Quality and Accountability Initiatives
In the final decade of the 20th century, the international humanitarian community initiated a number of inter-agency initiatives to improve accountability, quality and performance in humanitarian action. They are sometimes referred to as Q&A initiatives.
Four of such initiatives are the Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance in Humanitarian Action (ALNAP), the Humanitarian Accountability Partnership (HAP) International, People In Aid and the Sphere Project.
In 2003, representatives of these four initiatives began meeting regularly to share common issues and harmonize activities; in 2006 they were joined by Coordination SUD (Solidarité, Urgence, Développement), Groupe URD (Urgence, Réhabilitation, Développement) and the Emergency Capacity Building Project (ECB).
Others are also now part of this group of Q&A initiatives, including the Listening Project, the Inter-Agency Network on Education in Emergencies (INEE), and the Enhanced Learning and Research for Humanitarian Assistance (ELRHA) initiative.
Although they have distinct mandates, constituencies and structures, all these initiatives share a commitment to ensure greater harmonization and impact in their work. For additional information, see the Frequently Asked Questions on Q&A initiatives and the study Taking the initiative.
In July 2011, the Sphere Project, HAP International and People In Aid agreed to strengthen their collaboration by working in an associative fashion to develop a common vision for developing and reporting on global standards. Though not directly involved in standard-setting, ALNAP committed itself to support the process by providing objective evidence as well as discussion fora.
These four initiatives also agreed to set up a joint internet portal and work together on a coordinated response to the Horn of Africa crisis and on a common field handbook as well as on a study to demonstrate the added value of working to defined international standards.
What do we mean by quality and accountability
Each initiative has its own definition of quality and accountability. The Sphere Project suggests the following:
Quality is about learning what you are doing well and doing it better. It also means finding out what you may need to change to make sure you meet the needs of your service users.
Accountability describes the ways in which organizations and projects involve different groups in making decisions, managing activities, and judging and challenging results.
[The Sphere Project, Taking the initiative: exploring quality and accountability in the humanitarian sector: an introduction to eight initiatives, Geneva, July 2009, p. 4]