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Self Report 2019

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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  • 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. A. Highlight concrete actions taken between 1 January – 31 December 2018 to implement the commitments which contribute to achieving this transformation. Be as specific as possible and include any relevant data/figures as well as any good practices and examples of innovation.

    Protection against sexual exploitation and abuse (PSEA)

    GOAL’s commitment towards Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) in 2018 included:

    • In January 2018, GOAL’s PSEA policy received final Board approval; training on this revised policy was rolled out to the organisation in Q1 2018.
    • GOAL revised its Code of Conduct to include explicit reference to GOAL’s zero tolerance of sexual misconduct, rolled out in April 2018.  All staff certify the Code of Conduct on uptake of employment and annually thereafter.
    • Staff: GOAL appointed a Global Safeguarding Advisor in 2018. By end 2018, all GOAL country programmes have a dedicated safeguarding focal point, who receive comprehensive training on the PSEA as well as attending monthly Safeguarding meetings in order to share their experiences and lesson learnt. The PSEA policy is included in GOAL’s employee induction training, received by all new staff within 30 days of joining GOAL.
    • GOAL reviewed internal policies, including its partnership manual and social media guidelines, to include components on safeguarding. Minimum Standards on Safeguarding have been developed which will inform our global Safeguarding Action Plan for 2018/2019. 
    • From January 2018, GOAL’s protection checklist has been included in all Internal Audit country reviews. These are reviewed by the Safeguarding Advisor and reported to the GOAL Board.
    2. 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?

    Human resources was challenging due to multiple priorities, limited budgets and staff turnover; this affected establishment of the gender and protection focal persons in the field.  Furthermore, many countries had not allocated budgets for safeguarding training and capacity building, which has now been included in country budgets.

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

    Continued sharing of resources and best practices is needed within the global community, specifically on how to effectively raise awareness of safeguarding with both children and vulnerable adults GOAL works with as well as integrating safeguarding within different project models.

     

    In addition, donors should be open to allocate funding specifically for safeguarding in order to ensure country teams can position safeguarding focal points to continuously raise awareness and strengthen reporting mechanisms. 

    Keywords

    PSEA

  • 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. A. Highlight concrete actions taken between 1 January – 31 December 2018 to implement the commitments which contribute to achieving this transformation. Be as specific as possible and include any relevant data/figures as well as any good practices and examples of innovation.

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

    GOAL is committed to listening to the communities that GOAL works with and aims to support. During 2018, GOAL focused on the growth and refinement of our Community Complaints Response Mechanisms (CCRMs). GOAL brought online two new country CCRMs, bringing the total number of CCRMs operating to 12. The CCRMs can be accessed by beneficiaries and community members via a multiple number of entry points. Although in-country office visits remain a key means by which communities engage with us, in 2018, we saw the rapid growth in use of WhatsApp.

    GOAL established a Complaints Response Group (CRG) in 2017 consisting of the Complaints Response Group (CRG) at Head Office is comprised of the Chief Executive Officer, the Head of Internal Audit, Head of Programmes, Head of Investigations and Complaints Response Director. GOAL’s Investigations Unit was augmented in 2018 with the recruitment of an investigations manager and counter-fraud specialist.

    Globally most communications processed through the community CRM are requests for assistance, enquiries for information or feedback that are handled in-country. Communications classified as category 6 serious complaints are forwarded by the country team’s Country Director to the CRG at GOAL’s HQ to be processed through the HQ Complaints Response Procedure.

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

    GOAL continues to be committed to the Core Humanitarian Standards (CHS). During 2018, GOAL completed CHS self-assessments in 12 countries. This was a broad consultation process conducted through 76 community focus groups, 16 partners, 25 local authorities as well as staff using more than 80 indicators. The findings have been used to assess organisational readiness, capacity, management practices, as well as systems to support such practices. This assessment and progress-monitoring on organisational readiness will continue with the senior management team in 2019.  Based on the results of the self-assessment each country designed an action plan to address recommendations and weaker areas.  GOAL is currently reviewing progress under these action plans to assess what infrastructure is needed to support and sustain the commitment to this process and to determine the most appropriate timing to undertake the full CHS accreditation audit.

    2. 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
    • Human resources/capacity
    B. How are these challenges impacting achievement of this transformation?

    GOAL continues to work in fragile contexts often with remote programming due to insecurity and access. These conditions present additional challenges in terms of recruitment.

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

    GOAL believes collective commitment to appropriate resourcing of administration and compliance obligations in difficult contexts is critical to ensure the humanitarian community is fit for purpose and responsive. It is also critical that we collectively discuss the challenges facing partner compliance in such environments; the necessary and accepted increase in compliance obligations requires, in our view, discussion and movement towards greater funding for such obligations.

    Keywords

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

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

    Individual Commitments (1)

    • Commitment
    • Commitment Type
    • Core Responsibility
    • 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. A. Highlight concrete actions taken between 1 January – 31 December 2018 to implement the commitments which contribute to achieving this transformation. Be as specific as possible and include any relevant data/figures as well as any good practices and examples of innovation.

    (Please see reporting under Commitment 4A)

    2. B. How are these challenges impacting achievement of this transformation?

    (Please see reporting under Commitment 4A)

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

    (Please see reporting under Commitment 4A)