OPERATIONAL 2. GUIDANCE ON ACCOUNTABILITY

1 OPERATIONAL GUIDANCE ONACCOUNTABILITY TO AFFECTED PEOPLE (AAP)1. PARTICIPATION & INCLUSION2. COMMUNICATION & TRANSPARENCY3. FEEDBACK & RESPONSE4. ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING & ADAPTATIONS eptember 2020 UNHCR s ACCOUNTABILITY to Affected People (AAP) is a commitment to the intentional and systematic inclusion of the expressed needs, concerns, capacities, and views of persons of concern in their diversity; and being answerable for our organisational decisions and staff actions, in all protection, assistance and solutions interventions and to affected people is a commitment to the intentional and systematic inclusion of the expressed needs, concerns, capacities, views of persons of concern in their diversity, in all protection and OPERATIONAL GUIDANCE , September 2020.

2 UNHCR/OG/2020/02 Layout & design: BakOS DESIGNTABLE OF CONTENTSINTRODUCTION ..4 UNHCR S AAP COMMITMENTS ..5 UNHCR S AAP FRAMEWORK ..6 UNDERLYING Code of Conduct ..7 Inclusivity and Non-discrimination ..7 Community Based Approach ..7 Safety and Dignity avoid causing harm ..7 Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) ..7 AAP and PSEA ..8 Operationalising the AAP Framework ..9 ACCOUNTABILITY TO AFFECTED PEOPLE BUILDING BLOCKS ..10 PARTICIPATION & INCLUSION ..12 Why is this important?..12 What does it look like?..12 What if we don t do this? ..13 How can we do this? ..13 Steps for Meaningful Participation and Inclusion.

3 14 Participation and inclusion tip sheet ..15 COMMUNICATION & TRANSPARENCY ..16 Why is this important?..16 What does it look like?..16 What if we don t do this? ..16 How can we do this? ..17 Steps in designing a communication plan ..17 Pros and Cons of Different Information Channels ..18 Communication and Transparency Tip Sheet ..203 FEEDBACK & RESPONSE ..22 Why is this important?..22 What does it look like?..23 What if we don t do this? ..23 How can we do this? ..23 Steps in setting up a feedback and response systems ..25 Pros and Cons of Different Feedback Mechanisms ..26 Feedback Flowcharts ..27 Standard Operating Procedures (SOP).

4 31 Interagency ACCOUNTABILITY partnerships ..32 Inter-Agency Feedback Systems ..32 Feedback and Response tip Sheet ..34 ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING & ADAPTATION ..36 Why is this important?..36 What does it look like?..36 What if we don t do this? ..36 How can we do this? ..37 Key actions for learning and adaptation ..37 Staff ACCOUNTABILITY Roles ..38 AAP in periodical reporting can include ..38 AAP IN THE OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT CYCLE ..40 Assessment ..40 planning ..41 Implementation ..41 Monitoring and evaluation ..42 Reporting ..42 AAP in emergency response ..43 REFERENCES ..444 INTRODUCTIONWhat it isAccountability to Affected People (AAP) is widely used in the humanitarian community to refer to the related commitments and mechanisms humanitarian agencies have in place to ensure that communities are meaningfully and continuously involved in decisions that directly impact their refers to the responsible use of power (resources, decision making) by humanitarian actors, combined with effective and quality programming that recognises the community of concern s dignity, capacity, and ability to be independent.

5 For UNHCR, the term affected people, common in inter-agency settings, refers to persons of concern, in line with the organization s mandate on behalf of asylum seekers, returnees, refugees, stateless, and internally displaced of actions taken in relation to AAP include, participatory assessments, feedback boxes, public information boards, community meetings, interviews, counselling sessions, and home we do it oENHANCING PROTECTION AND SOLUTIONS. UNHCR situates ACCOUNTABILITY to affected people within the broader protection and solutions work of the organisation that aims at the enjoyment of all human rights by persons of concern.

6 ACCOUNTABILITY mechanisms are instrumental in this process and for the achievement of this goal. oPUTTING PEOPLE- FIRST. The rights, needs, dignity and perspectives of persons of concern define and shape our work. UNHCR has long recognised the importance of proximity to persons of concern and understanding of, and responsiveness to, the diversity within communities. ACCOUNTABILITY mechanisms help us to provide the best possible protection, assistance, and solutions programmes, which also take into account the capacities of the individuals and communities of concern. oIMPLEMENTING THE RIGHTS-BASED APPROACH.

7 Human rights principles guide all our work. Participation in decision-making is a right, and the rights-based approach is founded on the principle of participation and working with communities to promote change and respect for rights. These cannot be achieved without ACCOUNTABILITY we do it oQUALITY ASSURANCE SYSTEMS. ACCOUNTABILITY can only contribute to better and more effective programming if there are systems in place to capture, record and relay, the expressed risks, needs, capacities and aspirations from the perspective of individuals and communities. In addition, systems need to be in place to demonstrate how such feedback on programme quality is managed, responded to, and acted upon by decision makers to improve programming.

8 OCOMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT. ACCOUNTABILITY is not a one-off event. It requires direct and sustained engagement with communi-ties, through transparent and continuous two-way communication. It requires actions and approaches that enable at risk communities to meaningfully participate in key decisions throughout the pro-gramme cycle: assessment and analysis, planning and design, resource mobilization, implementation, monitoring and OPERATIONAL GUIDANCE details the objectives of each AAP area of focus as outlined in UNHCR s AAP Framework (core actions 2-5 of the 2018 UNHCR Policy on Age, Gender and Diversity1).

9 It outlines key elements of each area, and the expectations for compliance. It is accompanied by recommended implementation steps, and tools that can be contextually adapted to implement what is introduced in this UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), UNHCR Policy on Age, Gender and Diversity [ AGD Policy ], 8 March Principals of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC), including the High Commissioner for Refugees, have endorsed the 2017 Commitments on ACCOUNTABILITY to Affected People and Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse and agreed to incorporate them into organisational policies and OPERATIONAL guidelines2 and promote them with all partners.

10 In addition, after having coordinated the IASC Task Team on ACCOUNTABILITY to Affected Populations and Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (AAP/PSEA), UNHCR has been co-chairing the IASC Results Group 2 on ACCOUNTABILITY and Inclusion since its creation in 2019. UNHCR also supports the Nine Commitments outlined in the 2015 Core Humanitarian Standard on Quality and ACCOUNTABILITY that organisations and individuals involved in humanitarian response can use to improve the quality and effectiveness of the assistance they UNHCR is also signatory to specific AAP related commitments set out in the context of the 2016 Grand Bargain Initiative s Participatory has a history of continuous learning related to AAP, beginning in the early 1990 s with People-Oriented Since then, additional AAP-related policies and GUIDANCE have been developed and issued.