1. Nutrition Cluster Meeting 2 October 2016
Community Engagement
Nutrition Cluster Meeting
2 October 2016

2. AAP = Accountability to Affected People
…is an active commitment of humanitarian workers to use power responsibly by taking account of, giving account to, and being held to account by the people humanitarian organisations seek to assist.
AAP = Accountability to Affected People

3. IASC 5 Core Commitments to Accountability
Leadership/Governance
Transparency
Feedback & Complaints
Participation
Design, Monitoring & Evaluation
- AAP is one of the TA protocols.
Five Core Commitments adopted by IASC, Dec 2011.
Leadership/governance: Where our senior management demonstrate their commitment to accountability to affected populations by ensuring AAP is in every stage of the Humanitarian programme cycle.
Transparency: We engage in open dialogue to provide accessible and timely information to affected populations regarding the work that we do that affects them to ensure that they can make informed decisions and choices.
Feedback and complaints: With this open dialogue, we, as humanitarians, actively seek the views of affected people to improve our work, and that we ensure that feedback and complaints mechanisms are streamlined, appropriate and robust enough to deal with (communicate, receive, process, respond to and learn from) complaints about breaches in policy and dissatisfaction
Participation: Using this open dialogue, we enable affected populations to play an active role in the decision-making processes an that we engage them appropriately and ensure that the most marginalised and affected are represented and have influence.
Design, monitoring and evaluation: Design, monitor and evaluate the goals and objectives of programs with the involvement of affected populations, feeding learning back into the organisation on an on-going basis and reporting on the results of the process.
- AAP Operational Framework adopted by IASC Principals but has overcomplicated the issue and is of limited practical use.

4. Core Humanitarian Standard on Quality and Accountability
This work is also guided by the CHS, which sets out 9 Commitments to improve the quality and effectiveness of the response. The CHS applies to both individuals and organizations and also includes criteria to help us know how well we are doing.
Launched end of December 2014.
For more information:

5. Community Engagement Community Engagement (or CwC)
Programmatic area of work of accountability
Three operational components: participation, information provision and feedback
Protection/Protection Mainstreaming
Accountability and protection complement each other
Both rooted in a rights-based approach
Prevention of Exploitation/Abuse
Often results from differences in power between beneficiaries and humanitarian workers
Community Engagement: programmatic field of work through which humanitarian organisations can be accountable. It includes three operational components: feedback/complaints, participation, and information provision.
Protection Mainstreaming:
Sexual exploitation and abuse of affected community members by anyone associated with the provision of aid constitutes one of the most serious breaches of accountability. It frequently occurs when the essential needs of those most-at-risk in communities are not adequately met.
Issues of lack of accountability and of sexual exploitation/abuse are derived from asymmetries of power. It is also a serious protection concern and erodes the confidence and trust of affected communities and the host country in all those providing assistance.

6. Community Engagement Working Group (CE WG)
1) Humanitarian response is informed by the views of affected populations
2) Humanitarian responders are held to account and act upon feedback.
3) Communities have the information and communications capacity they need to make informed decisions and stay safe.
Three objectives of the working group

7. CE WG Progress Update - September
Objectives
Status updates
1) Humanitarian response is informed by the views of affected populations
Developed Agency feedback forms
Conducted the Micro-Survey
Working with PSEA Inter-Agency Taskforce
2) Humanitarian responders are held to account and act upon feedback.
Developed a simple CE 4W
Dissemination of the OXFAM Study Findings
Analysis of CE info for ICCM/HCT
3) Communities have the information and communications capacity they need to make informed decisions and stay safe.
Recommendations based on findings
Current discussions
Tawasul lessons learned
Objective 1:
Agency feedback forms, which are just summary sheets that MEAL officers and units can use to report back on any. Not meant to be a burden. We ask for it monthly.
Conducted the micro-survey with partners since August and so far we’ve received 751 response covering 10 governorates. And we have IDP data on the 6 core questions from the TFPM location assessment. This gives us an idea of key indicators of affected people’s perceptions linking to the Core Humanitarian Standard
Working with the PSEA Inter-Agency Taskforce, to ensure complementarity and adherence to international standards. Because often the mechanisms are the same.
Objective 2:
Developed a simple CE 4W
Dissemination of the OXFAM Study Findings
Analysis of the recent CE information for ICCM/HCT

8. Community Engagement Actions throughout HPC
Coordination
Develop 4W matrix on accountability activities
Include media in planning processes
Preparedness
Map existing feedback mechanisms
Identify preferred communication channels focusing on men/women/vulnerable/etc.
Needs Assessments and Analysis
Assessment include a representative sample of the population and data is dissagregated
Use open questions, such as “what are your preferred means of delivery” (in-kind, vouchers, cash)
Include questions on information needs
Strategic response planning
Planning based on findings of needs assessments and dissagregated data
Plans include how to gather and respond to feedback and provide info
Clusters have plans that reference their CE approach and how to link to objectives
Include community members in the development of plans
Community Engagement: programmatic field of work through which humanitarian organisations can be accountable. It includes three operational components: feedback/complaints, participation, and information provision.
Protection Mainstreaming:
Sexual exploitation and abuse of affected community members by anyone associated with the provision of aid constitutes one of the most serious breaches of accountability. It frequently occurs when the essential needs of those most-at-risk in communities are not adequately met.
Issues of lack of accountability and of sexual exploitation/abuse are derived from asymmetries of power. It is also a serious protection concern and erodes the confidence and trust of affected communities and the host country in all those providing assistance.

9. Community Engagement Actions throughout HPC
Implementation and monitoring
Agree on how to communicate with communities about projects
Aggregate common inter-cluster trends in a common framework and analyse jointly
Outline how plans will be adapted to address monitoring and community feedback
Clusters communicate how communities’ feedback has been taken into account
Monitor the affected population’s perception of response, adequacy of information provision and engagement
Resource Mobilization
Advocate to support community consultations, public information campaigns and feedback mechanimsm
OCHA pool funds have CE components (information provision, feedback and participation)
Evaluation
Agree on appropriate level of community participation in evaluation methodologies (i.e. focus groups, CSOs, etc.)
Community Engagement: programmatic field of work through which humanitarian organisations can be accountable. It includes three operational components: feedback/complaints, participation, and information provision.
Protection Mainstreaming:
Sexual exploitation and abuse of affected community members by anyone associated with the provision of aid constitutes one of the most serious breaches of accountability. It frequently occurs when the essential needs of those most-at-risk in communities are not adequately met.
Issues of lack of accountability and of sexual exploitation/abuse are derived from asymmetries of power. It is also a serious protection concern and erodes the confidence and trust of affected communities and the host country in all those providing assistance.

10. Nutrition Cluster Meeting 2 October 2016
Community Engagement
Nutrition Cluster Meeting
2 October 2016

11. CAAP 1: Leadership/Governance:
Demonstrate their commitment to accountability to affected populations by ensuring feedback and accountability mechanisms are integrated into country strategies, program proposals, monitoring and evaluations, recruitment, staff inductions, trainings and performance management, partnership agreements, and highlighted in reporting.
Actions:
Trainings and awareness raising on communicating with affected communities;
PSEA reporting and investigation mechanisms in place;
Advocate for flexible funding to adapt programmes according to feedback;
HCT and ICCM to include standing agenda item on AAP.
Directed at HCs, HCTs, Heads of Agencies, ICCs and cluster coordinators.
• As part of, preparedness RC/HC could arrange sensitisation/awareness raising through a training/workshop on communicating with affected communities in that context, what would be the preferred methods; what key messages would be needed in the event of a humanitarian response.
• If not already in place, RC/HC and Heads of Agencies should be looking to establish appropriate PSEA reporting and investigation mechanisms.
• Heads of Agencies/cluster coordinators/OCHA could arrange for trainings to staff to allow them to engage with communities in a manner that does not build expectations, ensuring that they are taking the time to listen to the community and build a relationship rather than simply completing an assessment checklist.
•Advocate with donors to ensure a degree of flexibility in funding to adapt programmes according to the feedback and consultations with communities. If donors are supporting improved AAP they should also be prepared to provide a degree of flexibility in funding which allows for changes to the response based on feedback from AP.

12. CAAP 2: Transparency
Provide accessible and timely information to affected populations on organisational procedures, structures and processes that affect them to ensure that they can make informed decisions and choices, and facilitate a dialogue between an organisation and its affected populations over information provision.
Transparency
• Ensure that cluster decisions on setting local standards and beneficiary selection criteria are transparent, context-based and that representation of the affected population is decided through community consultation and CRMs. (T) • Translate key strategic and cluster plans into accessible formats to share with communities; work with local media to communicate key messages. (T)
• Ensure the results of all assessments are fed back to the community. (T)
• Remind cluster partners if they decide not to program in the area of assessment to communicate the decision to the community concerned. (T)

13. CAAP 3: Feedback & Complaints
Actively seek the views of affected populations to improve policy and practice in programming, ensuring that feedback and complaints mechanisms are streamlined, appropriate and robust enough to deal with (communicate, receive, process, respond to and learn from) complaints about breaches in policy and stakeholder dissatisfaction.
Feedback and Complaints
•Advocate with donors to support joint/inter-agency projects (where applicable) aimed at facilitating community consultations, information campaigns and feedback mechanisms for the humanitarian response. (FC)
•Share trends in community feedback with CCs. Contribute to whole-of-response information provision as appropriate. (FC)
•Review key themes/common issues coming through agency complaints and feedback mechanisms, identify collective solutions and track progress on addressing them.(FC)
IOM Report on FC in Pakistan

14. CAAP 4: Participation
Enable affected populations to play an active role in the decision-making processes that affect them through the establishment of clear guidelines and practices to engage them appropriately and ensure that the most marginalised and affected are represented and have influence.
Participation
•Find ways for community voices to be represented in cluster meetings (inviting community representatives to present, film/audio messages, written messages, regular simple surveys etc.). (P)
• Involve community based organisations and communities themselves to participate in field monitoring.(P)
• Ensure planning is also informed by affected population priorities and opinions on how their needs can be met. (P)

15. CAAP 5: Design, monitoring and evaluation
Design, monitor and evaluate the goals and objectives of programs with the involvement of affected populations, feeding learning back into the organisation on an on-going basis and reporting on the results of the process.
Remind participants the importance of ensuring affected people are involved all the way through the programme cycle. Not just at needs assessment and monitoring stages.
Design, Monitoring and Evaluation
•Monitoring reports should include perspectives of affected populations in determining if they are adequately informed, involved in decisions and implementation, and able to raise have concerns responded to. (DME)
•Identify common cultural practices or preferences which need to be known for relevant and effective response activities (for example preferred rice, ways in which health services are delivered, children cared for etc) (DME)
•Ensure response strategies and implementation plans include commitments, indicators and resources for working in a transparent and accountable way with affected populations. (DME)
•Clusters and the inter-cluster coordination group should consider selecting outcome indicators that capture the perspective of the affected population in its age, gender and other diversity [See AAP section in Humanitarian Response Monitoring Guidance]. (DME)