Need for Accountability
By Dr Arvind Kumar
Urgency for accountability to the people assumes added significance at this critical juncture when the global economy is in for another imminent economic meltdown. It devolves on all governments, civil society and international donors to prepare for accountability to their respective people, by whom they swear to govern. Of late international humanitarian aid agencies are increasingly realizing the importance of being accountable to the people they are trying to help. Undoubtedly, the implementing authorities try to put the lofty concepts into practice, they face many challenges, from the basic – people don’t always understand the word “complaint” – to the complex – how to be accountable when managing a project/policy implementation remotely due to insecurity.
According to Maria Kiani, senior accountability adviser with the Humanitarian Accountability Partnership (HAP), “Some [organizations] might have very public commitments to accountability; but those procedures, practices don’t [always] trickle down to the field operation sites.” Accountability mechanisms can be met with resistance from many sides: organization’s management, field staff, the government, vested interests or other humanitarian partners one hopes to engage. To this Maria Ahmad, who manages a humanitarian communications programme for the International Organization of Migration (IOM) in Pakistan says: “The number one challenge would be… buy-in from your partners.” Take the time before you start a programme to make the various stakeholders more receptive to the idea. Re-assure your staff that accountability is more about a “culture of learning”, as TearFund puts it, than a “policing” mechanism. Creating an equivalent feedback system for staff may help reinforce this idea. Apart from these there is also need for local information eco-systems, expertise in local dialects, managing heightened expectations of the people and looking for ways to be adaptable
According to Maria Kiani, senior accountability adviser with the Humanitarian Accountability Partnership (HAP), “Some [organizations] might have very public commitments to accountability; but those procedures, practices don’t [always] trickle down to the field operation sites.” Accountability mechanisms can be met with resistance from many sides: organization’s management, field staff, the government, vested interests or other humanitarian partners one hopes to engage. To this Maria Ahmad, who manages a humanitarian communications programme for the International Organization of Migration (IOM) in Pakistan says: “The number one challenge would be… buy-in from your partners.” Take the time before you start a programme to make the various stakeholders more receptive to the idea. Re-assure your staff that accountability is more about a “culture of learning”, as TearFund puts it, than a “policing” mechanism. Creating an equivalent feedback system for staff may help reinforce this idea. Apart from these there is also need for local information eco-systems, expertise in local dialects, managing heightened expectations of the people and looking for ways to be adaptable
