Inter-Agency AAP Project

Strengthening country-level leadership by bridging Accountability to Affected People (AAP) knowledge gaps for a systematic collective approach. 

Accountability to Affected People (AAP) has been part of the humanitarian reform agenda for over two decades. AAP is one of the mandatory responsibilities of the Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) outlined in the HCT terms of reference endorsed by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Principals. However, gaps remain on AAP advocacy in crisis operations and the engagement of country leadership to effectively raise community voices to steer people-centered humanitarian response priorities and address issues on the lack of community acceptance and trust. 

To understand the gaps to guide our way forward, a global survey and consultations were conducted in 2023 that was participated in by more than 100 HCT members and in-country leaders in over 70 countries from all regions. The results of the surveys and consultations gave insights about the need for practical guidance and best practices that would enable country leadership to take action on AAP collectively and how training and tools should be designed for them. IOM, as lead, and select members of the IASC AAP task force collaborated in the past 18 months to develop the inter-agency AAP training package tailored for in-country leadership as a start to address the needs for enhanced capacity and engagement.

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This project is inspired by the learnings from the pilot IOM training on AAP tailored for staff in senior management and leadership positions to address the need for strengthened leadership capacity to ensure AAP is systemically integrated in humanitarian responses and enabling system-wide change. This project focused on strengthening leadership in HCTs by deepening humanitarian leaders' understanding on AAP and the structural barriers to collective approach and for them to become advocates of AAP at the strategic level. To this end, IOM engaged with key partners in the IASC AAP Task Force 2 to support the objective of improving leaders’ understanding of AAP and their own roles in ensuring affected populations are empowered to influence humanitarian assistance in planning and delivery.

Since September 2022, IOM has been co-leading the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) AAP Taskforce Workstream 1 (WS1) to map the existing tools and resources designed to strengthen leadership in AAP. The project objective is to deliver a training package responding to needs identified through active consultation with international organizations leaders and Humanitarian Country Teams (HCTs).

Phase 1

Phase I of the project (September 2022 – March 2023) consisted of the Planning and Mapping of AAP knowledge gaps across in-country leaders. IOM project team, in collaboration with the inter-agency project steering committee, carried out an online survey to understand existing gaps and challenges in strengthening capacities of in-country leadership and humanitarian coordination teams. The survey received 138 responses – including 87 responses from Chiefs of Missions, country representatives, and country directors. To complement the responses obtained through the survey, interviews and desk reviews were carried out with in-country leadership of UN agencies and international organizations including Humanitarian Coordinators, HCTs members, and Heads of Office.

Phase 2

Phase II of the project (Development and Design) was kickstarted with a workshop with the Steering Committee and thematic experts for related topics (e.g., PSEA, Protection, Gender Equality, and Localization) on 27 April 2023. The workshop aimed at identifying structures and developing the course content based on the results of Phase I and to share ideas regarding the design of the online training . The participants discussed the various modules that will be included in the online course (e.g., design and management of collective AAP, measuring and tracking AAP, community engagement, practical case studies of other countries).

The second part of Phase II consisted of IOM project team working with instructional designers to ensure that the interests and visions of the consulted end users and members of the project steering committee are implemented in the training. A second Steering Committee workshop was held in July 2023.

Phase III

The final phase of the project Phase III (Pilot and Launch) has been on-going since December 2023 and will end in August 2024. It will consist of the finalization of the training modules and launch of the pilot online training.

A project supporting the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) AAP Task Force Workstream on accountable and enhanced leadership.