Work and advocacy for humanitarian quality and accountability in Asia

A Church World Service – Pakistan/Afghanistan staff worker discusses food distribution with women affected by the 2010 floods. Malamjaba Union Council, Swat. © CWS-P/A.

Strongly involved in humanitarian aid itself, Church World Service – Pakistan/Afghanistan (CWS-P/A) responded by providing orientation and training, technical support and resource materials to local, national and international NGOs, funding partners, UN agencies and local communities.

During 2011, CWS P/A helped deliver training on Sphere standards and principles to some 460 aid workers in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Some trainings were initiated and organized by CWS-P/A while others were conducted at the request of humanitarian agencies like HelpAge Islamabad or OXFAM-GB.

Conducting these trainings in local languages where possible was part of an effort to tailor and contextualize them to the needs of target audiences, in many cases at the district or provincial level.

Considering all of the learning activities carried out during 2011, the total number of humanitarian workers trained by CWS-P/A adds up to 1,130.

An example of such activities was a two-day “Lessons Learned on Quality and Accountability” event in Islamabad attended by almost 30 organizations involved in shaping the floods emergency response. Hosted by CWS-P/A, the event gave quality and accountability practitioners the opportunity to share practice-based experiences, discuss challenges and successes and agree on future commitments.

The event produced a on the areas of information-sharing; mainstreaming quality and accountability; working for quality and accountability in harsh conditions; humanitarian quality management systems; minimum standards during disasters; and complaints handling. These were widely distributed within Pakistan/Afghanistan and across the region.

A CWS-P/A case study on Quality and Accountability Beyond Emergency highlighting challenges and lessons learned was shared during a June 2011 World Conference on Humanitarian Studies held at Tufts University, USA.

Another, 29 June, CWS-P/A seminar in Islamabad presented the on observance of quality and accountability concepts, methods, language and procedures in Pakistan. The research suggested that the overall level of observance of quality and accountability principles across the humanitarian sector in Pakistan was low, and that quality and accountability need to be located at the heart of organizational value systems rather than being understood merely in terms of activities.

Soon after the 14 April 2011 launch of the latest version of the Sphere Handbook in Islamabad, CWS-P/A began its translation into Urdu. The Urdu version is expected to be available in the first half of 2012. CWS-P/A also printed 3,000 copies of the Handbook in English.

One of the challenges that have been identified is the fact that requesting agencies often treat quality and accountability interventions as “one-off” events. CWS-P/A encourages agencies to engage in long-term planning to promote and implement Sphere standards in a strategic and systematic manner.

Another problem is that lack of funding often limits partner agencies’ opportunities to implement Sphere standards. Structured follow-up and formal measurement of the results of Sphere interventions also remain a challenge. CWS-P/A is currently attempting to design a monitoring and evaluation mechanism for this purpose.

In response to these challenges, CWS-P/A continues to engage with international NGOs to promote and support Sphere’s standards implementation in Pakistan, Afghanistan and across the region. It collaborates with other quality and accountability initiatives such as People in Aid and the Humanitarian Accountability Partnership (HAP).

Identifying and publicizing the changes that have occurred as a result of Sphere interventions and initiatives in the region is part of this effort.

A Sphere focal point for Pakistan since 2005, CWS-P/A was formally established as a in January 2011. Currently, CWS-P/A is expanding its activities throughout Asia, advocating for quality and accountability standards to be put at the top of aid organizations’ agendas.

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