IFRC Blog: Do humanitarian agencies really NEED to be accountable to communities?

Unfortunately, the answer to this question is no, we don’t. As a community engagement and accountability advisor within a humanitarian agency, I can’t tell you how much this answer pains me.

If I were to ask, “SHOULD humanitarian agencies be accountable to communities?” the answer would be an emphatic yes.

So, what’s the difference?Believe it or not, I’m still not tired of explaining why we SHOULD we be accountable.

1. When we involve people in designing aid interventions and listen to their feedback - and then act on it - our projects are better quality and more likely to be of real assistance to communities. I’ll never forget the shocking statistic collected for the World Humanitarian Summit: nine out of ten Syrian refugees in Jordan received aid assistance, but only three in ten found that assistance useful.