More participation, sustainable projects needed in the Horn of Africa

The Horn of Africa crisis continues to affect 13.3 million people. © OCHA

These are some of the findings reported by a team deployed to Nairobi, Kenya by the Joint Standards Initiative. The Initiative is a collaborative effort of the Sphere Project, People In Aid and the Humanitarian Accountability Partnership.

The aim of the joint deployment to the Horn of Africa, which began on 27 October 2011, is to support humanitarian agencies in providing accountable and appropriate programming that meets accepted standards of quality and accountability. During the first nine weeks of deployment, the team of three consulted and engaged with over 25 agencies to identify quality and accountability gaps and emerging issues.

In a 22 December update, the joint team reported on the main findings of an interagency quality and accountability mapping exercise conducted with the in-country network on prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse in the north-western Kenyan district of Turkana. The mapping involved consulting 109 host community members.

“A common trend [mentioned by the groups consulted] was the lack of participation of crisis-affected communities. This was perceived to have resulted in unsustainable and unsuitable projects with no real impact,” the update states.

Regarding the nature of the projects being implemented, the update notes that “every stakeholder group consulted” through the mapping exercise “strongly emphasized the need for sustainable, self-reliant and long-term programmes which lead to community empowerment and ownership”.

The quality and accountability team update also refers to issues of information-sharing, vulnerable groups’ access to humanitarian assistance, the role of committees and community leaders as well as the handling of complaints and prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse. The update includes a series of recommendations from the affected communities.

Some 13.3 million people are currently affected by a humanitarian crisis in the Horn of Africa. The crisis is the result of numerous factors, including drought, rising food prices, conflict, seasonal floods and localized resource conflicts.

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