ACCOUNTABILITY AND SUPPORT TO THE SHELTER CLUSTER

The Emergency Capacity Building Project – a collaboration between , Catholic Relief Services, , Oxfam GB, Save the Children and Vision International – aims to improve the speed, quality, and effectiveness of the humanitarian community to save lives, improve welfare, and protect the rights of people in emergency situations. Currently in its second phase, the project is focusing on five country and regional interagency consortia, and concentrating on three cross-cutting themes – accountability and impact measurement, disaster risk reduction, and staff capacity – with a view to improving these at field level, at agency level, and in partnership with the wider humanitarian sector. Background to the initiative

Humanitarian agencies often prioritize accountability to donors, but accountability to beneficiaries needs significant improvement in many cases. This need was also highlighted, for example, by the 2010 Cluster Approach Evaluation 2, which noted both that “[in most cases] clusters have not been active or effective in strengthening participatory approaches either by promoting participatory or community based approaches among their members, or through including affected populations in their own activities.”

In an effort to improve accountability, the IASC TTCA Sub-Group on Accountability to Affected Populations has developed an Operational Framework, endorsed by the IASC Principals, for use by cluster members. In addition Oxfam have developed and field tested WASH Accountability Resources for the WASH Cluster (funded by UNICEF and available from www.hapinternational.org). Following this the ECB Project has received funding from ECHO to support specific sectors and associated clusters in improving accountability practice until December 2012, ECB has opted to focus on providing resources to the Shelter Cluster at this stage. This funding is supplemented by World Vision to allow ECB to build on previous work with the WASH Cluster. This initiative is with the support of the Shelter and WASH Clusters, and the TTCA Sub-Group, on behalf of which this initiative will pilot the Operational Framework during deployments. Objectives

The objectives of this initiative will be three-fold:

1. Developing and adapting existing accountability tools, policies and guidance, and examples of good practice, for the Shelter Cluster and its members, similar to the materials produced already for WASH. 2. Building the capacity of Cluster Coordination Teams, Cluster Members, the ECB Inter-Agency Standing Team of deployable quality and accountability specialists, and other stakeholders. 3. Promoting accountability within the architecture of the wider Cluster System, and sharing learning from the WASH and Shelter Cluster engagements to further ECB’s overall efforts on the subject of accountability.

The main purpose of each of these objectives, however, is to support agencies in developing their own accountability systems, so the objectives remain flexible according to the needs of partner agencies.

Tools and guidance

This initiative will look to producing a set of resources and guidance relevant to activities within the shelter sector, comparable to the guidance that the WASH Cluster produced. This will focus on simple techniques that agencies can use to improve the accountability to beneficiaries of their shelter programmes and projects, as well as providing case studies and good practice of how this has been undertaken previously. These tools are due to be field-tested in at least one secondment to an operational Shelter Cluster.

The Shelter Accountability Advisor will also look more generally at the processes governing the performance of the cluster as a whole, and provide recommendations and support as to how best to improve the accountability of cluster system. This will likely include, for example, improving the Shelter Cluster Performance Management System, as a model for other clusters to adapt to the needs of members and beneficiaries, and particularly strengthening the capacity of the Shelter Cluster to respond to the feedback received through this system. This will be with a view to sharing the learning with other clusters additionally. Capacity building

Part of the objectives of this initiative is to ensure that there is sufficient capacity to be able to implement accountability mechanisms in projects globally. This could include developing training materials for a variety of audiences to highlight the importance of the various aspects of accountability, as well as the techniques and tools available to them to ensure that their projects are accountable, particularly to beneficiaries. At the same time as the tools and guidance are being field-tested, training can be provided to staff on the ground to pilot the materials developed.

In addition to capacity-building during emergencies, capacity-building can also take place as a preparedness measure. ECB will look to supporting the Shelter and WASH Clusters to train its coordinators in how to guide cluster members towards better accountability during a response. Also, training is being scheduled for The ECB Accountability and Impact Measurement Inter-Agency Standing Team, a group of agency staff who offer assistance in implementing accountability and impact measurement initiatives. This team helps country offices strengthen their accountability to affected populations and better evaluate the effects of their work. Sharing learning

It will be vital to ensure that the knowledge gained by going through this process is not lost, and is available to other clusters and agencies to improve their own accountability to beneficiaries. The ECB Project will maintain a record of the lessons learnt by this process, and the challenges faced, as a guide to other clusters wanting to improve their accountability to partners, and for agencies aiming to improve their accountability to beneficiaries.

The shelter component of this initiative will be led by Hugh Earp, Shelter Accountability Adviser, hosted by CARE, reporting to Lizzie Babister, Shelter and Reconstruction Senior Specialist, CARE International UK. To request further information, to offer input or experience, or to be kept updated with the initiative, please contact with Hugh on [email protected] or +44 (0)20 7091 6056.