10.Afghanistan DMT Accountability,Quality and Learning Strategy

By Paul Gol

Background

Country context: Nation in crisis.

Afghanistan, (which literally means Land of the Afghan and Afghans mean mountain dwellers) is a mountainous land-locked country located in Central Asia. It has a history and culture that goes back over 5000 years. Throughout its long, splendid, and sometimes chaotic history, this area of the world has been known for wars and disasters which include; floods, earthquakes and drought.

Afghanistan is a heterogeneous nation, in which there are four major ethnic groups: Pashtoons, Tajiks, Hazaras, and Uzbeks. Numerous other minor ethnic groups (Nuristanis, Baluchis, Turkmens, etc.) also call Afghanistan their home. While the majority of Afghans (99%) belong to the Islamic faith, there are also small pockets of Sikhs, Hindus and even some Jews.

Tearfund in Afghanistan

Tearfund UK established a Disaster Management Team (DMT) for Afghanistan and the border areas of Pakistan in 2001 in response to drought and conflict. This initial response focused mainly on Water and Sanitation in camps for refugees and Internally Displaced People and work with resettling communities. From 2006 the programme has expanded to Kapisa and Jawzjan provinces.

The current sectors in the Afghanistan DMT are water, sanitation and health promotion in Kandahar, Disaster Risk Reduction and sanitation in Kapisa, and Food Security and livelihoods in northern Jawzjan Province.

Accountability to Beneficiaries
Tearfund is verified compliant with the “People in Aid Code of Best Practice in the management and support of Aid Personnel” and it is a signatory of the “Code of Conduct for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and NGOs in Disaster Relief”. Tearfund is committed to implementing Humanitarian Accountability Principles, HAP[1] 2007 Standards and Quality Management across all its emergency programmes.

This commitment seeks to;

1. Improve the way Tearfund engages with the local communities in decisions that affect them by striving to enhance participation of affected populations in order to seek informed consent.

2. Share information with beneficiaries in order to promote and improve transparency through information provision.

3. Provide beneficiaries with channels through which concerns can be raised. There is an ethical commitment to listen, monitor and respond to beneficiary concerns.

4. Ensure that members of staff are provided with a thorough understanding of Tearfund’s values and standards and accountability principles and standards.

Afghanistan Programme Strategy on Beneficiary Accountability
In an effort to ensure Accountability to Beneficiaries in all its field locations in Afghanistan, Tearfund has recruited an Accountability Officer whose main role will be to comprehensively provide operational support in the implementation of the HAP Principles and Standards on Humanitarian Accountability and Quality Management and to integrate the activities set out in a separate action plan of each project. The aim of accountability in Afghanistan is to achieve genuine mutual accountability with people in need

A. Accountability Structure

The programme will set up a Beneficiary Accountability Team (BAT) comprising of selected individuals from all sectors to be based at Kabul Programme office. The Programme will further identify, through the respective Area Co-ordinators and Project Managers, two members of staff to be Accountability Focal Points (AFP) from among the existing staff in each of the field locations. One of whom MUST be a woman. The Accountability Focal Points in wide consultation with the local communities will facilitate the formation of Beneficiary Reference Groups (BRGs) where applicable or provide training for the existing project structure such as Community Emergency Response Teams. They will facilitate the formation of comprehensive communication systems to enhance project transparency and to set up Feedback Handling and Response Mechanism specific to the local context.

The Beneficiary Accountability Team (BAT) shall comprise of staff from the main sectors of the programme i.e. Watsan 1, DRR 2, the Accountability Officer and the Programme Information Officer. The role of the BAT will include but not limited to;
i).Ensure that each sector is adhering to Accountability Principles and Standards.
ii).Carry out baseline assessments on Accountability and Impact Assessment.
iii).Deliberate on feedback from the various field locations and advice the programme.
iv).Develop programme learning on quarterly basis.
v).Liaise closely with the Field Accountability Focal Points.
vi).Develop a systematic liaison with Tearfund partners.

The Accountability Focal Points (AFP) will be taken through training on the Seven Practical Steps to Beneficiary Accountability with the aim creating a corporate understanding on Beneficiary Accountability and equipping them with practical tools for the implementation of accountability. These tools will include; Accountability Self Assessment. Beneficiary involvement,
Information sharing, Feedback Handling and Response Mechanism.

The role of the AFP will include but not limited to;

1.Create awareness on Beneficiary Accountability approach as adopted by Tearfund among the local stakeholders.

2.Facilitate the formation and training of the Beneficiary Reference Groups and other structures created by Tearfund.

3.Solicit for feedback from the BRGs and collate information from the field with specific reference to concerns and feedback and to manage responses appropriately in consultation with the Area Co-ordinators.

4.Manage conflicts resolution in the community that are linked to the project.

The Beneficiary Reference Groups (BRGs) is indeed not a new concept in Tearfund. Tested and generaly accepted in the North Kenya Programme the BRGs refer to a community selected group whose main responsibilities include;

1. To receive and share information at the community level with the beneficiaries and with the agency.

2. Solicit for feedback and to share with the AFPs.

3. To ensure that beneficiaries and other stakeholders are consulted and meaningfully involved in the Project Cycle Management.

4. To monitor projects in liaison with the stakeholders and Tearfund project leadership for purposes of remote monitoring in areas Tearfund is unable due to security concerns b on the ground all the time.
In an insecure, volatile and terrorist environment like Afghanistan where public information sharing can pose a risk to the agency, the BRGs come handy as a beneficiary focal point on issues of accountability. These groups shall be trained on the beneficiary accountability process.

B. Capacity Building.
a). Awareness Raising: The Afghanistan Programme will take advantage of every opportunity to raise awareness among staff and other stakeholders on Beneficiary Accountability as one of the twelve standards Tearfund has committed itself to in its 2008 Humanitarian Accountability Framework (HAF).This awareness creation strategy will focus on progressively developing a culture of Accountability within all the sectors of the programme. The programme shall develop handbills and flyers and where budget allows T/shirts will be printed for the purpose of raising awareness. The expected outcomes would include;

1. Knowledge: Raised awareness of what Accountability is and its relevance to the emergency intervention; Basic elements of Accountability; Different Accountability initiatives; the individual and institutional responsibility to Accountability.

2. Attitude: Understanding of giving power back to the beneficiaries through Accountability practices; the importance of accountability to project quality; simple and easy thing to do; “I can make a difference”.

3. Facilitate the understanding of the dynamics of relationships both open and hidden within communities to help us better understand the power structures and processes for making community decisions when seeking informed consent.

b). Training.
The Afghanistan Accountability office in consultation with all the sectors and field locations will conduct training session with the aim of enhancing skills to give staff more ability to;
1. Use tools in the Good Enough Guide on Accountability and Impact Assessment and the Good Practice Guide on Beneficiary Accountability.
2. Link tools with activities.
3.Carry out a self Assessment of Accountability and Impact measurement capacity.
4.Plan for programme activities to reinforce accountability, quality and learning.
5. Implement and practice accountability.

For further information contact;

Paul Gol,

dmt-afghan-ao@tearfund.org