pre and post tests were easy to take/complete.

Institutional Capacity Strengthening

Upon training completion of each module, a technical assistance phase was launched within a couple of months that offered coaching and mentoring support to organisations in developing and updating Q&AAP related guidelines, namely a Code of Conduct (COC) and Complaint Response Mechanism (CRM). CWSA provided inputs and guidance through sharing of templates, sample documents and key notes to participating organisations throughout the process; their progress was regularly monitored until final submissions were made by each of them.

Updated policies of organisations were appreciated by networks and funding partners. It also paved way for more effective implementation of Q&A tools and techniques in organisational processes and policies.
The ARTS Foundation did not have a CRM prior to the workshop; they utilised the draft shared with participants during the technical assistance phase to develop one from scratch. SHIFA developed specialised policies on each topic as the organisation had a joint policy before the workshop. Community Development Foundation (CDF) developed its COC and CRM policies which provided them a pathway to apply for CHS Alliance membership.

Key Learnings & Takeaways:

“The participating organisations are now more familiar with globally recognised Quality & Accountability initiatives including Sphere, Humanitarian Standard Partnership (HSP) and Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS). Organisations have also mainstreamed CHS and the Sphere handbook in their newly developed or revised policies and guidelines on CoC and CRMs for improved accountability towards the communities they are serving.” Speaker/Technical Expert on Q&A

“Nari Development Organisation (NDO) has established a CRM and placed complaint boxes within the office and the communities we are working in. We are also conducting orientation sessions with the NDO staff and communities regarding the new CRM policy and its processes. This initiative has mainstreamed accountability towards the communities and staff we work with and ensures a people-centred approach.” Zahid Hussain, Nari Development Organisation (NDO)

“Every action has to be guided by the common belief in the equality of all people, the inviolability of their rights and the right of each individual to self-determination. In the spirit of solidarity and humanity, the goal of every organisation is to improve the lives of people in the places where they can work. This workshop provided guiding tools, such as CoC and CRM, which allowed us to mainstream accountability in all the work we do. We updated our existing policies and adhered to the CHS and Sphere standards to better respond and allow community voices to be heard.” Liza Khan, Community Development Foundation (CDF)

“The extensive feedback we received on our existing CoC and CRM allowed us to mainstream CHS and Sphere Standards in our revised policies. Moreover, we receive all kinds of complaints. Some are relevant to our work and some do not relate to our work. There have been instances when we have received fake complaints as well. Organisations should be able to differentiate between these complaints and address them equally and in a transparent manner.” Gulab Rai, Sukaar Foundation

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Twenty-two year old Aman works as an IT and HR officer at Riverside Development Organisation (RDO), a not-for-profit, non-governmental organisation based in Sukkur, Sindh. “RDO is working in the field of education, capacity building and empowerment of women, children, and youth, and health. I joined the development sector for its dynamic work environment, the opportunities to make decisions in uncertain situations, being able to work with diverse teams, taking on different roles according to situational needs and being able to serve people,” shared Aman while introducing himself at a training organised by Community World Service Asia under its Capacity Enhancement Program.

The training titled ‘Leading in Complexity and Ambiguity’, was held in March (2022), providing a learning space for humanitarian practitioners to reflect on their leadership style and its relevance and effectiveness in the Covid-19 context and other crises. “We received resource material before the training which was concise and easy to understand. This allowed us to get familiar with the content of the training and come prepared to the workshop.”

Aman found the session on feedback management and coaching as a leadership most interesting. Learning how to take critical and positive feedback as practised in one of the training exercises has really helped Aman strengthen relevant systems in his organisation and in his professional dealings. “The feedback mechanism incorporated in the training and the session on it encouraged me to implement the same in my organisation. Upon my return, I developed an anonymous feedback form and encouraged staff to share their feedback regarding management, co-workers and office facilities. The staff was sceptical and cautious due to the possibility of punitive action being taken against them. I held a session with all employees to explain the value and anonymity of the feedback system and to urge them to freely submit their opinions. This increased staff confidence, and they were more willing to provide comments as a result.”

While frequency of feedback received increased, Aman observed that the feedback they were receiving was mostly centred on the negative aspects of the organisation. In light of this, he introduced a ‘compliment slip’ allowing employees to anonymously submit good thoughts about the organisation and colleagues as well. “We distributed both forms among staff on a weekly basis. This really boosted the morale and motivation of our team members because they know that they will get appreciated through compliment slips. This initiative has established a culture where transparency and confidentiality can both exist, encouraging employees to offer their comments honestly and confidently. Before staff awareness on this was increased only 2-3 feedback slips were received weekly, while the number has now increased to almost 20.”

Another key learning of Aman was coaching as a leader. He learned through the session that coaching employees/staff members on organisational values and objectives was an effective way to build teams, individual staff capacity and increase confidence and productivity. “Coaching is more performance driven, designed to improve the professional’s on-the-job performance. I improvised my coaching methods. As staff would sometimes discuss problems they faced within the organisation, I would usually hear them out and work on the solution myself. However, I now ask them for solutions and I ask them related questions to create a comfortable environment during our discussions. I now urge them to draw the solution while responding. I am amazed to see how the discussions eventually lead to a solution.”

“The workshop helped me enhance my expertise and bring about a positive change at RDO. The staff is more expressive and comfortable talking to me about any matter that arise in the organisation,” stated Aman optimistically.

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When: 5th October, 2022/Wednesday
Time: 2.00 PM-3:00 PM (Pakistan Standard Time)
Where: Zoom (Register here)
Language: English

Background:

The catastrophic flooding in Pakistan’s southern and northern regions has paved way for a socioeconomic crisis for which long-term assistance is anticipated by the humanitarian sector. Community World Service Asia, high committed towards Accountability to Affected People, is launching a safeguarding coaching and mentoring series for local NGOs currently engaged in flood response in the country to ensure that quality and accountability aspect is covered in humanitarian relief.

When people we work with or for feel unsafe within their workspace or global environment, this has important negative impacts on the quality of our work and the objectives we intend to reach. Safeguarding is therefore a key pillar to any accountability measure that organizations integrate into their programmes and working cycle. To continue supporting its implementing partners, CWSA plans to organize a series of 6 one-hour remote events on the topic.

Objectives:

As the first in a series of six, this session would focus on gaining input from participants as to what would be the most useful themes within safeguarding for you, to be discussed more in-depth and get practical support in subsequent coaching and mentoring sessions. This first session should also contribute to identify potential speakers who would be ready to share their experience and support others on specific themes within safeguarding. This will overall support participants in implementing safeguarding guidelines and practices in their organizations.

Note:

Registered participants are expected to have prior experience in safeguarding work
The first session is open-call and all participants are welcome to attend. For subsequent sessions, a selected cohort will be chosen based on their experience and the relevance of their work to safeguarding. This cohort is expected to attend all the planned sessions.

Presenter:

Ester Dross is an independent consultant with over 25 years of experience, specializing in accountability, prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse, gender and child protection. Ms. Dross has had an extensive exposure to humanitarian certification systems and accountability to affected populations while working with HAP International as their Complaints Handling and Investigation Advisor, later as their Certification Manager. She has been closely involved in the Building Safer Organisations Project since 2005, dealing with sexual exploitation and abuse of project participants, particularly focusing on gender and child protection. Over the last 6 years and since working as an independent consultant, Ester has been leading a pilot project for FAO on accountability and gender mainstreaming in emergencies and working with numerous NGOs including ACT Alliance members, supporting and training their staff on gender issues and child protection.

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