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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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  • 1C
    Remain engaged and invest in stability

    Individual Commitments (1)

    • Commitment
    • Commitment Type
    • Core Responsibility
    • Trocaire will advocate with the Irish Government as a UN and EU Member State on the prevention and resolution of conflict.
    • Advocacy
    • Political Leadership to Prevent and End Conflicts
    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).
    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.
    • IHL and IHRL compliance and accountability

  • 1D
    Develop solutions with and for people

    Individual Commitments (1)

    • Commitment
    • Commitment Type
    • Core Responsibility
    • Trocaire will promote equal rights and responsibilities of men and women and continue its work with the Irish Government in promoting Security Council Resolution 1325 and Ireland's Second National Action Plan, advocating for equal participation and full involvement of women in all efforts for the promotion of peace and security.
    • Advocacy
    • Political Leadership to Prevent and End Conflicts
    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).
    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.
    • IHL and IHRL compliance and accountability
    • Institutional/Internal constraints
    • Joined-up humanitarian-development analysis, planning, funding and/or response

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

    Individual Commitments (1)

    • Commitment
    • Commitment Type
    • Core Responsibility
    • Trocaire will actively promote humanitarian principles in its work and ensure that its humanitarian activities and those of its partners have the aim of making people safer, preserving their dignity and reducing vulnerabilities by building the skills of staff according to their duties in areas such as protection, international humanitarian law and international human rights law.
    • Advocacy
    • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity
    2. A. How are you measuring progress toward achieving your commitments? Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • Through multi-stakeholder processes or initiatives (e.g. IASC, Grand Bargain, Charter for Change, etc).
    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
    • IHL and IHRL compliance and accountability
    • Strengthening national/local systems

  • 2D
    Take concrete steps to improve compliance and accountability

    Individual Commitments (4)

    • Commitment
    • Commitment Type
    • Core Responsibility
    • Trócaire will implement the IASC GBV Guidelines by 2018 and incorporate the guidelines into all protection training modules.
    • Policy
    • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity
    • Trocaire will integrate gender and HIV responses to deliver humanitarian programmes that address women's vulnerability to GBV and HIV.

    • Operational
    • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity
    • Trocaire will maintain and enhance its support to protection and protection mainstreaming in its humanitarian programming to protect women and girls, boys and men from sexual abuse and exploitation in humanitarian crises situations.


    • Operational
    • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity
    • Trocaire will work with partners on the protection of women and girls in emergencies, including support for women and girls who have experienced sexual violence, abuse or exploitation.

    • Partnership
    • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity

    Core Commitments (2)

    • 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
    • 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

    Trócaire has developed a technical niche area on humanitarian protection, with a specific focus on the protection of women, girls and at-risk groups through sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) response and mental health and psychosocial support interventions in humanitarian settings.

    In protracted conflict settings including Myanmar, Pakistan (FATA), Syria, Lebanon, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda (Burundi response) integrated and stand-alone protection programming has been designed and implemented by partners and country offices, with support from the Humanitarian Technical Unit, in line with best practice standards and specifically our protection and SGBV intervention model. 

    In all Trócaire programme countries, we reduce risk through our protection mainstreaming approach and our approach to safeguarding and Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA). Our first area of focus in protection and SGBV interventions in conflict settings is always mobilising response, including community-level, focused and where indicated, more specialised responses. Once response services are in place, we layer in strategies that support recovery and social change, including community-led protection mechanisms, secondary prevention strategies and national health system strengthening.

    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.
    • Other: Number of Protection Mainstreaming Trainings completed in 2017, partner collaboration and support at regional and national level.
    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
    • Gender and/or vulnerable group inclusion
    • IHL and IHRL compliance and accountability
    B. How are these challenges impacting achievement of this transformation?

    • SGBV violations and reduced levels of accountability of perpetrators and system failure for victims and their families.
    • Inadequate resourcing of services to prevent SGBV and support victims of SGBV.
    • SGBV increasingly used a weapon of war, making it increasingly difficult for civilians to protect themselves, to seek safety and assistance.

    Keywords

    Gender, PSEA

  • 3D
    Empower and protect women and girls

    Individual Commitments (4)

    • Commitment
    • Commitment Type
    • Core Responsibility
    • Trocaire will apply the IASC and /or ECHO gender and age markers to 100% of partner humanitarian funding allocations.
    • Financial
    • Leave No One Behind
    • Trocaire will increase investment and support to national and local partners to ensure that longer-term programming incorporates gender equality analysis and concrete steps to empower women and girls.
    • Operational
    • Leave No One Behind
    • Trocaire will prioritise the equal participation of women and girls to inform solutions that protect and respond to their specific needs.
    • Operational
    • Leave No One Behind
    • Trociare supports partners with technically skilled and experienced staff to deliver programmes that fully incorporate the protection of women and girls in emergencies and adhere to international standards.
    • 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.

    Trócaire recognises the particular vulnerabilities and protection threats faced by women and girls in protracted crisis. Therefore, women and girls have been prioritised, together with other groups including women, men, girls, boys, youth, and older persons, as well as persons with disabilities and specific minority or ethnic groups[1]. 

    In its Humanitarian Programmes Trócaire uses a Protection Mainstreaming framework to ensure interventions incorporate protection principles and promote meaningful access, safety and dignity in humanitarian programmes.

    1. Prioritise safety and dignity and avoid causing harm: Prevent and minimize as much as possible any unintended negative effects of the intervention which can increase people's vulnerability to both physical and psychosocial risks.

    2. Meaningful access: Arrange for people’s access to assistance and services – in proportion to need and without any barriers (e.g. discrimination). Pay special attention to individuals and groups who may be particularly vulnerable or have difficulty accessing assistance and services.

    3. Accountability: Set up appropriate mechanisms through which affected populations can measure the adequacy of interventions and address concerns and complaints.

    4. Participation and empowerment: Support the development of self-protection capacities and assist people to claim their rights including – not exclusively – the rights to shelter, food, water and sanitation, health, and education.

     

    [1] In line with the Core Humanitarian Standard

    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?

    There are 8 core components in the protection mainstreaming framework which guides Trócaire's work and look to ensure that gender, age and diversity factors are considered throughout the programme cycle. This framework and the 8 core components elaborate specific indicators to support programme design, implementation and monitoring. 

    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
    • IHL and IHRL compliance and accountability
    Keywords

    Gender, Protection

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

    Individual Commitments (9)

    • Commitment
    • Commitment Type
    • Core Responsibility
    • Trocaire is a signatory to the Charter for Change which commits it to implement the 8 point Charter by May 2018.
    • Policy
    • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
    • Trocaire commits to increase its utilisation of cash transfers as an effective humanitarian tool and commits to using or facilitating use of cash wherever feasible and appropriate in humanitarian response.
    • Operational
    • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
    • Trocaire commits to strengthen its engagement and advocacy work with partners and networks on the rights of crisis-affected communities to influence duty bearers to address the structural issues that underlie humanitarian crises.
    • Advocacy
    • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need

    • Trócaire is a signatory to the Inclusion Charter to deliver impartial and accountable humanitarian assistance that responds to vulnerability in all its forms, and reaches the most marginalised people (including children, youth, older people, people with disabilities, ethnic groups and others marginalised due to their social status).


    • Policy
    • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
    • Trocaire supports national partners to strengthen in-country engagement in humanitarian action.


    • Partnership
    • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
    • Trocaire will advocate for respect for the rights of communities affected by crises and hold duty bearers to account for the structural issues that underlie crises, where this does not present risks to communities or to partners.
    • Advocacy
    • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
    • Trocaire will strengthen and improve its partnerships with national organisations in programming and delivering principled and coordinated humanitarian assistance.  
    • Partnership
    • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
    • Trocaire will uphold the highest ethical and professional standards of accountability to the people it serves by seeking feedback on the level of satisfaction with assistance provided from women and men annually.
    • Operational
    • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
    • Trócaire will work closely with partners in its commitment to adopt, use and monitor the Core Humanitarian Standards (CHS) to improve coherence in standards to improve quality, accountability, effectiveness and efficiency in humanitarian response.
    • Operational
    • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need

    Core Commitments (3)

    • 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 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.

    Strengthening national/local leadership and systems

    Extensive research and advocacy on localisation. With funding from the Irish Government, Trocaire commissioned Groupe URD to work with partners in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Myanmar on the main obstacles and challenges to greater localisation from the perspective of national NGOs.

    The research https://www.trocaire.org/resources/policyandadvocacy/more-than-the-money-localisation-practice contains recommendations that are shaping Trocaire's support to partners in humanitarian response, contributing to the organisations new partnership policy (in draft) and has been used extensively with the Caritas Network on advocacy to promote greater localisation.

    As a signatory to the Charter4Change and as a partnership agency since its establishment, Trocaire is committed to ensuring local and national actors are recognised and respected for their contribution to humanitarian action,and supported practically and realistically to make consistent high quality contributions to humanitarian action as first line responders. Further research in 2018 will cover practical, legal and financial elements of localisation in Rwanda, Kenya and Honduras.

    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?

    By asking partners about their experiences, collaborating with national actors on research and engaging with institutional funding advisers on feedback from donors on proposals submitted in consortia with national actors etc , looking at funding allocations and trends in humanitarian financing

    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)
    • Other: Donor global policies are preventing decision-making at country level where contextual considerations could allow for greater innovation on localisation.
    B. How are these challenges impacting achievement of this transformation?

    There is increasing frustration among many national NGOs who remain excluded from accessing greater funding. Circular discussions on overheads and admin percentages, risk absorption etc are a frustration and while there is definitely some significant progress in certain settings, there remains a belief that the system is slow to change to meet commitments.

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

    Continued advocacy with donors on localization, Further research and analysis in contexts where national actors are key to humanitarian action. 

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

    Funding shifts. Better dialogue between national and international responders. Deeper analysis on the sustainability of NGOs that cannot raise unrestricted funds, cannot plug funding gaps and lose staff rapidly because there is no possibility of multiyear funding that  an NGO can use to leverage other additional funding.

    Keywords

    Local action

  • 5A
    Invest in local capacities

    Individual Commitments (1)

    • Commitment
    • Commitment Type
    • Core Responsibility
    • Trocaire works with partners to advocate for more efficient, inclusive and streamlined funding mechanisms that promote stronger partnerships and increased direct access of local and national front-line responding NGOs to humanitarian funding.
    • Advocacy
    • 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.

    Addressing blockages/challenges to direct investments at the national/local level

    • Ongoing training and support, in consultation with partners on finance, administration, implementation and reporting.
    • Greater recognition and advocacy on and with national actors responding to humanitarian crises.
    • Research and advocacy within the Caritas Network, VOICE, Dochas Network and in collaboration with Irish Aid on GB commitments to localisation.

    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).
    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 modalities (earmarking, priorities, yearly agreements, risk aversion measures)
    B. How are these challenges impacting achievement of this transformation?

    The pace of change, the lack of reasonable discussion and dialogue with national actors on funding modalities that will allow them to secure funding, continue to deliver their work and objectives and contribute to the collective humanitarian response.

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

    Country-level engagement wth partners on the funding environment, the access for national actors to funding and coordination mechanisms, research and documenting responses with partners to promote localisation, better systems and greater equity.

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

    Context specific policy shaping - some country contexts are clearly appropriate for greater engagement and inclusion of national actors.

    More attention to be paid to the quality of funding, the type of financial support, capacity strengthening and engagement works best for a partner to deliver a response.

    INGOs should not compete to fund partners who cannot afford to turn down funding due to the uncertain nature of humanitarian funding, the lack of flexible quality funding and the inequity in the humanitarian system.

    Keywords

    Local action