Humanitarian Accountability
Accountability has been defined as: “the processes through which an organisation makes a commitment to respond to and balance the needs of stakeholders in its decision making processes and activities, and delivers against this commitment.” Humanitarian Accountability Partnership International adds: “Accountability is about using power responsibly.”
Article 9 of the Code of Conduct for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and NGOs in Disaster Relief states: “We hold ourselves accountable to both those we seek to assist and those from whom we accept resources;” and thus identifies the two major stake holders: donors and beneficiaries. However, traditionally humanitarian agencies have tended to practice mainly “upward accountability”, i.e. to their donors.
The experience of many humanitarian agencies during the Rwandan Genocide, led to a number of initiatives designed to improve humanitarian assistance and accountability, particularly with respect to the beneficiaries. Examples include the Sphere Project, ALNAP, Compas, the People In Aid Code of Good Practice, and the Humanitarian Accountability Partnership International, which runs a “global quality insurance scheme for humanitarian agencies."
Read more about this topic: Humanitarian Principles
Famous quotes containing the word humanitarian:
“Man made one grave mistake: in answer to vaguely reformist and humanitarian agitation he admitted women to politics and the professions. The conservatives who saw this as the undermining of our civilization and the end of the state and marriage were right after all; it is time for the demolition to begin.”
—Germaine Greer (b. 1939)