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The HAP Standard 2009-2010 Review Highlights Monica Blagescu mblagescu@hapinternational.org. “making humanitarian action accountable to beneficiaries “. Why review the Standard and The Guide?. To reflect learning from application to date To incorporate emerging good practice
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The HAP Standard 2009-2010 Review HighlightsMonica Blagescumblagescu@hapinternational.org “making humanitarian action accountable to beneficiaries“
Why review the Standard and The Guide? • To reflect learning from application to date • To incorporate emerging good practice • To improve accessibility • To ensure they are “live” documents that drive improvements on accountability and quality management
HAP Secretariat Steering Committee Working Groups Reference Group/consultations HAP Board and GA Management Leadership Technical input Wide ownership Endorsement The review process Main steps so far • Preliminary consultations; January – June 2009 • Online feedback; July 2009 – March 2009 • Consultation workshops; September 2009 – March 2010 • Summary from consultations
Who contributed • Consultation meetings, focus group discussions and workshops: • Hosted by: ACFID, CARE International, COAST Trust, Concern Worldwide, CWS Pakistan/Afghanistan, DEC, DRC, LWF, Muslim Aid, Naba’a, NCA, OFADEC, PMU Interlife, SEEDS; ECB Project and the IASC. • in Bangladesh, Georgia, India, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Lebanon, Norway, Pakistan, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Southern Sudan, Switzerland, Uganda and the UK. • Online, email, phone • Over 120 organisations in 42 countries
Who contributed • A total of 1,595 individuals: • 198: national NGOs and other CSOs • 81 staff from implementing partners • 813 were direct beneficiaries of aid programmes, representatives of host communities, and local authorities • 394 were national and international staff of international NGOs • 65 were representatives of the donor community and the UN; 28 representatives of Red Cross Societies; 97 were independent consultants or from other quality and accountability initiatives.
Overall comments • No significant changes in the content of the Standard • It is short; helpful to have requirements and MoVs “it challenges agencies to address power imbalances between aid workers and communities” “it breaks down accountability to affected populations into distinct and logically-linked parts” “First attempt to meaningfully go beyond voluntarism and set up quality benchmarks that are monitored”
However… • Make language more user-friendly • Clarify linkages and avoid overlap • Balance policies and practice • Balance the weight of different requirements • Standard / audit process differences • Benchmarks 1 and 6 are least clear • Benchmark 3 is least explicit
Highlights (1) • Handling complaints of exploitation and abuse • No new Standard or benchmark • Standards of behaviour for staff/codes of conduct • Role of managers • Partners: as stakeholders in the CRM; should they be required to have standards of behaviour? • Financial accountability • The Standard to reflect current audit practice • Financial accountability between partners • Requirements for agencies working with partners
Highlights (2) • Gender • Application to multi-mandate agencies • Coherence and complementarity • Content: Sphere • Content and process: ACFID, DEC, People In Aid, INTOSAI • No additional benchmarks • Coordination • Supply chain • Ethical fundraising
Immediate next steps • Sphere Handbook revision meeting • Input from People In Aid • Follow up meeting with the DEC • Support from ICVA on complementary approaches
Tentative Timeframe • June: public consultation on first draft • end July: Steering Committee review • 26 July to 3 September: public consultation on the second draft, including: • the Reference Group • each member agency requested to submit formal feedback • 20 September: final draft shared with the Steering Committee • 4 October: Final draft ready for approval
Outputs • Reports from all consultations • Summary of suggested changes from the Standard Review consultations • Feedback on the two draft versions • Briefing paper on main lessons learnt from the implementation of the Standard to date • Report on benefits and challenges of implementing the HAP Standard • Revised Guide, auditor guidelines, other tool
Unresolved issues • Working with partners (Group 1) • Accountability Framework (Group 2) • Quality Management System (Group 3) • “Other stakeholders” (Group 4) • Principles (Group 5)