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Self Report 2018

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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  • 3G
    Address other groups or minorities in crisis settings

    Individual Commitments (1)

    • Commitment
    • Commitment Type
    • Core Responsibility
    • HelpAge International commits to endorse the Charter on Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Humanitarian Action.
    • Policy
    • Leave No One Behind
    1. Highlight the concrete actions taken between 1 January – 31 December 2017 to implement the commitments which contribute to achieving this transformation. Be as specific as possible and include any relevant data/figures.

    • The Charter on Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Humanitarian Action has been the core document underpinning the development of the Age and Disability Capacity Programme (ADCAP), a sector wide inclusion and humanitarian programme, led by HelpAge with consortia partners. The Charter has been used as a framework from which the Humanitarian Inclusion Standards have been launched for the sector to use, in order to ensure inclusive humanitarian programming is carried out by all humanitarian agencies, not just specialist agencies.
    • The Charter has also been used by HelpAge along with other agencies, to advocate for inclusive humanitarian response to the Start Network who have now signed the Charter and are progressing their work on accessibility and inclusion.
    • HelpAge has worked closely with Islamic Relief and Christian Aid using the Charter on Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Humanitarian Action to drive our joint inclusion agendas and activities, including in specific humanitarian response and preparedness programmes.
    • HelpAge continue to participate in the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) task team on disabilities which has the Charter at the heart of its operations, and is working as part of the task team on the new guidance for working with persons with disabilities in humanitarian contexts, ensuring age and disability are integrated.
    • HelpAge has researched and drafted a report into the specific experiences of older persons with disabilities in humanitarian contexts in Ukraine and Tanzania which will be published in April 2018. 

    2. A. How are you measuring progress toward achieving your commitments? Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • Through existing, internal systems or frameworks for monitoring, reporting and/or evaluation.
    • Through multi-stakeholder processes or initiatives (e.g. IASC, Grand Bargain, Charter for Change, etc).
    B. How are you assessing whether progress on commitments is leading toward change in the direction of the transformation?

    HelpAge is integrating indicators across its global planning and reporting processes and ensure that sex, age, disability, and gender disaggregated data is collected across its work in order to better inform programmes and advocacy. HelpAge has developed internal guidelines for inclusive programme planning and has established an organisational wide disability learning group.

    3. A. Please select no more than 3 key challenges faced in implementing the commitments related to this transformation. Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • Adherence to standards and/or humanitarian principles
    • Institutional/Internal constraints
    • Other: Older people with disabilities are not always recognised in global platforms working on this area
    B. How are these challenges impacting achievement of this transformation?

    Older people with disabilities are at risk of being excluded from wider disability and inclusion work. Organisational culture change takes time. HelpAge is still working to ensure that inclusion is integrated at an organisation, programme and technical level. Changes to staff and funding levels have impacted on the continuity of this work.

    4. Highlight actions planned for 2018 to advance implementation of your commitments in order to achieve this transformation.

    • HelpAge will publish, disseminate and use the research into the specific experiences of older people with disabilities in humanitarian contexts to further drive this inclusive agenda and the implementation of the Charter.
    • HelpAge will continue to bring the voices of older people to the IASC task team on persons with disabilities.
    • HelpAge will continue out work to integrate the Humanitarian Inclusion Standards into the Sphere Standards.
    • HelPage will develop global and regional inclusion tools. 

    5. What steps or actions are needed to make collective progress to achieve this transformation?

    It is important to continue to strengthen platforms for engagement of older people with disabilities and increase participation of persons with disabilities across the sector, with this work, to ensure that inclusion includes people of all ages. It is important to collectively engage further with donors, regional platforms and institutions to ensure the systematic adoption of the Charter and the Humanitarian Inclusion Standards.

    6. List any good practice or examples of innovation undertaken individually or in cooperation with others to advance this transformation.

    The ADCAP Humanitarian Inclusion Standards bring together standards, key actions and practical guidance for including older people and people with disabilities in emergency responses. It also provides tools and resources, and case studies illustrating how older people and people with disabilities can better participate in humanitarian action.

    Keywords

    Disability

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

    Individual Commitments (3)

    • Commitment
    • Commitment Type
    • Core Responsibility
    • HelpAge International 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

    • HelpAge International 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
    • HelpAge International commits to make sustained funding conditional on the systematic collection of feedback from affected people on the quality and utility of humanitarian programmes.
    • Financial
    • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need

    Core Commitments (3)

    • Commitment
    • Core Responsibility
    • 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 ensure regional and global humanitarian assistance for natural disasters complements national and local efforts.
    • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
    1. Highlight the concrete actions taken between 1 January – 31 December 2017 to implement the commitments which contribute to achieving this transformation. Be as specific as possible and include any relevant data/figures.

    People-centered approaches (feedback mechanisms, community engagement, etc)

    HelpAge has developed a new humanitarian way of working which is underpinned by Protection and Inclusion and as such a people-centered and rights based approach (rather than focussing on service delivery). This means HelpAge is working with communities to collect more data, more systematically, which informs its humanitarian programmes and advocacy with the cluster system.

    HelpAge has improved its Rapid Needs Assessment (RNA) tool to include further data collection on disability and age disaggregation in 10 year increments from the age of 50. Its RNA tool includes capacity assessments for older people and HelpAge has advocated to ensure that older people are involved in livelihoods and cash programming.

    The HelpAge model offers opportunity for feedback from communities it serve e.g. complaints mechanisms in Kenya. In Bangladesh HelpAge set up local management committees led by refugees to oversee age friendly spaces that form a cornerstone of its response. These have equal participation of women and men.

    Strengthening national/local leadership and systems

    Country level preparedness has been made a priority, and HelpAge has explored new humanitarian partnerships in order to ensure its global humanitarian work is carried out with partners who focus on community level preparedness and who are accountable to the communities they serve.

    HelpAge has worked with local network members to build capacity to respond e.g. in Bangladesh and Tanzania.

    Using programmes such as the ALERT programme HelpAge has worked with government and disaster management agencies to support country and community level preparedness e.g.in Bali where it is setting up workshops with government and local agencies to focus on the ongoing volcanic eruption, and in Pakistan where community disaster risk reduction (DRR) training has been adapted to be fully inclusive and delivered with and through local communities, working with the disaster management authorities.

    In ensuring HelpAge strengthens local systems and participation, and connecting to the people-centered approach, it carries out community consultation in crisis affected communities e.g. in Kenya, Ukraine and Mozambique.

    2. A. How are you measuring progress toward achieving your commitments? Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • Through existing, internal systems or frameworks for monitoring, reporting and/or evaluation.
    B. How are you assessing whether progress on commitments is leading toward change in the direction of the transformation?

    This work is tracked through HelpAge's ongoing humanitarian programme monitoring and HelpAge has ensured technical visits and support to its responses which measure and track the quality of our responses in relation to ensuring people-centered approaches and strengthening local and national systems.

    3. A. Please select no more than 3 key challenges faced in implementing the commitments related to this transformation. Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • Data and analysis
    • Funding amounts
    • Gender and/or vulnerable group inclusion
    B. How are these challenges impacting achievement of this transformation?

    As expected this year, humanitarian need far exceeds humanitarian funding meaning HelpAge has to be strategic in how and where it works. HelpAge is strategically investing in preparedness, its global network, and advocacy in its humanitarian approach to overcome funding challenges and impact positively on the lives of older people. 

    4. Highlight actions planned for 2018 to advance implementation of your commitments in order to achieve this transformation.

    HelpAga plans to build on its older-people-centered approach by introducing community level monitoring and evaluation and community data collection. Its focus on protection and inclusion lends itself to community-led programming and rights and participation monitoring. HelpAge will expand its humanitarian work through local partners/network members whom it will support and strengthen in their community and national level work, and develop its humanitarian advocacy to support these commitments. 

    5. What steps or actions are needed to make collective progress to achieve this transformation?

    HelpAge needs to continue to work with donors, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other agencies to ensure they are including older people in people-centered humanitarian responses and that older people do not remain invisible in local and national structures and systems. This includes cluster engagement at local and global level, and working with the HelpAge Network of over 120 organisations.

    6. List any good practice or examples of innovation undertaken individually or in cooperation with others to advance this transformation.

    In the Philippines over 40 L/N/INGOs (Local, National and International non-governmental organizations) and Government are using the Alert Platform to assess and improve preparedness. In Pakistan work with the Fata Disaster Management Authority (FDMA) on Age and Disability inclusive emergency preparedness and responses, led to the FDMA telling all agencies that age and disability should be included in projects, before approval is granted.

    Keywords

    Local action, People-centred approach

  • 4B
    Anticipate, do not wait, for crises

    Core Commitments (2)

    • Commitment
    • Core Responsibility
    • Commit to accelerate the reduction of disaster and climate-related risks through the coherent implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, as well as other relevant strategies and programs of action, including the SIDS Accelerated Modalities of Action (SAMOA) Pathway.
    • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need Invest in Humanity
    • Commit to improve the understanding, anticipation and preparedness for disaster and climate-related risks by investing in data, analysis and early warning, and developing evidence-based decision-making processes that result in early action.
    • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
    1. Highlight the concrete actions taken between 1 January – 31 December 2017 to implement the commitments which contribute to achieving this transformation. Be as specific as possible and include any relevant data/figures.

    HelpAge has been recruiting for a disaster risk reduction (DRR) lead for the organisation and in the meantime it continues to work across its global advocacy and country level advocacy and preparedness work to reduce disaster risk.

    HelpAge published a paper for the global HelpAge network of over 120 organisations on Agenda 2030, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Global Aging in order to support country, regional and global level advocacy and influencing in relation to the SDGs. This has a focus on the 'Leave No One Behind' theme and includes information and analysis on DRR, resilience and humanitarian response, and the Sendai Framework for Action.

    HelpAge has participated in global consultation on the Sendai Framework and published a policy paper to inform its, and its members advocacy, on Ageing Cities (titled Ageing and the city: making urban spaces work for older people) and the need for disaster risk management which is more age- and gender-responsive, as well as being mainstreamed into regular urban planning and local governance. This report included key data on aging and the urban areas, involved consultation with older people in different urban settings, and included recommendations for governments and local authorities. 

    Preparedness is a key focus of our new humanitarian programme approach at HelpAge and we have continued to implement the ALERT programme, which has developed an information management system that improves disaster preparedness and has helped humanitarian agencies and governments  to respond with greater speed, efficiency and effectiveness before and immediately after a disaster strikes. 

    2. A. How are you measuring progress toward achieving your commitments? Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • Through existing, internal systems or frameworks for monitoring, reporting and/or evaluation.
    • By reporting to, or using reports prepared for, UN principal organs, UN governing boards, or other international bodies
    B. How are you assessing whether progress on commitments is leading toward change in the direction of the transformation?

    HelpAge is working with national partners to develop country level advocacy plans regarding the SDGs, which will incorporate monitoring progress on goal 11 and DRR and preparedness. ALERT has been monitored through usage of the platform which governments, local authorities and local, national and international NGOs are using extensively. 

    3. A. Please select no more than 3 key challenges faced in implementing the commitments related to this transformation. Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • Data and analysis
    • Gender and/or vulnerable group inclusion
    • Human resources/capacity
    B. How are these challenges impacting achievement of this transformation?

    Data on older people is either not collected or fully analysed or utilised which leads to significant gaps in information for early warning and DRR programmes, policy and planning and leads to exclusion of older people from global processes.HelpAge has not had a DRR organisational lead in post this year. 

    4. Highlight actions planned for 2018 to advance implementation of your commitments in order to achieve this transformation.

    Recruitment of the DRR position will drive this work forward in 2018 at HelpAge. The organization will continue its engagement with the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) and their multi-stakeholder platform, ensuring this takes account of older people and will continue hosting the alert preparedness and DRR platform.

    HelpAge will work with specific countries on their SDGs influencing and will continue advocacy and engagement at a global level with Agenda 2030, including developing advocacy and policy on the humanitarian development nexus.

    5. What steps or actions are needed to make collective progress to achieve this transformation?

    Preparedness relies on collective action and HelpAge will continue to engage with other national, local and international NGOs and government disaster management agencies to build evidence based preparedness plans and activities. Its work to support the implementation of the Sendai Framework relies on its continued engagement with UNISDR, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and other agencies, to ensure older people are not excluded from these key global commitments. 

    Keywords

    Disaster Risk Reduction, Humanitarian-development nexus

  • 5B
    Invest according to risk

    Core Commitments (1)

    • Commitment
    • Core Responsibility
    • Commit to accelerate the reduction of disaster and climate-related risks through the coherent implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, as well as other relevant strategies and programs of action, including the SIDS Accelerated Modalities of Action (SAMOA) Pathway.
    • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need Invest in Humanity
    1. Highlight the concrete actions taken between 1 January – 31 December 2017 to implement the commitments which contribute to achieving this transformation. Be as specific as possible and include any relevant data/figures.

    HelpAge has been recruiting for a disaster risk reduction (DRR) lead for the organisation and in the meantime it continues to work across its global advocacy and country level advocacy and preparedness work to reduce disaster risk.

    HelpAge published a paper for the global HelpAge network of over 120 organisations on Agenda 2030, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Global Ageing in order to support country, regional and global level advocacy and influencing in relation to the SDGs. This has a focus on the 'Leave No One Behind' theme and includes references to DRR, resilience and humanitarian response, and the Sendai Framework for Action.

    HelpAge has participated in global consultations on the Sendai Framework and published a policy paper to inform its, and its members advocacy, on Ageing Cities (titled Ageing and the city: making urban spaces work for older people) which includes reference to the need for disaster risk management which is more age- and gender-responsive.

    Preparedness is a key focus of the new humanitarian programme approach at HelpAge and the organisation has continued to implement the ALERT programme, which has developed an information management system that improves disaster preparedness and has helped humanitarian agencies and governments to respond with greater speed, efficiency and effectiveness before and immediately after a disaster strikes. 

    HelpAge has worked with disaster management authorities to support their preparedness work and to make it age and disability inclusive e.g. in Kenya and Pakistan.

    2. A. How are you measuring progress toward achieving your commitments? Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • Through existing, internal systems or frameworks for monitoring, reporting and/or evaluation.
    • By reporting to, or using reports prepared for, UN principal organs, UN governing boards, or other international bodies
    B. How are you assessing whether progress on commitments is leading toward change in the direction of the transformation?

    HelpAge is working with national partners to develop country level advocacy plans regarding the SDGs. ALERT has been monitored through usage of the platform which governments, local authorities and local, national and international NGOs are using extensively. 

    3. A. Please select no more than 3 key challenges faced in implementing the commitments related to this transformation. Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • Data and analysis
    • Human resources/capacity
    B. How are these challenges impacting achievement of this transformation?

    Data on older people is either not collected or fully analysed or utilised which leads to significant gaps in information for early warning and DRR programmes, policy and planning and leads to exclusion of older people from global processes. HelpAge has not had a DRR organisational lead in post this year.

    4. Highlight actions planned for 2018 to advance implementation of your commitments in order to achieve this transformation.

    Recruitment of the DRR position will drive this work forward in 2018 at HelpAge. HelpAge will continue its engagement with the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) and their multi-stakeholder platform, ensuring this takes account of older people and will continue hosting the Alert preparedness and DRR platform.

    HelpAge will work with specific countries on their SDGs influencing and will continue advocacy and engagement at a global level with Agenda 2030, including developing advocacy and policy on the humanitarian development nexus.

    5. What steps or actions are needed to make collective progress to achieve this transformation?

    Preparedness relies on collective action and HelpAge will continue to engage with other national, local and international NGOs and government disaster management agencies to build evidence based preparedness plans and activities. Its work to support the implementation of the Sendai Framework relies on our continued engagement with UNISDR, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and other agencies, to ensure older people are not excluded from these key global commitments. 

    6. List any good practice or examples of innovation undertaken individually or in cooperation with others to advance this transformation.

    In the Philippines over 40 L/N/INGOs (Local, National and International non-governmental organizations) and Government are using the Alert Platform to assess and improve preparedness. In Pakistan work with the Fata Disaster Management Authority (FDMA) on Age and Disability inclusive emergency preparedness and responses, led to FDMA telling all agencies that age and disability should be included in projects, before approval is granted.

    Keywords

    Disability, Disaster Risk Reduction

  • 5E
    Diversify the resource base and increase cost-efficiency

    Individual Commitments (1)

    • Commitment
    • Commitment Type
    • Core Responsibility

    • HelpAge International 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
    1. Highlight the concrete actions taken between 1 January – 31 December 2017 to implement the commitments which contribute to achieving this transformation. Be as specific as possible and include any relevant data/figures.

    HelpAge International committed to adopting to adopt the Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS) and International Aid Transparency Initiative Standard (IATI). The organization now uses IATI and are compliant with this initiative - its is exploring ways to further utilise the initiative in relation to its Charter for Change commitments.

    HelpAge has undertaken a benchmarking process for the Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS) with a view to exploring accreditation next year. It is awaiting the results of this benchmarking exercise in order to then take forward areas for improvement. As part of this benchmarking exercise HelpAge has put in place an action plan of improvement which has been integrated into operational plans across the organisation.

    2. A. How are you measuring progress toward achieving your commitments? Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • Through existing, internal systems or frameworks for monitoring, reporting and/or evaluation.
    • By reporting to, or using reports prepared for, UN principal organs, UN governing boards, or other international bodies
    B. How are you assessing whether progress on commitments is leading toward change in the direction of the transformation?

    HelpAge is using the processes of the CHS and IATI to ensure that it is progressing on its commitments and are awaiting results from its benchmarking done with KPMG, to further support its work in this area.

    3. A. Please select no more than 3 key challenges faced in implementing the commitments related to this transformation. Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • Information management/tools
    B. How are these challenges impacting achievement of this transformation?

    Previously it has been challenging to ensure HelpAge has the right information to evidence  progress against this commitment. The need for further and deeper information collection and management has been identified as a challenge to the work of the organization. 

    4. Highlight actions planned for 2018 to advance implementation of your commitments in order to achieve this transformation.

    Having identified the challenge of information management and availability HelpAge has put in place an internal accountability mechanism to ensure buy in and ownership for this information collection and evidence gathering. HelpAge also plans to focus on the results of the benchmarking to progress its work -  this will include a focus on partnership working and staff safety and security.

    5. What steps or actions are needed to make collective progress to achieve this transformation?

    This commitment is part of a wider Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) process, whereby all DEC members are going through CHS benchmarking/accreditation. It's helpful to progress this alongside other agencies, including others who have opted for benchmarking this year.

    Keywords

    Transparency / IATI