Establishing and delivering on commitments

The first benchmark of the 2010 HAP Standard in Accountability and Quality Management (pdf, 777 Kb) establishes that the organisation sets out the commitments that it will be held accountable for, and how they will be delivered.

In particular, the organisation shall develop and implement a written accountability framework that clearly states the organisation's committments.

What is a Humanitarian Accountability Framework? A Humanitarian Accountability Framework is a set of definitions, procedures and standards that specify how an agency will ensure accountability to its stakeholders. It includes a statement of commitments, a baseline analysis of compliance and an implementation policy, strategy or plan. Guidance on developing an Accountability Framework can be found in The Guide to the 2007 HAP Standard (pdf, 1.2 Mb). See in particular pages 19-29.

Humanitarian Accountability Frameworks

Humanitarian Accountability Frameworks can take different forms. Below are a few examples from HAP member agencies who have publicly available Humanitarian Accountability Frameworks:

Tearfund’s Humanitarian Accountability Framework was formally adopted in February 2008. See the Tearfund's website for how this has been summarised for the general public.
The Humanitarian Accountability Framework of the Catholic Agency For Overseas Development (CAFOD) was formally adopted in February 2009. More information is available on CAFOD's website.
The Danish Refugee Council’s Global Humanitarian Accountability Framework is available in English, French and Russian on DRC's website, alongside country-specific humanitarian accountability frameworks including those for Kosovo, Lebanon, North and South-Caucuses and West Africa. In addition, DRC’s Accountability Improvement Plan reviews the status against the organisation's global humanitarian accountability framework and outlines outstanding tasks for strengthening the implementation of DRC's commitments.
DanChurchAid's Humanitarian Accountability Framework (September 2008) is available on DCA's website, along with an entire page devoted to explaining DCA's commitments to humanitarian accountability standards.
CARE’s Humanitarian Accountability Framework (released in February 2010) is available in French, Spanish and Portuguese on CARE's website. This webpage describes CARE's commitments to humanitarian accountability standards.

For other examples see the Certification section of our Resources Library.

Case studies on developing a Humanitarian Accountability Framework

Developing and implementing a contextualised Humanitarian Accountability Framework (Danish Refugee Council, Sri Lanka, 2009) includes steps for developing, implementing and sharing a Humanitarian Accountability Framework with staff, partners and beneficiaries. It also details how affected-communities can hold DRC to account and learning from the process.