Asther is an accomplished humanitarian and development expert, and a RedR Australia roster member. Early in her career, she used her language skills (including two Ethiopian languages, Bulgarian, German, Russian and English) to work with refugees in the United Kingdom (UK). This sprouted an interest in supporting education for young people affected by crisis, including more than 14 years supporting refugee and conflict-affected communities in the UK, Iraq and Nigeria. 

Why do we need accountability? 

Through her years of experience, including her recent role as an accountability to affected people (AAP) coordinator for OCHA in Nigeria, Asther has gathered important insights into how—and why—we need to be accountable to people and communities who are impacted by humanitarian and development programming. 

Asther believes that accountability creates better programs—and better outcomes for affected populations. 

“AAP is an active and rights-based commitment by humanitarian actors grounded in the rights, dignity, capacity and safety of affected people,” said Asther. “When humanitarian actors take steps to consider the needs, resources and aspirations of affected people, then their responses will be more relevant. They will also be more effective, protective and sustainable.”

“Humanitarians also need to seek affected peoples’ views of humanitarian aid—and act upon them,” she added. 

AAP has strong linkages with localisation and efforts to build the capacity and leadership of local actors.

“It's important to understand there was life before the crisis,” said Asther. “There were structures, there were policies—many of them good.

“And, of course, there are the custodians of these systems and structures. These are local people, local organisations and, of course, local authorities and the government itself as the primary duty holder.”

What is ‘accountability to affected people’? 

While humanitarian and development organisations have long incorporated elements of accountability into their programming, efforts to improve in this area have increased during the last 30 years.

So what does ‘accountability to affect people’ (AAP) mean? 

According to Asther, AAP means the sharing of “transparent, time-sensitive and relevant information through two-way communication with affected people, engaging them in all the stages of program cycle, and giving them the tools to hold humanitarian actors to account, including on sensitive matters.” 

“[This means] engaging and actively involving affected people, taking account of their vulnerabilities and capabilities.” 

This type of sensitive and open dialogue is essential for building trust and developing the foundations for a successful program. 

“We're not just throwing information at them. We also need to understand what their needs are, what their hopes are for the future, and what their resources are. This approach recognises the agency of affected people,” said Asther.

She also says we need to build adaptable feedback systems that enable us to understand the preferred feedback mechanisms for affected people.

However, commitment to accountability involves not only having strong feedback and complaints mechanisms, but also acting on feedback and informing people about the actions taken to address their concerns.

How programs can be more accountable 

It takes time and effort to build two-way communication between programs and the populations they serve. And it happens across the program cycle. 

“AAP is a cross-cutting issue,” said Asther.

“During the needs assessment, two-way communication helps us to understand affected people’s needs. We speak to them in protective environments, in languages they understand, in culturally sensitive ways.” 

When fundraising for programs, Asther encourages organisations to ask, ‘how do we use the experiences, voices and needs of affected people to raise resources with donors?’ Using honest accounts of people’s needs is important to ensuring donors understand what they’re supporting. 

And during planning and implementation, AAP should be at the heart of all activities.  

“How were affected people consulted in the planning? Were they just given the log frame and told ‘what do you think about this?’ Or did they jointly design interventions? Were there opportunities for affected people to take on leadership responsibilities, and to support the monitoring and evaluation of services?” said Asther.  

“These activities help to ensure affected people are not just users of the service, but also important participants in the implementation process.” 

Asther also mentions the importance of flexible funding. 

“If we're asking organisations to have robust complaints feedback mechanisms, then it stands to reason that they will make changes based on the feedback they receive,” she said. “But if funding is not flexible, then they will not be able to adapt programs based on the views and perceptions of affected people”.

“So flexible funding is important to integrate feedback and make responses more effective.” 

The importance of protection 

AAP is closely linked to another cross-cutting issue—protection. Without protection, humanitarian action can’t be effective.

“Nothing we do will amount to anything if what we do is not rooted in protection and, of course, cultural sensitivity,” said Asther. “Protection is very important. The fantastic schools we build, and the water wells we dig, will not mean a lot unless we are able to keep affected people safe and protected.”

Asther’s experience with refugee and host communities also shows the importance of protection and sensitive programming.

“In areas where there are vulnerable host communities, if our activities are only interventions focused on displaced people, this can lead to tensions with host communities, and potentially put displaced people in harm's way,” said Asther. “So, [programs] need to consider the needs of host communities’ vulnerable people as well. We need to be inclusive and protective.” 

Listening and changing 

Asther’s recent experience in Nigeria also showed her how powerful AAP can be. All communities have different needs—and sometimes these needs can really vary.

Asther explains, "In some areas people say, ‘Well, I would rather you train us in animal husbandry or small-scale farming, because that means we can continue working and making an income.’ And in other places they say, ‘Cash is better because it gives us the freedom to buy this, pay for that.' And in other places, people say, ‘No, the cash is worthless’, which is the case in Nigeria, unfortunately. So, they might say, ‘Give us the food, the sacks of rice, because if you give us cash, the value is falling by the day, and we won't be able to use it.’”

That's why listening to people is very important from the start. “It means you adjust your interventions according to their preferred aid mechanism,” said Asther. “And that makes a difference. You have listened to them and you're doing what they asked, and that will help create more sustainable solutions.”

Building strong programs, from the ground up

For Asther, the heart of AAP is putting decision-making in the hands of affected people in all their diversity—including women, children, people with disabilities, and members of minority groups.

“Humanitarian action never starts from zero. There's always something to build upon,” said Asther.

Learn more about the work of RedR Australia’s roster members here.