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Self Report 2017

The self-report on WHS Commitments below is organized according to the 24 transformations of the Agenda for Humanity. It is based on commitments pledged at the time of report submission. Click on the 'Expand' symbol to expand each section and read the reporting inputs by transformation.

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4A
Reinforce, do not replace, national and local systems

Joint Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Commitment Type
  • Core Responsibility
  • As a member of the Cash Learning Partnership (CaLP), Catholic Relief Services commits to work with states, humanitarian and development agencies and the private sector to build consensus, capacity, resources and commitment to scale up multipurpose humanitarian cash transfers in line with the calls to action laid out in the CaLP Agenda for Cash.
  • Advocacy
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
Partners: CaLP Cash Learning Partnership

  • Catholic Relief Services commits to establishing a common approach to providing information to affected people and collecting, aggregating and analysing feedback from communities to influence decision-making processes at strategic and operational levels.


  • Operational
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
Partners: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

  • Catholic Relief Services commits to adopt the Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS) and International Aid Transparency Initiative Standard, with clear benchmarks for achieving these through the CHS Alliance self-assessment tool.


  • Policy
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need Invest in Humanity
Partners: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

Individual Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Commitment Type
  • Core Responsibility
  • Catholic Relief Services commits to invest in and strengthen its own cash readiness and that of its local partners, allowing for the use of cash when appropriate in all its humanitarian and development programming by 2020.
  • Operational
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
  • Catholic Relief Services commits to measuring effectiveness, appropriateness, feasibility and efficiency of its cash programming as a means of contributing to learning and the global expansion of cash programming.
  • Operational
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
  • Catholic Relief Services commits to providing a global platform, the Institute for Capacity Strengthening (ICS) for learning and access to test guidance and tools for its network of over 1,150 local partners in more than 90 countries and beyond. It also commits to expanding the use of its Partnership Scorecard through which local partners provide use with feedback on the quality of its partnership and support.
  • Operational
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
  • Catholic Relief Services will ensure that all its programming with local partners includes the mainstreaming of protection and mechanisms for information flow to and from affected people in order to ensure their active role in defining response design, implementation, and monitoring by 2020.
  • Operational
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
  • Catholic Relief Services will prioritize partner leadership in coordination mechanisms, at the expense of its direct role, where possible. Catholic Relief Services commits to area based, coordinated and multi-sectoral assessments and response planning that build on local systems and coping mechanisms.
  • Operational
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need

Core Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Core Responsibility
  • Commit to a new way of working that meets people's immediate humanitarian needs, while at the same time reducing risk and vulnerability over multiple years through the achievement of collective outcomes. To achieve this, commit to the following: a) Anticipate, Do Not Wait: to invest in risk analysis and to incentivize early action in order to minimize the impact and frequency of known risks and hazards on people. b) Reinforce, Do Not Replace: to support and invest in local, national and regional leadership, capacity strengthening and response systems, avoiding duplicative international mechanisms wherever possible. c) Preserve and retain emergency capacity: to deliver predictable and flexible urgent and life-saving assistance and protection in accordance with humanitarian principles. d) Transcend Humanitarian-Development Divides: work together, toward collective outcomes that ensure humanitarian needs are met, while at the same time reducing risk and vulnerability over multiple years and based on the comparative advantage of a diverse range of actors. The primacy of humanitarian principles will continue to underpin humanitarian action.
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
  • Commit to reinforce national and local leadership and capacities in managing disaster and climate-related risks through strengthened preparedness and predictable response and recovery arrangements.
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
  • Commit to increase investment in building community resilience as a critical first line of response, with the full and effective participation of women.
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
  • Commit to increase substantially and diversify global support and share of resources for humanitarian assistance aimed to address the differentiated needs of populations affected by humanitarian crises in fragile situations and complex emergencies, including increasing cash-based programming in situations where relevant.
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need Invest in Humanity
  • Commit to empower national and local humanitarian action by increasing the share of financing accessible to local and national humanitarian actors and supporting the enhancement of their national delivery systems, capacities and preparedness planning.
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need Invest in Humanity

  • What led your organization to make the commitment?

    The majority of Catholic Relief Services commitments are designed to have an impact at the "practice" and "behavior change" levels. However, we also expect our work at the practice level to inform policy - especially policies related to accountability, protection and cash. The main areas of focus based on the commitments above, as well as the Grand Bargain work streams include localization, cash coordination and scale-up, and accountability to affected populations (i.e. participation revolution).

  • Achievements at a glance

    Catholic Relief Services achievements:

    Localization:
    *Externally facing Institute for Partnership and Capacity Strengthening (www.ics.crs.org).
    * 2016 (FY): 1,962 local partners, USD 295 million in sub grants to local partners, USD 26 million in capacity strengthening.

    Cash Coordination and Cash at Scale:
    * Co-Champion of NGO Cash Platform and member of CaLP TWG
    * Internal Cash Working Group
    * Investment in building staff and partner cash readiness
    * Framework agreement signed to develop Cash Asset Transfer system that will provide information on our C&V programming globally
    * Over 31 million in cash/voucher programming in 2016 in 45 countries

    Accountability/Participation:
    * Collaboration with other Caritas International members to build capacity in protection mainstreaming of CRS and Partners (in line with GPC definition of PM, IASC protection policy, and CHS)
    * MEAL Policy that requires beneficiary feedback mechanisms
    * Investment in coordination leadership with a focus on coordination systems relevant to context and that promote local leadership

  • How is your organization assessing progress

    Catholic Relief Services assess progress by
    * Measuring global value/scale of CTP through CAT system.
    * Data from use of Institute for capacity strengthening.
    * Study outcomes - impact of capacity strengthening and CTP efficiency/effectiveness.

  • Challenges faced in implementation

    * Resources needed beyond Catholic Relief Services' private resources.
    * MEAL for capacity strengthening - ability to measure impact on program quality of partner programs.
    * Segregating data by type of local partner (for localization), type of asset transfer (for cash programming) under current systems.
    * Ability to influence "standard" humanitarian infrastructure for coordination.

  • Next step to advance implementation in 2017

    Catholic Relief Services will continue with efforts outlined above.

  • If you had one message for the annual report on what is most needed to advance the transformation 'Reinforce, do not replace, national and local systems', what would it be

    There needs to be a greater investment in/measurement of impact on programmatic outcomes of building quality partnerships between local and international organizations that benefit from respective capacities.

  • Cross cutting issues

    ☑Accountability to affected people ☑ Cash

  • Other related Agenda for Humanity transformations

    ☑5A - Invest in local capacities