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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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  • 1B
    Act early

    Individual Commitments (1)

    • Commitment
    • Commitment Type
    • Core Responsibility
    • Concern Worldwide commits to disseminate across the humanitarian community evidence of innovative and effective programming that addresses conflict.
    • Policy
    • Political Leadership to Prevent and End Conflicts

    Core Commitments (2)

    • Commitment
    • Core Responsibility
    • Commit to act early upon potential conflict situations based on early warning findings and shared conflict analysis, in accordance with international law.
    • Political Leadership to Prevent and End Conflicts
    • Commit to make successful conflict prevention visible by capturing, consolidating and sharing good practices and lessons learnt.
    • Political Leadership to Prevent and End Conflicts
    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.

    Under this commitment Concern Worldwide committed to disseminate learning on conflict related programming and to that end a staff researcher has been hired and has already undertaken extensive research regarding conflict work with Concern’s teams in South Sudan, Central Africa Republic, Somalia, Afghanistan, Syria, and Kenya . This work focuses on two main areas; Conflict and Hunger and Conflict and Displacement.  Preliminary findings from this work has already been disseminated internally.

    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?

    As part of Concern's three year conflict strategy a set of deliverables, outputs and objectives have been laid out which will be used to measure progress towards change.

    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
    • Field conditions, including insecurity and access
    B. How are these challenges impacting achievement of this transformation?

    Concern focuses on conflict affected areas under this commitment.  As such, direct data collection and access to affected populations is difficult to obtain.  Furthermore, secondary data is often missing in these environments.

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

    Concern plans to roll out the findings from its conflict research during 2018 including numerous dissemination events and a session during Concern's 50th anniversary summit in September 2018.  Furthermore, Concern's conflict strategy has numerous advocacy related deliverables to accomplish during this period.

    Keywords

    Displacement

  • 2B
    Ensure full access to and protection of the humanitarian and medical missions

    Individual Commitments (2)

    • Commitment
    • Commitment Type
    • Core Responsibility
    • By 2018, all key Concern programme staff will receive training in the guiding principles of humanitarian action.
    • Training
    • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity
    • Concern Worldwide commits to advocate for the full and unimpeded access of populations affected by disaster and conflict to humanitarian assistance.
    • Advocacy
    • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity

    Core Commitments (2)

    • Commitment
    • Core Responsibility
    • Commit to ensure all populations in need receive rapid and unimpeded humanitarian assistance.
    • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity
    • Commit to promote and enhance efforts to respect and protect medical personnel, transports and facilities, as well as humanitarian relief personnel and assets against attacks, threats or other violent acts.
    • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard 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.

    Ensuring full access to, and protection of, humanitarian mission requires an understanding of the guiding principles of humanitarian action by all staff.  To that end, guiding principles of humanitarian action is included in the on-boarding process all key programme staff undertake after being hired for the first time by Concern. 

    In addition to this being part of the on-boarding process, Concern utilizes two e-learning courses to further disseminate and reinforce knowledge regarding this information; one entitled ‘Being Humanitarian’ on the internal Concern Learn 365 platform and one entitled ‘Building a Better Response’; designed by International Medical Corps, Harvard Humanitarian Initiative and Concern Worldwide. 571 Concern Staff have registered for the Building a Better Response course alone. 

    Concern also actively engages with the international humanitarian architecture at both the cluster level and leadership level (HCT (Humanitarian Country Team) membership) and uses this engagement to advocate for full and unimpeded access.  In 2017 Concern was either a member or alternate on nine Humanitarian Country Teams (or similar leadership structures).

    Finally, as one of the non-governmental organization (NGO) representatives on the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Emergency Directorate, Concern takes part in assessments, missions, and meetings always with an eye to access constraints and advocates accordingly. 

     

    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?

    Concern tracks training data regarding humanitarian principles including numbers accessing trainings and basic qualitative data on knowledge improvement. Concern has an advocacy strategy with output and deliverables which measure advocacy activities.

    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
    • IHL and IHRL compliance and accountability
    B. How are these challenges impacting achievement of this transformation?

    The increasingly complex nature of humanitarian crises, combined with a seeming decrease in respect for International Humanitarian Law (IHL) has created challenges in this regard.

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

    Concern plans to continue its training and advocacy activities regarding this commitment in order to achieve this transformation.

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

    A system wide reaffirmation to principles of humanitarian action and IHL are needed in order to achieve this transformation. Governments and international bodies need to hold violators to account and force change in this regard.

    Keywords

    Humanitarian principles

  • 2D
    Take concrete steps to improve compliance and accountability

    Individual Commitments (5)

    • Commitment
    • Commitment Type
    • Core Responsibility
    • Concern Worldwide commits to continue to expand knowledge of, and adherence to, the Programme Participant Protection Policy to all staff and partner organisations to reduce the incidence of sexual exploitation and abuse of local populations.
    • Training
    • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity
    • Concern Worldwide will develop and implement strategies, to the extent possible, for the engagement of men and boys as part of the solution to prevent and respond to gender-based violence in crisis settings by 2018.
    • Operational
    • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity
    • Concern Worldwide will ensure that all of its humanitarian responses are informed by detailed protection and GBV analysis, and that all programmes will be designed to include actions to prevent and respond to all forms GBV by 2018.
    • Operational
    • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity
    • Concern Worldwide will sign on to the Call to Action and its roadmap on the prevention of gender based violence in emergencies, and implement the IASC Guidelines for Integrating Gender-Based Violence Interventions in Humanitarian Action by 2018.
    • Policy
    • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity
    • Concern Worldwide will use its leadership of the Irish Consortium on Gender Based Violence to support a coordinated global approach to prevent and respond to gender based violence in conflicts and disasters.
    • Partnership
    • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity

    Core Commitments (3)

    • Commitment
    • Core Responsibility
    • Commit to promote and enhance respect for international humanitarian law, international human rights law, and refugee law, where applicable.
    • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity
    • Implement a coordinated global approach to prevent and respond to gender-based violence in crisis contexts, including through the Call to Action on Protection from Gender-based Violence in Emergencies.
    • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity
    • Fully comply with humanitarian policies, frameworks and legally binding documents related to gender equality, women's empowerment, and women's rights.
    • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity 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.

    Gender-based violence prevention and response

    Concern entered into a strategic two year partnership with the non-governmental organization (NGO) Sonke Gender Justice to provide support in bringing forward Concern’s gender transformation work.  An “Engaging Men” manual was developed and training was carried out in Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

    Concern’s CEO is currently the chair of the Irish Consortium on Gender Based Violence (ICGBV) and Concern collaborated with other Consortium members to commemorate the 16 days of Activism against gender-based violence (GBV) in Afghanistan, Sierra Leone and Malawi, increasing awareness on violence against women and girls.  In Lebanon, the 16 days were used as an opportunity to reinforce anti SGBV (sexual and gender-based violence) and gender equality messaging with local power holders. 

    In Malawi, Liberia and Sierra Leone, referral pathways were mapped and strengthened to support children affected by School-Related Gender-Based Violence (SRGBV).

    All Concern staff in DRC received refresher training on Concern's Programme Participant Protection Policy.

    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?

    Concern conducts independent evaluations and lessons learned are collated in meta evaluations, case studies and knowledge briefs.  Gender and Protection are considered as cross-cutting issues.  Management responses provide a means to monitor progress.

    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
    • Human resources/capacity
    B. How are these challenges impacting achievement of this transformation?

    Sufficient funding isn’t always available for work on GBV so having dedicated GBV or gender staff is not always possible in larger programmes.  Unless it is a specific objective of a programme, insufficient attention is often given to it.

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

    Eight further countries will receive training on the 'Engaging Men' manual.  Three or four countries will receive training on Psychosocial Support (PSS) manuals focused on engaging men.  The Central African Republic (CAR) has launched a five year programme promoting equality and addressing GBV.  Concern helped develop a policy brief for the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) 2018 and presented at a side event. A number of countries will apply for dedicated GBV funding for work with refugees. 

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

    Sufficient resources need to be dedicated to gender and GBV approaches in integrated programming.  Local organisations with experience on gender and GBV also need to be supported.  More sharing of good practice and lessons learned should be encouraged and facilitated.

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

    Concern's two-year Sonke partnership in ten countries will develop a training manual on engaging men.  A summer school with ICGBV will increase the capacity of national staff in this field. Some activities for the 16 days of Activism engage communities with murals and videos.

    Keywords

    Gender

  • 3A
    Reduce and address displacement

    Individual Commitments (3)

    • Commitment
    • Commitment Type
    • Core Responsibility
    • Concern and its Alliance2015 partners commit to having a programme presence in up to ten of the countries with the greatest level of displacement.
    • Operational
    • Leave No One Behind
    • Concern Worldwide will advocate for and develop creative solutions to end protracted displacement.
    • Advocacy
    • Leave No One Behind
    • Concern Worldwide will raise public and political awareness of the causes and consequences of displacement, to enhance public empathy and help reduce growing levels of intolerance and discrimination.
    • Advocacy
    • Leave No One Behind

    Core Commitments (1)

    • Commitment
    • Core Responsibility
    • Commit to a new approach to addressing forced displacement that not only meets immediate humanitarian needs but reduces vulnerability and improves the resilience, self-reliance and protection of refugees and IDPs. Commit to implementing this new approach through coherent international, regional and national efforts that recognize both the humanitarian and development challenges of displacement. Commit to take the necessary political, policy, legal and financial steps required to address these challenges for the specific context.
    • 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.

    IDPs (due to conflict, violence, and disaster)

    Established internal working groups and key messaging documents on Somalia and South Sudan. Messaging included causes and consequences of displacement, including insecurity, food insecurity, and conflict.  The key messages are for agency-wide use in meetings with key stakeholders (i.e. governments, United Nations (UN)).

    For Syria, Concern released a report entitled Shattered Lives, which highlighted protection issues and the displacement crisis.

    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?

    Seeing if messaging is reflected in other reports and key messaging documents. Though it is difficult to attribute Concern's messaging to achievement of the transformation.

    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.
    • Buy-in
    • Human resources/capacity
    • Institutional/Internal constraints
    B. How are these challenges impacting achievement of this transformation?

    Limited country team capacity can occasionally make it difficult for advocates to collect up-to-date information for meetings with advocacy targets (i.e. governments, UN).  In-country sensitivities can restrict Concern's ability to sign on to coalition documents.

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

    Refreshing messaging documents for Somalia, South Sudan and Syria and continue to engage in coordinated advocacy to UK, US, and international targets around displacement in these humanitarian crises.

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

    In order to reduce/address displacement there needs to be poltiical will to negotiate political resolution to conflicts. There also needs to be greater respect for International Humanitarian Law, and violators, whether they be individuals or governments, need to be held accountable.

    Keywords

    Displacement, Protection

  • 3D
    Empower and protect women and girls

    Individual Commitments (1)

    • Commitment
    • Commitment Type
    • Core Responsibility
    • Concern Worldwide will ensure that all of its humanitarian responses are informed by gender and protection analysis, increasing the meaningful participation of women and adolescent girls in the design, delivery and review of all interventions.
    • Operational
    • Leave No One Behind

    Core Commitments (3)

    • Commitment
    • Core Responsibility
    • Empower Women and Girls as change agents and leaders, including by increasing support for local women's groups to participate meaningfully in humanitarian action.
    • Leave No One Behind
    • Ensure that humanitarian programming is gender responsive.
    • Leave No One Behind
    • Fully comply with humanitarian policies, frameworks and legally binding documents related to gender equality, women's empowerment, and women's rights.
    • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity 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.

    Concern began a partnership with Sonke Gender Justice, an investment in strengthening its capacity to deliver gender sensitive programmes. Concern consistently integrates gender equality into contextual analyses and needs assessments and collect sex disaggregated data to ensure equitable representation of men and women in its programming. Gender equality objectives and indicators to measure these are included in Concern's programmes. 

    Concern now has dedicated gender officers in South Sudan and the Central African Republic (CAR), a trend that will likely continue in other countries. Case management has been integrated into gender-based violence (GBV) work in Lebanon and Turkey, as well as child protection work in Syria.

    In Malawi, formative research was conducted on gender equality and facilitation manuals were designed for use in a major piece of research on engaging men in a gender transformative approach.  In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Concern engaged a gender consultant to provide technical support to the team so as to strengthen the integration of gender in programming.  In Afghanistan a consultant carried out formative research, designed facilitation manuals and carried out training for staff on a gender transformative approach.

    Men, women and children are always consulted when community committees are established and Concern ensures equal representation or else help establish separate women’s committees.

    Work on School-Related Gender-Based Violence (SRGBV) is a key part of education in countries where Concern does education in emergencies work and it had SRGBV programmes in ten countries. In Sierra Leone research is being conducted on including a gender transformative approach as part of SRGBV prevention.

    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?

    Concern conducts independent evaluations and lessons learned are collated in meta evaluations, case studies and knowledge briefs. Gender and Protection are considered as cross-cutting issues.  Management responses provide a means to monitor progress.

    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
    • Human resources/capacity
    B. How are these challenges impacting achievement of this transformation?

    The lack of sufficient internal capacity and short donor timeframes make conducting comprehensive gender and protection analyses at needs assessment and proposal stage difficult.  More dedicated GBV or gender staff are required.

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

    Common indicators on gender roles and attitudes will be measured across almost all programmes over the coming years, for both staff and communities.  Sonke will increase Concern's internal capacity and lead to the implementation of community level gender transformative approaches to engage men and women for improved empowerment of women and girls. Concern will review our survey tools to ensure gender attitudes are adequately captured across its programmes.

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

    More coordination is required within countries to have joint gender analysis and needs assessments as well as a sharing of capacity, tools and resources around gender and protection analysis. Further support to countries needs to be provided to improve gender sensitive programme design, implementation and monitoring.

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

    The Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS) certification process included self-assessments on gender and protection analysis.  A robust customer relationship management (CRM) in each country facilitates accountability, participation and analysis.  Concern works with two universities on gender research in Sierra Leone and Malawi.

    Keywords

    Gender, People-centred approach

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

    Individual Commitments (5)

    • Commitment
    • Commitment Type
    • Core Responsibility

    • Concern Worldwide commits to expand and deepen national NGOs' understanding of humanitarian systems through continued training.


    • Training
    • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
    • Concern Worldwide promotes the participation of all affected populations, specifically women and girls, to ensure their full engagement in the design and delivery of programmes.
    • Advocacy
    • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
    • Concern Worldwide will deepen its engagement with and accountability to disaster and conflict affected populations through its commitment to the Core Humanitarian Standards (CHS) and other key good practice standards.
    • Policy
    • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
    • Concern Worldwide will only respond when needed, and only establish direct responses when there are clear identified gaps and unmet needs.
    • Operational
    • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
    • Concern Worldwide will reinforce, rather than replace, in-country efforts for humanitarian preparedness and response, recognising that communities themselves are critical first responders.
    • Operational
    • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need

    Core Commitments (5)

    • 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
    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.

    Adherence to quality and accountability standards (e.g. CHS, SPHERE)

    Concern is pleased to announce it has completed the official audit requirements for Core Humanitarian Standards (CHS) by the Humanitarian Quality Assurance Initiative (HQAI) and has been deemed certified in the Core Humanitarian Standards. Prior to this, Concern was verified as Compliant with the People In Aid Code and was certified by Humanitarian Accountability. Partnership (HAP) International in 2013. 

    Strengthening national/local leadership and systems

    The main mechanisms Concern uses to this end are its partnership in the Building a Better Response project and its leadership in the National non-governmental organization (NGO) Program on Humanitarian Leadership.  Both of these projects seek to expand and deepen national NGO’s understanding of humanitarian systems while also helping them engage in a more meaningful manner through online training, in person workshops, webinars, mentorship and other learning techniques. To date over 35,000 humanitarian stakeholders have taken part in these training initiatives.

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

    Concern places strong emphasis on engagement with communities affected by disasters, ensuring that its response is clearly aimed at identified needs.  All of Concern's programmes have a Complaints and Response mechanism in place to ensure that communities know their rights and can complain if they are not being met in a dignified manner.

    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?

    Evaulations of Concern's emergency responses, which include questions and analysis on this community engagement. Concern also tracks numbers reached with trainings and strives to maintain Core Humanitarian Standards (CHS) certification. Finally Concern maintains data on its customer relationship management (CRM).

    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.
    • Funding amounts
    • Funding modalities (earmarking, priorities, yearly agreements, risk aversion measures)
    • Human resources/capacity
    B. How are these challenges impacting achievement of this transformation?

    Initiatives under this transformation require significant allocation of resources, both financial and human; allocations which are not always covered by institutional donors. Concern therefore often is forced to use unrestricted funding sources.

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

    Concern continues to provide training regarding key competencies in 2018. Additionally, Concern strives to maintain its certification under CHS and will continue to engage communities in feedback mechanisms and programme design.

    Keywords

    Local action, People-centred approach, Quality and accountability standards

  • 5A
    Invest in local capacities

    Individual Commitments (2)

    • Commitment
    • Commitment Type
    • Core Responsibility
    • Concern Worldwide continues to work through and provide funding for national partners (the current average over six years is 25% of its annual humanitarian budget) and clearly show national NGO partner funding allocations in its annual report.
    • Financial
    • Invest in Humanity
    • Concern Worldwide will increase its investment in actions that build the emergency response capacity of national NGOs and civil society organizations, ensuring that it has a memoranda of understanding with partners that reflect and build on the Principles of Partnership.
    • Operational
    • Invest in Humanity

    Core Commitments (1)

    • Commitment
    • Core Responsibility
    • 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
    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.

    Direct funding to national/local actors

    Working with or through partners - specifically national and local actors - continues to be Concern’s preferred method of programming as illustrated by its ‘Approach to Emergencies’ and ‘Partnership Policy’ documents.  To that end 19,163 million euros was directly granted to partners in 2017.  This amount is clearly shown in the Concern Annual report.

    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?

    Programme evaluations and partner capacity assessments remain the main methods for assessing progress.

    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
    • Field conditions, including insecurity and access
    • Human resources/capacity
    B. How are these challenges impacting achievement of this transformation?

    As Concern continues to focus programming on complex and conflict affected emergencies it is often difficult to find suitable local partners which would allow for principled, timely, and effective response.

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

    Concern continues to commit to directly funding local and national actors as its preferred method of programming through 2018 and will track funding allocated via these partners. 

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

    Capacity building and strengthening of local actors in difficult and complex environments would be needed to achieve this transformation.

    Keywords

    Local action

  • 5D
    Finance outcomes, not fragmentation: shift from funding to financing

    Individual Commitments (2)

    • Commitment
    • Commitment Type
    • Core Responsibility
    • Concern Worldwide commits to advocate with donors for predictable multi-year funding commitments and instruments that enable humanitarian programming to look at longer term resilience-oriented solutions.
    • Advocacy
    • Invest in Humanity
    • Concern Worldwide commits to advocate with donors to close the funding gap and to ensure that all inter-agency humanitarian appeals are fully funded.
    • Advocacy
    • Invest in Humanity

    Core Commitments (1)

    • Commitment
    • Core Responsibility
    • Commit to promote and increase predictable, multi-year, unearmarked, collaborative and flexible humanitarian funding toward greater efficiency, effectiveness, transparency and accountability of humanitarian action for affected people.
    • 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.

    Concern drafted key messaging documents for both South Sudan and Somalia with messaging that highlighted the need for predictable and sustained funding for protracted crises. Messaging was used in meetings with donors and key stakeholders, including a meeting with United Nations (UN) agencies on the four-famine affected countries as well as in a meeting with the Department for International Development (United Kingdom) (DFID) ahead of the 2017 London Conference on Somalia.

    In all meetings with donors, whether it be on South Sudan, Somalia, Syria, or Lake Chad Basin, Concern continues to highlight the funding gaps in each of the situations. Concern calls on donors to address the gap and also highlights the fact that costs and needs will only continue to grow.

    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?

    Seeing if messaging is reflected in other reports and key messaging documents. Though it is difficult to attribute Concern's messaging to achievement of the transformation.

    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.
    • Buy-in
    • Human resources/capacity
    • Institutional/Internal constraints
    B. How are these challenges impacting achievement of this transformation?

    Limited country team capacity can occasionally make it difficult for advocates to collect up-to-date information for meetings with advocacy targets (i.e. governments, UN). In-country sensitivities can restrict Concern's ability to sign on to coalition documents.

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

    Refreshing messaging documents for Somalia, South Sudan and Syria and continue to engage in coordinated advocacy to UK, US, and international targets around funding and the need for more predictable funding.

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

    To be able to have multi-year and more predictable funding, donor governments need to have more predictable budgeting processes. Most governments can only guarantee funding on an annual basis, even if it is for a multi-year award. Additionally donors have to be more willing to make long-term investments in fragile and conflict-affected countries.

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

    Individual Commitments (3)

    • Commitment
    • Commitment Type
    • Core Responsibility
    • Concern Worldwide commits to continue to engage NGO-led financing mechanisms, and influence donors to increase their support for these effective disbursement processes.
    • Policy
    • Invest in Humanity

    • Concern Worldwide commits to remain consistent with international standards, continue to implement transparent programme planning and reporting processes.


    • Operational
    • Invest in Humanity
    • Concern Worldwide fully engages with the outcomes of the Grand Bargain for improved efficiency of humanitarian resources.
    • Policy
    • Invest in Humanity

    Core Commitments (2)

    • Commitment
    • Core Responsibility
    • 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 promote and increase predictable, multi-year, unearmarked, collaborative and flexible humanitarian funding toward greater efficiency, effectiveness, transparency and accountability of humanitarian action for affected people.
    • 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.

    Concern Worldwide continues to be an active member of the Start Network, with representation on the Board of Trustees. The Network’s flagship programme is the Start Fund, a multi-donor emergency response fund governed and run by the Start Network’s 42 members across Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and North, Central and South America.  The Start Fund provides a model for rapid disbursement, taking only 72 hours or less from alert to funds allocation. It is also a trailblazer in terms of taking decisions as close as possible to the crisis-affected communities, with project allocation decisions taken almost invariably in the country where the crisis happened, and 64% of responses in 2017 were mounted in partnership with local organisations. 

    Concern Worldwide implements the Responding to Pakistan’s Internally Displaced (RAPID) program in Pakistan; one of the preeminent non-governmental organization (NGO) led financing mechanisms. This program provides vetting, training and implementation support for NGOs to access a pooled funding in Pakistan that is operated by Concern and funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Over USD 56 million has been distributed to 97 NGOs through this process reaching 6 million affected persons. 

    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?

    Several evaluations and studies have been conducted and/or are planned on the referenced financing modalities in order to assess progress.

    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.
    • Funding amounts
    • Funding modalities (earmarking, priorities, yearly agreements, risk aversion measures)
    • Joined-up humanitarian-development analysis, planning, funding and/or response
    B. How are these challenges impacting achievement of this transformation?

    The scale of resources committed to these funding mechanisms is relatively small in relationship to the scale of the problem. Concern is undertaking advocacy to promote and increase the amount of funding dedicated.

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

    In Pakistan, Concern (as part of the START Network) is in the scoping phase of a ‘Drought Financing Facility’, under which insurance payouts would be triggered automatically if and when agreed indicators are met relating to the emerging incidence of agricultural drought (and hence food insecurity).  Work on RAPID and the START fund will also continue.

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

    Strong commitment from donors and institutions to NGO led financing mechanisms is needed.

    Keywords

    Country-based pooled funds, Disaster Risk Reduction

Attachments

  • WHS Commitments Attachments
    Transformation - 1B, 4B | Community resilience
  • WHS Commitments Attachments
    Transformation - 2A | Gender, Protection