The Sphere movement was started in 1997 by a group of humanitarian professionals aiming to improve the quality of humanitarian work during disaster response. With this goal in mind, they framed a Humanitarian Charter and identified a set of humanitarian standards to be applied in humanitarian response. Read more
This handbook looks at ways of optimising the participation of crisis-affected people in humanitarian action. Humanitarian situations present particular challenges: the need for a rapid response; the risks of working in insecure situations; and the potential for manipulation in highly politicised environments. It is therefore often difficult for people to participate as fully as they might in other situations. As a result, the definition of participation used here is quite broad.
In this handbook participation is understood as the involvement of crisis-affected people in one or more phases of a humanitarian project or programme: assessment, design, implementation, monitoring or evaluation. The degree of involvement will vary depending on the circumstances, and there will always be debate about what constitutes ‘real’ or ‘meaningful’ participation. However this handbook takes a very pragmatic approach to participation and encourages the reader to involve crisis-affected people in humanitarian responses to the greatest extent possible, and to constantly look for new opportunities to increase the level of participation.
Part 1 provides guidance on developing a participatory approach:
• The basics – what is participation and what are the benefits of participation (chapter 1)
• The factors that will affect how people participate (chapter 2)
• Building mutual respect (chapter 3)
• Developing and using different communication techniques, both informal and formal (chapter 4)
• Making partnerships work (chapter 5)
Download: Participatory Approach in Humanitarian Crisis
The Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE) is an open global network of practitioners and policymakers working together to ensure all persons the right to quality education and a safe learning environment in emergencies through to recovery. The INEE Steering Group provides overall leadership and direction for the network; current Steering Group members include CARE, ChildFund International, International Rescue Committee (IRC), Refugee Education Trust (RET), Save the Children, Open Society Institute (OSI), UNESCO, UNHCR, UNICEF and World Bank. INEE’s Working Group on Minimum Standards is facilitating the global implementation of the Minimum Standards for Education: Preparedness, Response, Recovery. The INEE Working Group (2009-2011) consists of 19 organizations with education expertise in situations of con!ict and disaster: Academy for Educational Development (AED), ActionAid, American Institutes of Research (AIR), Basic Education for Afghan Refugees (BEFARe), the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), the International Rescue Committee (IRC), Mavikalem Social Assistance and Charity Association, Norwegian Agency for Development (NORAD), Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), Oxfam Novib, Plan International, Save the Children, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNICEF, USAID, War Child Holland, World Education, ZOA Refugee Care. INEE is grateful to more than 41 agencies, institutions and organizations for supporting the network since its inception. For a complete list of acknowledgements, please visitthe INEE website: www.ineesite.org.
INEE is open to all interested individuals and organizations who implement, support and advocate for education in emergencies. Interested individuals can sign up for membership through the INEE website: www.ineesite.org/join. Membership involves no fee or obligation. For more information, please visit www.ineesite.org or contact the INEE Coordinator for Minimum Standards at minimumstandards@ineesite.org.
DOWNLOAD FILE: INEE Standards 2010
Read more
The Humanitarian Accountability Partnership (HAP) International was established in 2003 to promote accountability to people affected by humanitarian crises andThe Humanitarian Accountability Partnership (HAP) International was established in 2003 to promote accountability to people affected by humanitarian crises and to acknowledge those organisations that meet the HAP Principles of Accountability, which the founding members developed as a condition of HAP membership. By applying these Principles, an organisation becomes accountable for the quality of its work to people it aims to assist and on whose behalf it is acting. In order to provide an objective, consistent and logical approach to verifying that HAP members apply and meet the Principles of Accountability, HAP developed the 2007 Standard in Humanitarian Accountability and Quality Management. This was the first international standard designed to assess, improve and recognise the accountability and quality of humanitarian programmes.
To acknowledge those organisations that meet the HAP Principles of Accountability, which the founding members developed as a condition of HAP membership. By applying these Principles, an organisation becomes accountable for the quality of its work to people it aims to assist and on whose behalf it is acting. In order to provide an objective, consistent and logical approach to verifying that HAP members apply and meet the Principles of Accountability, HAP developed the 2007 Standard in Humanitarian Accountability and Quality Management. This was the first international standard designed to assess, improve and recognise the accountability and quality of humanitarian programmes.
DOWNLOAD FILE: HAP Standard in Accountability & Quality Management Read more
The Quality COMPAS is a Quality Assurance method that has been designed specifically for humanitarian aid work. It has two uses, project management and project evaluation, and its overall objective is to continuously improve the quality of services provided to crisis affected populations.
The Quality COMPAS is built around a reference framework: the project management compass rose, which is composed of twelve quality criteria defining the quality of a humanitarian project. Each of these criteria has its own indicators and key processes.
DOWNLOAD THE DOCUMENT: COMPAS guidebook
Read more
Impact Measurement and Accountability in Emergencies – The Good Enough Guide. What difference are we making? How do we know? The Good Enough Guide helps busy field workers to address these questions. It offers a set of basic guidelines on how to be accountable to local people and measure programme impact in emergency situations. Its ‘good enough’ approach emphasises simple and practical solutions and encourages the user to choose tools that are safe, quick, and easy to implement. This pocket guide presents some tried and tested methods for putting impact measurement and accountability into practice throughout the life of a project. It is aimed at humanitarian practitioners, project officers and managers with some experience in the field, and draws on the work of field staff,
NGOs, and inter-agency initiatives, including Sphere, ALNAP, HAP International, and People In Aid. The Good Enough Guide was developed by the Emergency Capacity Building Project (ECB). The ECB is a collaborative effort by CARE International, Catholic Relief Services, the International Rescue Committee, Mercy Corps, Oxfam GB, Save the Children, and World Vision International.
DOWNLOAD FILE
People In Aid was created by the sector with a single remit: to encourage improvements in the way that staff are managed and supported. We were also created as a network of members, so that NGOs committed to improving their human resource management could do so together and had a central resource to assist them. Initially, best practice was identified and disseminated through the “People In Aid Code of Best Practice in the management and support of aid personnel”. The Code itself was drawn up between 1995 and 1997 through extensive consultation. Although originally driven by agencies in the UK and Ireland, with funding from the UK government’s then Overseas Development Administration, the input on best practice also came from the UN family, from the USA, from Continental Europe and from the human resources and field.
DOWNLOAD FILE: People in Aid – Code of Good Practice Read more