People affected by disasters have limited options and little power over their access to assistance and protection. Humanitarian organisations therefore have an ethical responsibility to respect the dignity of victims and to do their utmost to ensure that their assistance programmes are of the best possible quality.

Humanitarian agencies should respond meaningfully to needs, take into consideration local capacities and constraints, and respect and involve crisis-affected people. Any response should avoid or mitigate negative impacts while fostering positive effects.

Organisations have to manage and support their staff members well; they should evaluate and learn from experience, and use resources efficiently and transparently. Organisations should be able to demonstrate commitment to improving their performance through verification and reporting systems.

The different Q & A Initiatives are collaborating around this shared vision, through identifying possible synergies, and clarifying their differences, in order to offer a collective pallete of choices. Humanitarian organisations can then select the options best suited to their needs and priorities. The six initiatives* currently participating in the Q&A Initiative are committed to working together to facilitate this process of selection, and to reporting progress to the larger humanitarian constituency.

* The six initiatives are ALNAP, Coordination Sud, Groupe URD, HAP, People In Aid and the Sphere Project.

Friday, 3 August 2007