Login
Recover password
Registration

Members can log in to create events, publish stories, share resources and modify their password and newsletter subscription.

E-mail *
First name *
Last name *
Language preference *
Newsletter options *

By clicking below to submit this form, I hereby agree to the Sphere’s Privacy Policy and terms of use.

Horn of Africa: Report highlights lack of engagement with affected populations

Severe drought, exacerbated by poverty and conflict, hit the Horn of Africa in 2011, displacing hundreds of thousands of people. Photo: Registration of refugees at the Dagahaley camp, Dadaab, eastern Kenya. © Tom Maruko/IRIN

The report focuses on last year’s response to the crisis in the Horn from the point of view of its quality and accountability. It was issued by the Joint Standards Initiative, a collaborative effort of the Sphere Project, People In Aid and the Humanitarian Accountability Partnership (HAP).

“Eighteen years after the Rwanda genocide, which many regard as being the catalyst for the establishment of the Humanitarian Accountability Partnership, People In Aid and the Sphere Project, the humanitarian sector continues to struggle with keeping affected populations at the centre of their responses,” says the report.

Affected communities “felt that some agencies were implementing projects with little consideration of [their] needs” and of local expertise. According to the report, this resulted in “unsustainable projects that in some cases were increasing the vulnerability of affected communities.”

“Effectively engaging with communities throughout the project cycle and allowing for them to play an active role is fundamental to ensuring the quality and accountability of a humanitarian response,” the report says.

Summarizing findings gathered during a nine-week Joint Deployment to the Horn of Africa between 27 October 2011 and 31 January 2012, the report highlights several other needs, including good people-management processes and practices, increased peer learning and capacity-building on the practical application of humanitarian standards.

At field level, “the practical application of the standards was limited,” while “some individuals consulted at senior levels showed limited awareness of the standards and their use,” says the report. In agencies that are members of HAP and People In Aid, most staff “had not been made aware of their organizations’ accountability commitments.”

Although they acknowledge that their findings are based on “a small sample”, the authors of the report nonetheless “urge the humanitarian community to take into consideration the issues raised” in it.

In 2011, a food crisis in the Horn of Africa countries affected over 13 million people and claimed tens of thousands of lives. The crisis was the result of numerous factors, including drought, rising food prices, conflict, seasonal floods and localized resource conflicts.

The aim of the Joint Deployment to the Horn of Africa was to assist humanitarian agencies in providing accountable and appropriate programmes that meet accepted standards of quality and accountability. The three-member team supported existing activities of agencies in the region, consulting with over 25 of them to identify quality and accountability gaps and emerging issues.

Involving the formation of a distinct team which jointly represented the standards-setting initiatives with the aim of bringing greater coherence to the range of services offered during a humanitarian response, the Joint Deployment was a first that built on previous experiences of collaboration in Haiti, Myanmar and Pakistan.

  • Read the Final Report of the Joint Deployment to the Horn of Africa (PDF, 600 Kb