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

    Joint Commitments (1)

    • Commitment
    • Commitment Type
    • Core Responsibility
    • CAFOD commits to the Charter4Change and will fully implement its 8 commitments to change the way it works with, relate to and funds national and local actors in humanitarian action by May 2018. The 8 commitments relate to increasing direct funding to southern-based NGOs for humanitarian action; reaffirming the Principles of Partnership; increasing transparency around resource transfers to southern-based national and local NGOs; stopping undermining local capacity; emphasizing the importance of national actors; addressing subcontracting; ensuring robust organisational support and capacity strengthening; communicating to the media and the public about partners.
    • Operational
    • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need

    Partners: 23 Charter4Change (www.charter4change.org) signatories: CAFOD, Christian Aid; Danish Church Aid; CARE; Caritas Denmark; Caritas Norway; Church of Sweden (Svenska Kyrkan); Cordaid; Diakonia; Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe; Hilfe zur Selbsthilfe; ICCO; Islamic Relief Worldwide; Johanniter International Assistance/Johanniter-Auslandshife; Kerk in Actie; Kindernothilfe e.V.; Norwegian Church Aid; Oxfam; Rescue Global; SCIAF; Terram Pacis; Trocaire; WarChild UK.

    Individual Commitments (2)

    • Commitment
    • Commitment Type
    • Core Responsibility

    • CAFOD commits to the Charter for Inclusion.


    • Policy
    • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
    • CAFOD commits to the Core Humanitarian Standard, (CHS) and will continue to promote and adhere to Sphere Minimum Standards and other companion and complementary technical standards for humanitarian response, and will continue to support partners to understand and implement projects in compliance with minimum standards.
    • Policy
    • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need

    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.

    Strengthening national/local leadership and systems

    The Humanitarian Capacity Strengthening programme uses an in-depth self-assessment, undertaken by partner organisations, of existing capacities and areas for improvement. The Catholic Agency For Overseas Development (CAFOD) supports partners to develop implementation/monitoring plans to track organisational changes, impact in communities and increased humanitarian response capacity, including representation in local and national response coordination structures. CAFOD dedicated £396,000 for this programme.

    The humanitarian policy team works to ensure that southern organisations have a seat at the table to strengthen their influence in international coordination mechanisms, including participation of national and local actors in a number of key events in the global north, notably; Wilton Park Conference on localisation (June), Charter4Change (C4C) annual signatories meeting (October), the United Nations Economic and Social Council - Humanitarian Affairs Segment (ECOSOC-HAS), the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Humanitarian Policy Forum (December 2017), and the World Humanitarian Action Forum (November).

    It is critically important to CAFOD's operating model to ensure partner inputs, as actors best-placed to speak for communities, are reflected in organisational strategies and priorities.

    Cash-based programming

    Cash and other voucher transfer programmes have been rolled out, including in collaboration with other Grand Bargain (GB) signatories, in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Europe (refugee response), Nigeria, Ethiopia, Nepal and as part of our Syria programme response.

    The Head of Humanitarian Programmes (Africa) attended the initial set-up meeting of the Caritas Internationalis (CI) Cash Working Group, hosted by Caritas Germany. The post-holder and other staff continue to contribute to these meetings and discussions. A principle objective of this working group is to develop a CI position paper on the use of cash transfer programming.

    During 2017 CAFOD set up an internal Cash Interest Group which developed a cash discussion paper (in consultation with colleagues across the organisation) including recommendations for improved learning and dissemination of knowledge on cash resources throughout CAFOD. CAFOD will continue to expand cash programming as part of its emergency response, and ensure greater staff understanding and learning around this theme.

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

    In August staff were provided with practical training on Core Humanitarian Standards (CHS), to deepen knowledge of the commitments and skill-up on putting CHS into practice.

    CAFOD staff participate in the Caritas Internationalis Accountability Working Group, developing and promoting accountability and protection mainstreaming tools for CI Member Organisations.

    The CAFOD complaints handling policy is currently being revised and a safeguarding email has been set up as an easy point of access.

    Protection mainstreaming – with participation and accountability as key principles – assessments have been undertaken with staff and partners in Nepal, South Sudan and Nigeria, with follow up support to put action plans into practice.

    CAFOD’s humanitarian capacity strengthening programme incorporates training on CHS including needs assessment and feedback mechanisms, ultimately leading to greater engagement with, and accountability to, communities.

    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?

    Evidencing the impact of community level change remains challenging. However through programmes, such as the humanitarian capacity strengthening, and reinforced through initiatives such as GB and C4C, CAFOD is increasing its focus on communicating stories of change, from partners and people living in communities where CAFOD works.

    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
    • Data and analysis
    • Information management/tools
    B. How are these challenges impacting achievement of this transformation?

    Buy-in amongst teams (often a cause of competing demands) prohibits better advancement of these initiatives across the organisation. Internal reporting systems and lack of available relevant data limit scope to report relevant and timely information.

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

    Concerted efforts to raise awareness of relevant principles, initiatives and commitments across all teams. Better dissemination of organizational policies and training/education on the impact of these policies at programmatic level.

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

    Better interagency collaboration and sector-wide dissemination of key messaging would increase awareness and understanding of these initiatives. As a sector we also need to have our ear closer to the ground; better and more direct engagement with local actors and affected communities. Through these mechanisms we can better demonstrate and document the need for change and identify practical solutions for the benefit of people affected by crisis.

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

    • Increased accompaniment and provision of resources for partner capacity building (bi-laterally and in collaboration with others parties);
    • More, and better quality, involvement of local/national actors in global forums;
    • Increased visibility of local and national humanitarian actors in public communications and advocacy materials.

    Keywords

    Cash, Local action, People-centred approach, Protection

  • 5A
    Invest in local capacities

    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

    The Catholic Agency For Overseas Development's (CAFOD) internal grant management system has been adapted to incorporate the Inter-Agency Standing Committee-Humanitarian Financing Task Team ( IASC-HFTT) categories. This step will allow tracking the amounts and proportions of expenditure, disaggregated by partner type. From this CAFOD can better track progress and identify areas of improvement against this commitment.

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

    The humanitarian capacity strengthening programme supports partners to develop their internal systems to absorb larger quantities of funding. Partners also receive training and guidance on fundraising practices, to support partners to raise funds independently.

    The humanitarian policy team advocactes for more, and better quality, funding to be made available for local actors. CAFOD has presented strong evidence for these changes (bi-laterally or through other forums such as the Charter4Change) to various donors(including UK, Dutch and Belgian government and the European Union). CAFOD has also advocated for country-based pooled funds accesible only to local/national responders, in line with IASC-HFTT definitions.

    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 changes documented at field level (increased, more direct and better funding to local/national responders) and policy level (increased proportions of funding for local actors, capacity building, multi-year flexible funding, establishment of country-based pooled funds).

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

    Annual funding cycles and/or funding cycles tied to a specific response/intervention are not conducive to long-term organizational capacity building. Stringent, non-flexible donor requirements limit our ability to support the capacity development of partners.

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

    CAFOD will continue to advocate for more and better quality funding to be made available to local level actors (bi-laterally, through partners and via initiatives such as the Charter4Change (C4C)).

    Internally, better education and training will be provided to staff to ensure the IASC-HFTT definitions are understood and that funding data is accurately captured and reported against.

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

    Aid and development actors must be willing to adapt a long-term view to aid financing. Better coordination is needed between donors, INGOs and local/national actors to ensure capacity strengthening needs are adequately addresses.

    Funding must be more demand rather than supply driven; and more attention given to local level actors.

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

    Local members of the Charter4Change network were invited to the annual C4C signatories meeting in October, and provided the opportunity to speak directly with donor representatives; to communicate the key challenges they face and encourage the provision of better resources for local/national responders.

    Keywords

    Local action, Quality and accountability standards

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