When we launched Ground Truth in 2012, we thought tracking the perceptions of the intended beneficiaries of aid – accurately and frequently – would prompt more responsive humanitarian programmes. That still sounds reasonable, and our experience over the past three years has gone a long way towards validating the hypothesis. But it also underlines the[…]
This blog was originally posted on the Ground Truth Solutions website. With the growing focus on effectiveness and accountability in humanitarian operations, expectations for feedback mechanisms are unrealistically high. Contemporary wisdom demands that they both provide insight on the perceptions of people affected by humanitarian disasters and create the impetus for follow-up action. That’s[…]
The place of telephone helplines in the humanitarian accountability toolbox goes back to the first HAP standard in 2007. At the time, HAP called on organizations to make sure affected people could make complaints in a safe, accessible and effective manner. Because of their track record in mental health programs, helplines seemed like a good[…]
By storming the barricades at Budapest’s Keleti station and setting out on foot for the Austrian border, Syrian refugees rejected an international refugee system that provides them neither protection nor hope for the future. Thousands have already arrived in Germany as many European citizens rally to their cause. I was at Vienna’s Prater Stadium[…]
This was originally posted on the Ground Truth Solutions website. When, in 2008, the United Nations General Assembly designated August 19 as World Humanitarian Day, the aim was to honor humanitarian personnel and those who have lost their lives working for humanitarian causes. As we recognize their service and sacrifice this year, let us also[…]
Something worth pushing in preparations for next year’s World Humanitarian Summit is a shift from the current ad hoc approach to designing accountability systems in emergencies to a standard whole-of-program model that spells out what needs to be done and provides a robust delivery vehicle. Providing this kind of support at the overarching program level[…]
World Bank presidents are a lucky lot. I am always impressed how their diligent staff pick-up their half-formed ideas and work them up into something really robust. I hope they know that heads of other international bureaucracies are not so fortunate. In any event, the Bank is in the grip of just such a convulsion[…]
Nick van Praag, Director of Keystone’s Ground Truth program argues that the best way to gauge whether humanitarian programs are making a difference is to ask the intended beneficiaries Writing on the Feedbacak Labs blog, Nick discusses The forum on humanitarian standards, which was held in Geneva with support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). He suggests that the[…]