The 3 Components of Accountability to Affected People – Draft; Work in Progress
The table describes the three components of accountability to affected people which are to be looked at holistically: they are related and mutually reinforcing.
1. Taking Account
What does it mean? What does it require?




1
Taking account means giving affected people
influence over decision making at all phases of
the program cycle, in a way that accounts for
the diversity of communities, and allows the
views of the most vulnerable to be equally
considered
Taking account requires mostly a strong
commitment from the organisations at
leadership level
Staff need to be trained and enticed to take
account of affected population’s view
throughout the project cycle. Appropriate
processes, as well as relevant communication
channels are necessary
Any existing tools that can be referenced?
Examples of related IASC Commitment or HAP
Benchmark 1
IASC Commitments
Participation :
Enable affected populations to play an active role in the
decision-making processes that affect them through
the establishment of clear guidelines and practice s to
engage them appropriately and ensure that the most
marginalised and affected are represented and have
influence.
Feedback and Complaints Actively seek the views of
affected populations to improve policy and practice in
programming, ( …)
Design, Monitoring and Evaluation “Design, monitor and
evaluate the goals and objectives of programmes with the
involvement of affected populations, feeding learning back
into the organisation on an ongoing basis and reporting on
the results of the process
HAP Benchmark 4
Participation: The organisation listens to the people it
aims to assist, incorporating their views and analysis in
programme decisions.
Examples of possible actions
Individual agency accountability:
 Ensure the systems of community representation
are fair and representative of gender, age,
diversity and special needs and that the most
vulnerable and affected also have a voice
 Agree with implementing partners how the people
they aim to assist will participate in different
stages of the project
 Ensure organisational strategy is informed by need,
but also consider affected population priorities and
their opinions on how needs can be met.
Collective accountability :
 Build community consultation into timeline for
developing the strategic plan and cluster plans and
budgets. Emphasise evaluation methods that are
participatory.
 Find ways for community voices to be represented
in cluster meetings (inviting community
representatives to present, film/audio messages,
written messages, regular simple surveys etc.)
 Collective feedback and complaints
mechanisms???
We have used the Transformative Agenda Protocol ‘IASC Commitments to Accountability to Affected Population’ (maybe put a hyperlink for both docs and the HAP Benchmark to illustrate
each aspect, while of course many other tools and framework are contributing to taking account, giving account and being held into account
2. Giving Account
What does it mean? What does it require?



Giving Account refers to transparency and
effectively sharing information throughout
humanitarian programming across affected
communities –
Giving account means being transparent about
plans and commitments, how and why decisions
have been taken.
Giving account encompasses :
- Transparency at institutional level - eg
Clusters/ organisations being transparent in
mandate, objectives, reporting on
implementation.
- Transparency at implementation level –
beneficiary criteria, what beneficiaries are
entitled to, how they might contribute, and
then post-action reporting on
implementation.
Examples of related IASC Commitment or HAP
Benchmark
IASC Commitments
Transparency
Provide accessible and timely information to affected
populations on organizational procedures, structures
and processes that affect them to ensure that they can
make informed decisions and choices, and facilitate a
dialogue between an organisation and its affected
populations over information provision
HAP Benchmark 3
Information sharing: The agency shall make the following
information publicly available to intended beneficiaries,
disaster-affected communities, agency staff and other
specified stakeholders: (a) organisational background; (b)
humanitarian accountability framework; (c) humanitarian
plan; (d) progress reports; and (e) complaints handling
procedures.
Examples of possible actions
Agency individual accountability :
 Provide accessible and timely information to the
affected community about the humanitarian
agency, the people’s rights and entitlement, staff
roles and responsibilities
 Ensure the results of all needs assessments are fed
back to the community.
 Ensure that affected population get prompt
feedback on their suggestions and complaints, and
how they have been taken into account
Collective accountability :
 If cluster partners decide not to program in the
area which was assessed, it needs to be
communicated to the community concerned.
 Ensure that cluster decisions on adapting minimum
standards to the context are transparent.
 Explain beneficiary selection criteria and ensure
clear communication when the criteria change
during the intervention.
 Translate key strategic and cluster plans into
accessible formats to share with communities;
work with local media to communicate key
messages.
3. Being Held to Account
What does it mean? What does it require?




Being held to account means giving others the
opportunity to assess and if appropriate
sanction your actions. It includes also selfregulation and compliance verification
Being held to account means being accountable
for commitments, actions and decisions made
and for proper use of resources.
Being held into account requires formal /
adapted channels for community members to
submit complaints.
All levels should being held to account
Examples of related IASC Commitment or HAP
Benchmark
IASC Commitments
Leadership and Governance
Demonstrate their commitment to accountability to
affected populations by ensuring feedback and
accountability mechanisms are integrated into country
strategies, programme proposals, monitoring and
evaluations, recruitment, staff inductions, trainings and
performance management, partnership agreements,
and highlighted in reporting.
Feedback and Complaints
(..) Ensuring that feedback and complaints mechanisms are
streamlined, appropriate and robust enough to deal with
(communicate, receive, process, respond to and learn
from) complaints about breaches in policy and stakeholder
dissatisfaction.
HAP Benchmarks
Benchmark 1 Establishing and Delivering on Commitments
The organisation sets out the commitments that it will be
held accountable for, and how they will be delivered
Benchmark 6 Learning and Continual Improvement
The organisation learns from experience to continually
improve its performance
Benchmark 5 Handling Complaints
The organisation enables the people it aims to assist and
other stakeholders to raise complaints and receive a
response through an effective, accessible and safe process
Examples of possible actions
Agency individual accountability :
 Design beneficiary selection processes that are
transparent, participatory and supported by a
complaint response mechanism.
 Ensure organisations’ procedures are in place to
deal with complaints ranging from everyday
programme issues to allegation of sexual
exploitation abuse and corruption.
 Ensure that monitoring reports include
perspectives of affected populations in
determining if they are adequately informed,
involved in decisions and implementation, and able
to raise/have concerns responded to.
 Ensure that project outcome is evaluated jointly
with the affected community in order to obtain an
accurate picture and learn lessons for the future
Collective accountability :
 Coordinate with relevant working group such as
Accountability or Communication with
Communities working groups to ensure the quality
of complaints handling throughout the
humanitarian community.
 Collective feedback mechanisms