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Quality and Accountability
Quality and Accountability Hub

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This discussion paper has been developed to assist in exploring different options and contribute to making the humanitarian certification process fit for the future. It sets out some of the challenges from the lessons learned from the existing standard and certification process and suggests options for alternative processes for consideration for the future. It is hoped that the paper will be used to explore some more realistic options that will ensure wider reach and more inclusion of local and national actors in the Global South.

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The Core Humanitarian Standard on Quality and Accountability (CHS) emerged in 2014 from an extensive consultation process. It contains excellent guidance, further detailed in its 2015 Guidance Notes and Indicators. The Standard is currently under revision. This note seeks to contribute to that revision. The first section recommends greater nuance in some of Standard’s guidance. The second section requests that the CHS, in its application and verification, is squarely put within the political economy of aid, notably of the relief sector. The third section requests that the CHS Alliance ensures that its Standard is not misused to reinforce the structural inequalities in the sector.

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Where: Zoom (register here)
Date: 19th September 2022
Time: 12.00 pm to 01.00 pm (Pakistan Standard Time)
Language: English

Objectives

By the end of the session participants will be able to:

  • Understand the Do No Harm and People-Centred Approaches in the current context
  • Discern how the Humanitarian Charter, Code of Conduct and an effective Complaint Response Mechanism can play a role in ensuring accountability of aid
  • Learn how to place people and communities at the centre of their work throughout the program duration

Background

The catastrophic flooding in Pakistan’s southern and northern regions has killed thousands of people and carried away cattle, houses, and treasures worth billions of rupees, for which long-term assistance is anticipated by the humanitarian sector. Several local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are engaged in emergency flood relief.

Delivering aid through the current emergency reflects our humanitarian values and principles. However, in some cases there may be unintended negative consequences. These have to be considered from upfront and minimized in case they would harm the people we intend to serve.

Community World Service Asia is launching a Q&A learning series for NGOs currently engaged in flood response in the country to ensure that quality and accountability aspect is covered through humanitarian relief activities. Participating organizations and their staff will be able to learn from each other and improve humanitarian coordination to effectively respond to the people affected by the crisis and align the support to their needs.

Sylvie Robert Speaker

Sylvie Robert is an adult learning expert with over 25 years’ experience in the humanitarian sector, passionate about and dedicated to Quality, Accountability to Affected Populations (AAP) and Prevention of/ Protection from and Response to Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA). She works primarily with field practitioners to identify lessons from the implementation, learn from those and stimulate change, specifically in complex environments.

Community World Service Asia is the regional partner and country focal point of Sphere and member of CHS Alliance for promoting quality and accountability (Q&A) standards, tool and principles.

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The Sphere Focal Points group in Asia has started following a regular quarterly model of virtual meeting to adjust to post-pandemic realities and make information sharing more timely and consistent. These meetings ensure to engage all focal points and sets ground for better communication and learning while highlighting and discussing contextualised challenges in different countries, and how to overcome them.

Held in June, this year’s second virtual meeting focused on sharing information about the Core Humanitarian Standard, which is one of the foundation chapters of Sphere. The CHS Alliance Strategy 2022-2025 and its Revision process was also discussed in this session. Shama Mall, Deputy Regional Director at CWSA, shared an overview of how Sphere Strategy and the newly launched CHS Alliance Strategy complement each other.

“The Core Humanitarian Standard was based on a large consultation which lasted 12 months with communities and people affected by crisis, NGOs and networks, governments, UN agencies, academics, and funding partners and overseen by a Technical Advisory Group. As a measurable and verifiable standard, CHS verification which is valid for two years and is managed by the CHS Alliance is ‘a structured’, systematic process to assess the degree to which an organisation’s work complies with the CHS,” shared Bonaventure Sokpoh from CHS Alliance who also participated in this virtual session.

While discussing the recently launched CHS revision process and consultations, Aninia Nadig, CHS Revision Manager, presented a detailed purpose and plan “The CHS is one of the foundations for technical standards and other initiatives. It serves as a framework for monitoring and continuous improvement while influencing the system-wide policy and operational challenges as well as transforming relationships with people and communities, making aid more effective and accountable. The CHS Revision process has been officially launched in May this year in light of global and local changes and it aims to look into the aspects of CHS working well, those need to be changed and how its potential can be maximised to make sure that the CHS is more accessible and relevant to all stakeholders. The revision scope focuses on three levels: structure, content and use.”

“For CHS Revision to be effective, a global consultative process grounded in local realities is required. A successful CHS revision would result in the standard being more accessible and inclusive, relevant for today and future challenges, better known and used by many more stakeholders, driving continuous, measurable improvements, and increasing accountability at all levels,” said Aninia.

To take the CHS Revision Consultations to scale, it is necessary to explore the role that organisations and networks in member countries can take to ensure participation of all relevant stakeholders in the consultations. Guidance for the consultations, including tools, have been launched and available to all members and the humanitarian community at large. Aninia Nadig emphasised that since CHS is a part of the Sphere handbook, Focal Points promoting Sphere can support the revision process by conducting consultations in their respective countries as well.

CWSA’s consultation plan for this year was shared with all focal points to share a reference regarding implementation. The diverse voices from affected communities and organisations will help make the revised version more effective and relevant.

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Where: Zoom (register here)
Date: 9th September 2022
Time: 10.00 am to 11.30 am (Pakistan Standard Time)

Background

The catastrophic flooding in Pakistan’s southern and northern regions has killed thousands of people and carried away cattle, houses, and treasures worth billions of rupees, for which long-term assistance is anticipated by the humanitarian sector. Several local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are engaged in emergency flood relief. Experiences and lessons from emergencies such as earthquakes and floods in Pakistan, Myanmar, Haiti and Kenya have shown that effective coordination and mutual learning among agencies enhances the quality and accountability of humanitarian action to people affected by crisis.

Community World Service Asia is the regional partner and country focal point of Sphere and member of CHS Alliance for promoting quality and accountability (Q&A) standards, tool and principles. Community World Service Asia is launching a Q&A learning series for NGOs currently engaged in flood response in the country to ensure that quality and accountability aspect is covered through humanitarian relief activities. This forum will also provide a platform for sharing experiences, best practices and challenges for ensuring quality and accountability in the flood response. Participating organizations and their staff will be able to learn from each other and improve humanitarian coordination to effectively respond to the people affected by the crisis and align the support to their needs.

Objectives

By the end of the session participants will be able to:

  • Introduce the CHS guidance in response to floods
  • Revisit fundamental principles of CHS which are crucial to a successful, holistic intervention
  • Explore the relevant commitments & guidance in CHS
  • Elicit examples and challenges from participants to promote further learning

Moderator

Tooba Siddiqi is an experienced Engagement Manager with over 10 years of experience in partnership management, advocacy, youth mobilization and community-led campaigning. In her time at Community World Service Asia, she has played a significant role in pushing the Quality and Accountability standards with local NGOs as well as regional organisations. She is a trainer on Core Humanitarian Standard practices that has been developed by an expert team at Community World Service Asia. She also leads workshops to train other national and regional staff on this valuable knowledge.

Resources

  1. The Sphere Handbook- English
  2. The Sphere Handbook- Urdu
  3. CHS Booklet- English
  4. CHS Booklet- Urdu

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The Asian Disaster Risk Reduction Network (ADRRN), Community World Service Asia (CWSA), International Council of Voluntary Agencies ( ICVA), the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), are collectively planning a Regional Humanitarian Partnership Week (RHPW) 2022, which will primarily be face-to-face, with some hybrid sessions, in Bangkok this December.

Please find here a ‘Save the Date’ announcement for you to plan your participation in this exciting and meaningful week.

Looking forward to welcoming you in Bangkok.

Save-the-Date-FinalDownload

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Community World Service Asia invites you to a 5-Day Workshop full of interactive learning experiences focused on Quality, Accountability and Safeguarding in Humanitarian Action from 4th – 8th of December 2022, in Bangkok, Thailand.

Kindly see the document below for more details and registration.

The application deadline for the Regional event is September 15th, 2022.

For more information, contact our Focal Point for this event Zainab Mir @ regional.program@communityworldservice.asia

Regional Training_Quality_Accountability-Safeguarding_Bkk_4-8 Dec2022Download

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As a continuation of the Quality & Accountability (Q&A) Week 2021, the sixth virtual session, jointly hosted and organised by ADRRN’s Quality and Accountability (Q&A) Hub, Sphere, CHS Alliance, ACT Alliance, ALNAP and Community World Service Asia (CWSA), focused on exploring ways to ensure inclusion for efficient child safeguarding into programs, safeguarding efforts, communications and complaints handling.

“Defining who is a child in the humanitarian aid sector is critical. Any person under the age of 18 is classified as a child. Most organisations, regardless of local or cultural traditions, accept the international definition,” Ester Dross stated during the ‘Child Safeguarding’ webinar on May 24th, 2022.

What is child abuse?
What are the symptoms?
What are the consequences?

While raising these questions in the virtual event, Ester Dross said, “Child abuse includes physical, emotional/psychological and sexual abuse, neglect and negligent treatment, exploitation and violence in all forms. It is essential to have a clear definition in our policies and guidelines when addressing child safeguarding.” Ahmad Alaghawani, Safeguarding Officer at Islamic Relief in Jordan, joined the webinar as the guest speaker. More than ninety humanitarian and development practitioners, from Asia and Europe, participated in this 90-minute webinar bringing together a wide array of diverse expertise and knowledge on safeguarding to learn from.

Child Safeguarding vs Child Protection

“Organisational commitment to preventing and responding to abuse of children, by its own staff is referred to as child safeguarding. On the other hand, the mechanism by which an organisation seeks to fulfil children rights in their communities is referred to as child protection,” shared Ester.

All organisations that engage with or come into contact with children should have safeguarding policies and procedures in place. “Knowing the principles of child safeguarding guarantees that every child, regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, colour, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation, has an equal right to be safe. Establishing and adhering to safeguarding principles ensures that children are safe and protected from any kind of harm.” Key principles highlighted in the webinar included:

  • Children having equal rights to protection from abuse and exploitation
  • Organisation obligated to taking reasonable measures to prevent harm
  • Appropriately using photos of children
  • Acquiring skills and specialised knowledge to adhere to safeguarding policies
  • Working for the best interest of children
  • Treating reports with confidentiality and seriousness
  • Ensuring partners’ responsibility to meet minimum standards

Safeguarding as a Key Responsibility

“At Islamic Relief, we ensure that its staff, operations and programmes do not harm children, young people and people at risk and do not cause them to be at greater risk of harm from others” said Ahmad Alaghawani, “We have policies and guidelines on Child Safeguarding, People at Risk, PSEAH[1], Code of Conduct and Dignity at Work.”

The safeguarding, protection and wellbeing of those we serve have been a core area of Islamic Relief’s work over the past 34 years. In working with vulnerable children of all ages and abilities around the world, Islamic Relief takes seriously its responsibility to protect and safeguard children from all types of abuses.

The organisation has developed a complaint mechanism for children after conducting focal group discussions (FDG) with the staff who directly works with children to address the challenges they encountered while dealing with children. “Some key recommendations that came out from the FDGs included training of teachers on child behaviour and special care of Syrian children refugees, establishing a complaints and feedback mechanism specifically for children and sensitising children on what is right and wrong to create a safe space,” shared Ahmed.

The complaint mechanism for children focuses on raising awareness among teachers, families and children on child safeguarding and protection. Ahmed further added, “The staff at Islamic Relief has to attend a mandatory training on Safeguarding. We also have extensive IEC material which consists of information of different kinds of abuse and exploitation and steps that need to be taken by the communities and children at risk to address the vulnerable situations. Moreover, we conduct awareness sessions to sensitise communities and right holders on our complaint mechanism and ways to report SEAH.” Organisations of all types and sizes to implement rigorous policies, processes and tests to protect children from abuse. “That could mean training staff to understand appropriate language and behaviour. Encouraging teams to run background checks on new recruits. And helping families and communities to understand what they can do to support young people at risk. All organisations have a responsibility to protect children from harm and it is imperative we exercise our responsibility seriously and accountably,” concluded Ester.

[1] Prevention of sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment

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When: 5th-7th July 2022 (arrival at the venue on 4th July 2022)
Where: Murree, Punjab
Language: Urdu and English
Interested Applicants: Click here to register
Last Date to Apply: 10th June 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

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. 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. As part of CWSA’s response to the demand for increased support on awareness raising and capacity enhancement, CWSA is delighted to announce the upcoming course on Q&A for PCM. This course is a unique opportunity for all agencies, as it is focusing comprehensively on Standards that can support you during the project cycle.

Number of Participants

  • 18-20 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 remote and under-served areas.

Selection Criteria

  • You have experience in managing projects or programmes
  • You have some basic knowledge about the Q&A initiatives and are implementing Q&A approaches and tools at a minimum level
  • You are a leader in promoting Q&A
  • You have a ‘good enough’ command of English.

Fee Details

  • Training fee for each participant is PKR 15,000. Fee concessions and scholarships are available for participants belonging marginalised groups and NGOs with limited funding.
  • No TA/DA will be given to participants and travel expenses will be incurred by participants themselves.

Facilitation Team

Mr. Khurram Saeed is working with Community World Service Asia and leading the Quality and Accountability program. He has over 10 years of experience in capacity enhancement support, project management, coordination & networking. He holds hands on experience in promoting Quality and Accountability and applying project cycle including assessing, designing, implementing, reviewing and evaluating projects in humanitarian and development context. He remained extensively involved in the designing and carrying out humanitarian/development capacity enhancement interventions in participatory manner including development of strategies, training manuals and training events.

Ms. Tooba Siddiqi is an experienced Engagement Manager with over 10 years of experience in partnership management, advocacy, youth mobilization, community-led campaigning, fundraising, and resource development. A tech-savvy, human resource manager with a demonstrated history of remotely managing large teams from diverse geographical and ethnic backgrounds. She is a strong community and development professional trained in Management Sciences and Human Resources Management from the University of the Punjab, Lahore. In the past year with Community World Service Asia, she has played a significant role in pushing the Quality and Accountability standards with local NGOs as well as regional NGOs.

Co-Facilitator

Mr. Rizwan Iqbal, has over twelve years of professional experience while working with non-government organizations and businesses in Asia & Europe. He specializes in Organizational Development (OD); Coordination and Support in development of Monitoring and Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) mechanisms at agency-wide level. He remained directly involved in capacity building of partners and humanitarian organizations across the globe for assuring the elements of quality programming. He is a certified trainer by the secretariats of humanitarian quality standards like Sphere, Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS) & MERS and has been providing technical assistance/services to organizations on monitoring and evaluating operational quality by using the quality frameworks, standards, guidelines and tools. He worked with a variety of cultures in more than 25 countries around the world. In the past he completed his mission to Nepal (Aug-Sep 2015) after earthquake and a six-month deployment (Nov 2013 – May 2014) in the Philippines as Quality & Accountability Advisor – after Typhoon Haiyaan (Category-1 emergency responses), where he provided support to design, train, monitor and complete (with an exit plan) a Quality and Accountability (Q&A) mission. He had been leading the Quality and Accountability Program team at Community World Service Asia and performing the role of Q&A promotion within Asia-Pacific region. Currently he’s serving as Global Quality & Accountability officer at ACT Alliance based in Thailand.

REGISTER NOW

Community World Service Asia (CWSA) is a humanitarian and development organization, registered in Pakistan, head-quartered 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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When: 24th May 2022
What time: 2.00 PM-3:00 PM (Pakistan Standard Time)
Where: Zoom – Link to be shared with registered participants.
For registration click here
Language: English
How long: 60 minutes
For: Safeguarding focal points, senior managers of national, international and regional NGOs and aid/development networks
Moderator and Trainer: Ester Dross

Background:

CWSA is a humanitarian and development organisation registered in Pakistan, addressing factors that divide people by promoting inclusiveness, shared values, diversity, and interdependence. CWSA is highly committed towards Accountability to Affected People and people centered aid. Over the last two years, we have offered different webinars, covering various aspects of safeguarding and aiming to raise more awareness on key aspects of accountability such as establishing efficient and transparent complaints systems and protection from and prevention of sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment. Safeguarding is a key pillar to any accountability measures that organisations must integrate into their programmes and working cycle.

When people we work with or for, feel unsafe within their workspace or global environment, it leads to critical negative impacts on the quality of our work and the objectives we intend to reach. It is therefore important that we are more aware and increase our efforts for a better understanding of the issues at hand.

This webinar is part of a series of 6 one-hour webinars, covering safeguarding, key policies and minimum requirements, complaints systems, complaints handling and managing investigations and communication. The last webinar will explore questions related to child safeguarding.

We have so far spoken generally about safeguarding and how three organisations set up their safeguarding framework, followed by an interactive session where participants explored the key policies and guidelines they need to have in place in terms of safeguarding. During our third session, we tried to understand what we need to ensure in order to set up robust complaints systems and allow all stakeholders to have a voice and report any concern they have when benefitting from activities of or working with our organisations. During our latest sessions, we spoke about understanding fair and independent investigation processes and how to ensure inclusive and thorough communication with regards to safeguarding, complaints handling and investigations.

Objectives:

The last webinar of this series will explore questions related to child safeguarding including:

  • What is important to ensure inclusion for efficient child safeguarding into programs, safeguarding efforts, communications and complaints handling?
  • How can we contextualize our communication with regards to safeguarding to include children as our audiences?
  • What do we need to communicate to whom around complaints handling and outcomes of an investigation?

Moderator & Presenter:

Ester Dross—Independent Consultant

Ms. Dross is an indépendant consultant with over 25 years of expérience, 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 beneficiaries, 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, child

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