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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 (2)

    • Commitment
    • Commitment Type
    • Core Responsibility
    • Mercy Corps commits to actively use early warning findings to identify, address, and defuse critical risks before they deteriorate into intractable conflicts by using preventive diplomacy tools such as good offices, peace and development advisors, groups of contact and mediation.
    • Operational
    • Political Leadership to Prevent and End Conflicts
    • Mercy Corps commits to conduct and share the learning from at least three major studies on countering violent extremism in complex crises by 2018.
    • Operational
    • 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.

    • Mercy Corps developed and began using an analytical tool with its field teams to identify root causes of conflict to support the development of programming to proactively address grievances and vulnerabilities that raise the risk of violent conflict before violence breaks out.
    • Completed and launched technical research on the drivers of and solutions to youth participation in violence in Mali. (See report "We Hope and We Fight: Youth, Communities, and Violence in Mali" https://www.mercycorps.org/research/%E2%80%9Cwe-hope-and-we-fight%E2%80%9D-youth-communities-and-violence-mali) 

    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).
    Keywords

    Youth

  • 1C
    Remain engaged and invest in stability

    Individual Commitments (1)

    • Commitment
    • Commitment Type
    • Core Responsibility
    • Mercy Corps aims to mainstream peace-building, conflict mitigation, and governance work to break cycles of conflict and fragility and build resilience in a majority of humanitarian responses by 2020.
    • Operational
    • Political Leadership to Prevent and End Conflicts

    Core Commitments (1)

    • Commitment
    • Core Responsibility
    • Commit to address root causes of conflict and work to reduce fragility by investing in the development of inclusive, peaceful societies.
    • 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.

    Mercy Corps is currently implementing 24 programs worth over $125 million that address root causes of conflict in places including DRC, Guatemala, Haiti, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Myanmar, Nigeria, and Uganda. During 2017, Mercy Corps:         

    • Launched initiatives to develop sector-specific guidance on how sector programs can address root causes of conflict and promote an enabling environment for peace, starting with the governance, climate/environment, and gender sectors.

    • Developed internal strategy development guidelines that include analysis of root causes of conflict in order to support the development of country portfolios that intentionally and proactively prevent violent conflict.

    • Shared research findings through Mercy Corps’ resilience hubs about building resilience in fragile contexts.

    • Participated on a high-level panel at the second Regional Resilience Forum in Uganda to reflect on the practice of resilience in the Horn of Africa and on the impact of development investments on resilience over the past five years.

    • Strengthened social cohesion among divided groups, including in Ethiopia through the Strengthening Institutions for Peace and Development program, where Mercy Corps worked with pastoralist communities and government to facilitate dialogues and develop agreements to manage natural resources, thereby strengthening the linkages between customary and state institutions.

    • Strengthened community resilience to recover from violent conflict shocks and prevent violent conflict shocks in Mali through a program to bring together adults and youth from different ethnic groups.

    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.
    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
    • Other: There are weak indicators for monitoring and evaluation in the peacekeeping field
    4. Highlight actions planned for 2018 to advance implementation of your commitments in order to achieve this transformation.

    • Identify indicators that better capture the impact of programs addressing root causes of conflict.

    • Develop guidance on how to address selected root causes of conflict, with a focus on governance and climate/environment.

    • Publish three reports on the impact of diverse strategies for addressing root causes of conflict.

    Keywords

    Youth

  • 3A
    Reduce and address displacement

    Individual Commitments (1)

    • Commitment
    • Commitment Type
    • Core Responsibility
    • By 2020, Mercy Corps commits to use displacement data to better predict crisis onset, design crisis prevention programming, and position humanitarian assistance to contribute to greater resilience in the face of repeated shocks.
    • Operational
    • 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)

    The Humanitarian Access Team (HAT) is a technical support team that focuses on conflict, both individual incidents and trends, present and forecasted, and then links this with its respective impact on the local population. The HAT therefore looks not only at violence, but also at those underlying factors that trigger conflict and displacement such as governance and service provision, war economy dynamics, past displacement patterns, local, regional and international politics, social identity and intercommunal relationships and Syrian modern history.  

    In 2017, Mercy Corps:

    • Conducted two internal assessments of Humanitarian Access Team (HAT) capability and impact to inform future development and/or replication of this analytical model.

    • Restructured the HAT to increase its efficiency and core impact and influence metrics.

    • Completed a pilot of HAT expansion in Yemen with a three-month cycle of products.

    • Provided situation reports and focused thematic analysis in Yemen.

    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?

    Mercy Corps conducted two internal assessments of HAT capability and impact in 2017 to inform future development and/or replication of this analytical model.

    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
    • Institutional/Internal constraints
    • Joined-up humanitarian-development analysis, planning, funding and/or response
    B. How are these challenges impacting achievement of this transformation?

    The unique characteristics of the Syria crisis and response have meant replicating HAT to other complex displacement contexts has been more difficult than anticipated.

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

    In 2018, Mercy Corps plans to expand humanitarian analytic capability to program operations in Libya, Yemen and northern Nigeria, and to undertake a comprehensive management review of the function to shape future development.

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

    Real-time, broad-scope context analysis, blending human analysis with machine learning, needs to be made a central commitment in every crisis response. This has systemic implications in the spheres of coordination, information management, and funding.

    Keywords

    Displacement

  • 3F
    Enable adolescents and young people to be agents of positive transformation

    Individual Commitments (3)

    • Commitment
    • Commitment Type
    • Core Responsibility
    • Mercy Corps develops evidence-based approaches to reduce the vulnerability of youth to joining violent extremist groups by decreasing youth exposure to violence, promoting inclusive governance, and addressing youth grievances.
    • Operational
    • Leave No One Behind
    • Mercy Corps ensures that female and male adolescents are meaningfully participating in the design, delivery, and monitoring of aid projects, and empower them to advocate at the local and national level on decisions impacting their lives.
    • Operational
    • Leave No One Behind
    • Mercy Corps will aim to provide 10 million youth between the ages of 15-24 with access to socio-emotional programming, non-formal and informal education, and safe and equitable livelihood opportunities by 2020.


    • Operational
    • 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.

    • Mercy Corps reached 3,214,339 young people (ages 10-24 ) through Mercy Corps programs.

    • Contributed to an industry-wide Adolescents in Emergencies Playbook (focused on the I’m Here Approach) alongside peer agencies Women’s Refugee Commission, Danish Refugee Council, and the Population Council, with insights from UNICEF Lebanon and Magpi.

    • Began to develop an Adolescents in Emergencies model for Mercy Corps.

    • Co-hosted a high profile learning event with War Child on "Positive Pathways: A No Lost Generation Summit on Psychosocial Support Programming for Children and Youth,"  which shared research findings demonstrating that Mercy Corps' Advancing Adolescents program in Jordan improved the mental health and psychosocial well-being of youth affected by Syria’s six-year conflict.

    • Developed a baseline for how many Mercy Corps programs collect sex and age disaggregated data.

    • Disseminated adolescent social-emotional well being research findings with Syrian refugee and Jordanian adolescents. Trained adolescent girls to be researchers, researching peer agency projects focused on gender and protection.   

    • Published a report on young people in the Global Compact on Refugees. As a result of Mercy Corps' influence and calls for action, several interagency letters to UNHCR referenced the importance of protecting the rights of young people and involving them as partners in refugee responses.

    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?

    Through Mercy Corps coordinated advocacy efforts, Mercy Corps is tracking how relevant global compacts are incorporating young people as active agents and formalizing their engagement and funding targets.

    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
    • Funding modalities (earmarking, priorities, yearly agreements, risk aversion measures)
    • Strengthening national/local systems
    B. How are these challenges impacting achievement of this transformation?

    It is difficult to track the reach of Mercy Corps’ programs without consistent collection and analysis of program data by age and sex.

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

    • Create tools for Mercy Corps field teams for engaging with and planning programming for adolescents in emergencies.

    • Develop an agenda to build the evidence base of Mercy Corps' multi-sector programming.

    • Publish research on success of Mercy Corps psychosocial programming in Jordan.

    • Establish strategic partnerships that drive deeper engagement with young people during humanitarian response and share findings and lessons learned.

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

    Donors should require sex- and age-disaggregated data to monitor impact and track funding for youth. Second, the lack of agreed upon metrics and funding targets that measure and promote more direct youth engagement in design, implementation, and evaluation of program activities and in advocacy efforts limits humanitarian actors’ ability to encourage transformational engagement.

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

    Mercy Corps’ approach to addressing the psychosocial and mental health needs of adolescents in complex emergencies promotes their social and emotional well-being. Mercy Corps’ participation in the Syria response No Lost Generation initiative and Compact for Young People in Humanitarian Action are innovative advocacy platforms.

    Keywords

    Gender, Youth

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

    Individual Commitments (4)

    • Commitment
    • Commitment Type
    • Core Responsibility
    • Mercy Corps aims to scale up cash in 25% of its humanitarian assistance by 2018.
    • Operational
    • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
    • Mercy Corps commits to contribute expertise and legitimacy to the WEF-facilitated Shaping Principles for Public-Private Collaboration in Humanitarian Payments, encourage others to do the same, and aim for the final principles to be broadly adopted in its own operations. It will use the principles to continue to accelerate the increase of responsible payments as an effective humanitarian programming modality, as appropriate.
    • Policy
    • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
    • Mercy Corps commits to design and implement, in collaboration with partners new ways to effectively coordinate cash programming and break down sector silos.
    • Operational
    • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
    • Mercy Corps commits to design and implement, in collaboration with partners, minimum standards and best practice in risk analysis and management, protection analysis, data protection and privacy, and working with financial services.
    • Operational
    • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need

    Core Commitments (2)

    • 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 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
    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.

    Cash-based programming

    Mercy Corps has met its cash transfer program (CTP) commitment with CTP totaling 34% of Mercy Corps’ humanitarian portfolio in July 2017. Mercy Corps is encouraging collaboration by participating in the Collaborative Cash Delivery Platform, CaLP, the Markets in Crisis (MiC) CoP, the Enhanced Response Capacity (ERC) consortium, and various World Economic Forum (WEF) committees, and leads the Electronic Cash Transfer Learning and Action Network (ELAN). Mercy Corps completed an implementation guide for cash transfers and is currently developing Cash Transfer Program Minimum Standards.

    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?

    ​​Mercy Corps will assess program through program data and results, and feedback from other agencies.

    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.
    • Field conditions, including insecurity and access
    • Funding modalities (earmarking, priorities, yearly agreements, risk aversion measures)
    • Information management/tools
    B. How are these challenges impacting achievement of this transformation?

    Limited access and weak infrastructure hampers local systems and forces Mercy Corps to implement programming more directly and not utilize technology options. Donor requirements and different agency policies and agendas make practical coordination more challenging.

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

    • Continue participation in relevant multi-agency consortia, particularly the Collaborative Cash Delivery Platform, MiC, ELAN, and WEF committees.
    • Continue to improve internal cash delivery tools and standards, and develop better data management systems. 
    • Develop better data management systems and support industry-wide preparedness and education efforts.

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

    Donor and implementing agencies need to change program approaches that are in silos and instead encourage useful collaboration. The humanitarian community also needs to develop global systems and infrastructure for cash transfer distribution.

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

    The Collaborative Cash Delivery Platform is building strong, practical collaboration among implementing agencies.

    Keywords

    Cash, Local action

  • 4B
    Anticipate, do not wait, for crises

    Core Commitments (1)

    • 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
    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.

    • Mercy Corps adapted its Humanitarian Access Team to locations outside Syria.

    • Mercy Corps continued to roll out the Investing in Syrian Humanitarian Action (ISHA) Learning Program (available in Arabic) for humanitarian actors inside Syria. This is a curriculum hosted by DisasterReady, developed in partnership with IRC, to build local partner capacity for Syria Response actors.

    • Mercy Corps launched a STRESS assessment in Nigeria, the first time that this process has been used in a complex crisis environment.

  • 4C
    Deliver collective outcomes: transcend humanitarian-development divides

    Individual Commitments (3)

    • Commitment
    • Commitment Type
    • Core Responsibility

    • Mercy Corps commits to build on its action research agenda for adaptive management and navigating complexity by field testing adaptive approaches in five response settings by 2018, and undertaking a major study on the operational implications of an adaptive approach.


    • Policy
    • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
    • Mercy Corps commits to design and implement, in collaboration with partners, new ways to ensure the humanitarian system creates, shares, and uses appropriate assessments and analysis at crisis inception and throughout the response that informs appropriate decisions about program modality and design.
    • Operational
    • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need

    • Mercy Corps commits to develop a collaborative, multi-stakeholder Technology for Development (T4D) Innovation Lab, to focus on specific humanitarian priorities and the technology solutions needed. The T4D Innovation Lab will focus on alignment of priorities, leveraging skills and technology from member organizations and promoting and scaling innovative solutions - with a sharp view on humanitarian impact through innovative collaborative technology.


    • Operational
    • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need

    Core Commitments (1)

    • 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
    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.

    Other-4C

    The T4D Innovation Lab was launched under the name “Field Technology Testing Program,” in partnership with Cisco’s Tech for Impact initiative. The Program is focused on identifying new or innovative uses of technology in support of humanitarian priorities and Mercy Corps beneficiaries in the field. The Refugee.Info project (now renamed “Signpost”) was extended to Bulgaria, Hungary, Italy and Jordan (reaching more than 700,000 people). The Community Development Platform, referenced in the previous year's report, has advanced with the formalization of a relationship with a development partner and the identification of a pilot location. Work also advanced across a number of fronts with existing projects working with developing digital identity for beneficiaries, drone usage for agriculture monitoring and reporting, flood mitigation and early warning systems, weather forecasting and disaster prevention, and Mercy Corps’ ongoing commitment to aid refugee populations with connectivity and increased access to information.

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

    Mercy Corps will continue to expand the Field Technology Testing Program, distributing multiple grants for the conducting of field trials of new and innovative technologies. Mercy Corps will disseminate the learnings from those field trials internally and to its peer agencies. Efforts to embrace and engage partners in development will continue to be a priority, as will efforts to establish best practices for implementing emerging technologies and for the responsible use of technology.

    Keywords

    Innovation

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

    Core Commitments (1)

    • 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
    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.

    An example of increasing cost efficiency is the PRIME program in the Somali region of Ethiopia. This program received the 2017 Zilient Resilience Award for the demonstrated impact of a resilience program in the face of a shock. For the PRIME program, Mercy Corps found that in the face of worsening drought conditions, households targeted by PRIME were significantly more likely to be able to keep their families nourished, maintain healthier livestock, and avoid poverty.

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

    The PRIME program in the Somali region of Ethiopia. This program received the 2017 Zilient Resilience Award for the demonstrated impact of a resilience program in the face of a shock. For the PRIME program, Mercy Corps found that in the face of worsening drought conditions, households targeted by PRIME were significantly more likely to be able to keep their families nourished, maintain healthier livestock, and avoid poverty.

    Keywords

    Community resilience