Error message

Notice: Undefined offset: 1 in drupal_settings_initialize() (line 802 of /backup/agenda/public_html/includes/bootstrap.inc).

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.

Expand All

  • 2D
    Take concrete steps to improve compliance and accountability

    Individual Commitments (1)

    • Commitment
    • Commitment Type
    • Core Responsibility
    • GOAL Global commits to adopt the IASC statement on the Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse at the individual agency level.
    • Policy
    • 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.

    Gender-based violence prevention and response

    GOAL revised its Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) Policy in quarter four 2016 to take account of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) statement; the United Nations Secretary-General's (UN SG) Bulletin (ST/SGB/2003/13); international human rights law (IHRL); UN standards, and best practice guidelines from the humanitarian sector, including GOAL’s own policies and experience.

    • The PSEA policy was validated and received final approval by GOAL’s Audit and Risk Committee in December 2017, with full Board approval January 2018.  GOAL revised its Code of Conduct to include the key elements of the PSEA policy.
    • All GOAL country programmes have in place dedicated protection focal points trained in handling sensitive issues arising from an actual or perceived breaches of the GOAL PSEA Policy. A Director of the Board has been designated as PSEA Focal Point at Board level.
    • GOAL developed guidelines and checklists for its compliance and internal audit that incorporate safeguarding, Core Humanitarian Standards (CHS), child protection and gender standards. The revised process was piloted in two countries in 2017.

    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?

    • All GOAL countries complete compulsory annual self-audits on child protection, PSEA and gender-based violence (GBV).
    • Safeguarding/protection checks have been included in all Internal Audit country reviews.
    • The Head of Ethics and Compliance reports on the roll out of the PSEA policy to all GOAL countries to the GOAL Audit and Risk Committee.

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

    Multiple priorities and staff turnover, which affected the gender and protection focal persons in the field, led to delays in the drafting of the PSEA policy and its review.

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

    • Final Board approval PSEA policy January 2018, with training on the revised policy rolled out to the organisation in quarter one of 2018.
    • From January 2018, the protection checklist has been included in all Internal Audit country reviews. Completed checklists will be reviewed by the Protection Advisor, who will advise on recommendations, which will then be included in internal audit reports, with resulting actions tracked until completion. Internal audit reports are reported to the GOAL Board

    Keywords

    Gender, Protection

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

    Individual Commitments (3)

    • Commitment
    • Commitment Type
    • Core Responsibility
    • GOAL Global 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
    • GOAL Global 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
    • GOAL Global 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.

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

    In March 2017, GOAL appointed a Head of Ethics and Compliance to act as an independent and objective party in the transparent and efficient processing of complaints received. GOAL established a Complaints Response Group (CRG) in 2017 consisting of the Head of Ethics and Compliance, Head of Investigations, Head of Internal Audit and the General Manager. The Stakeholder Accountability Advisor, as part of the MEAL Unit, works closely with the CRG to link them to community customer relationship management (CRM) systems in each country.  

    In 2017, GOAL continued to roll out community CRM systems to its countries of operation and currently has functioning community CRMs in nine countries, with the final two countries going through a re-design phase including consultation and training.

    GOAL continued to strengthen the “Speak Up” whistleblowing mechanism, through which staff, beneficiaries or associates can report fraud and serious issues to headquarters. For example, investigations training was conducted in September 2018.

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

    • In 2017, GOAL designed and approved a plan for Core Humanitarian Standards (CHS) certification. CHS self-assessments were undertaken in the majority of country programmes during 2017, with the remainder due for completion in quarter one of 2018.  GOAL is updating its Accountability Framework based on the results of the 2017 CHS self-assessments.
    • During 2017, GOAL continued to strengthen its procedural framework that supports CHS, for example additional Standard Operating Procedures added in respect of complaints handling and communication at both a country and head office level.  In addition, GOAL is an active contributor to the CHS Alliance through sharing of learnings with the wider humanitarian sector, for example during 2017 GOAL published accountability case studies on good practices such as from Ukraine on their listening approach and CRMs in situations of conflict, and from Honduras on social auditing.

    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?

    • CHS self-assessments are conducted by country programmes, producing a standardised score card per country.
    • Quarterly global CRM data analysis with an aggregated report complied for senior managers, the Complaints Response Group in HQ, and country focal points. The results of this report complement GOAL’s Internal Complaints and Response Mechanism Report.

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

    Country programs have competing priorities and are working in unpredictable contexts, thus securing staff time and commitment for training is challenging.

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

    CHS: By February 2018, GOAL will have completed CHS self-assessments in all country programmes, which forms a significant step in GOAL’s move towards CHS accreditation, planned for 2018.

    CRMs: GOAL MEAL teams will adopt a gender and age sensitive lens to their community CRMs to improve or strengthen the modalities of their community CRMs to ensure GOAL actively listens to women and children across our programmes.

    Keywords

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