HAP in Myanmar
On the 2nd and 3rd May 2008 Cyclone Nargis struck the coast of Myanmar with winds of 190 km per hour followed by a 12-foot wave of water. The category four cyclone swept across the Ayeyararwady delta, hitting Myanmar’s largest town Yangon. The official death toll as of 16th May was 77,738 with 55,917 missing although unofficial estimates are considerably higher. 2.4 million people were thought to be affected.
At the time twelve HAP members responded: ACTED, CAFOD, CARE, Christian Aid, Concern Worldwide, DanChurchAid, Muslim Aid, Oxfam GB, Save the Children UK, Tearfund and World Vision. Discussions with HAP members via a series of telecons were used to to explore support needed (for more details see the minutes of the teleconference held on 14th May).
Phases I and II: Deployment of HAP and Sphere support staff (July-September 2008)
The section below contains reports of activities undertaken as part of phases I and II, from July-September 2008)
Phase 1: Report on the deployment of HAP Field Representative to Myanmar (Monica Blagescu, 7th-25th July 2008)
This report highlights some HAP's key observations, learning points and main recommendations resulting from the first phase of a HAP/Sphere Project Joint Deployment to Myanmar (7-25 July 2008) under the HAP New Emergencies Policy.
Phase II: Report Quality and Accountability in the Nargis Response (Ester Dross, 25th July-29th August 2008). The second phase led by Ester Dross, HAP's Complaints Handling Training Officer, held three key training priorities:
- a focus on the 6 benchmarks included in the HAP 2007 Standard
- Complaints and Response Mechanism
- Investigations on allegations of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse
Two international consultants, Kelly Wooster and Annie Lloyd, along with Shabana Bhatti of HAP member Church World Service Pakistan/Afghanistan, shared the role of the Sphere support person for a period of three months. Their reports can be found below:
These phases were funded by CWS Pakistan/Afghanistan and Save the Children.
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Phase III: Inter-agency Q&A co-ordinator appointed (Jan-June 2009)
Based on the learning and identification of needs derived from the earlier experiences Deborah Bickler was appointed as a Quality and Accountability Co-ordinator for 6 months to provide further HAP/Sphere in-country support. This position was hosted by Save the Children in Myanmar (SCiM) and funded by DFID for a period of six months.
This inter-agency initiative was to support all interested agencies to strengthen skills, capacity, commitment and knowledge to deliver improved quality programming, that considers accountability to people affected by the disaster at all stages of their work. The initiative also aimed to strengthen field level coordination between HAP and Sphere, develop joint tools where possible, and raise awareness amongst participating agencies of their complementarities.
Four key aspects of the role included:
- To support participating organisations to improve their quality and accountability practices through the provision of tailor-made solutions, including agency-specific programmes.
- To support and build on current inter-agency operational approach to quality and accountability in Myanmar, which enables agencies to integrate HAP and Sphere across all programmes.
- To facilitate sharing of good practice, tools and lessons learnt and prepare relevant documentation.
- To advocate and facilitate collaboration and integration between complementary initiatives (particularly the INEE Minimum Standards) with a view of improving the quality and accountability of humanitarian action in Myanmar.
Basic training in the Sphere handbook and HAP Standard was open to all agencies committed to using these tools, and all activities were undertaken with a view to ensuring sustainability of the project. A principal means of doing this was through the support of local quality and accountability resource teams (including the Capacity Building Initiative and the Local Resource Centre) who had existing knowledge of HAP, Sphere, and key facilitation and training skills.
For more details see the reports from the Inter-agency Quality and Accountability Co-ordinator:
This phase was funded by DFID.
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Evaluation of HAP and Sphere support in Myanmar
The purpose of the evaluation was:
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to document the success, gaps and lessons learnt, the successes and the gaps from the deployments of both HAP and Sphere from the outset of the Nargis Response and inclusive of the longer term Inter-agency Quality and Accountability Coordinator against the project objectives.
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to make recommendations as to how to sustain the efforts towards increased quality and accountability work in Myanmar.
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to make recommendations on how future joint HAP/Sphere support is provided to agencies at the onset and in the recovery period following a humanitarian crisis.
For more information see the Terms of Reference for Evaluation.
The evaluation was conducted by an independent consultant and the findings are summarised in the final evaluation report, which details the joint efforts of HAP and Sphere to assist agencies with their response in Myanmar. This report looks at the Quality and Accountability Initiative in Myanmar, the first attempt of HAP and Sphere to work jointly in the context of a humanitarian emergency. It is based on interviews, by phone to HQ and in country, to a set of stakeholders involved in the initiative. Methodological challenges included lack of access to the field operations of the agencies involved, as well as timing (the evaluation happened as the Q&A initiative was still in the process of completing and rounding up its activities).
This report looks at the evolution of the initiative in its entirety. A first phase (July 2008-Nov 2008) was carried on by a number of consultants / staff by HAP and Sphere and financed by CWS Pakistan/Afghanistan and Save the Children.
Some of the conclusions drawn are that overall it helped to put accountability on the agenda, through awareness raising. It also provided much demanded assistance on accountability and quality (mainly through trainings, especially on Sphere, but also with organization support / introductory sessions by HAP). The initial visits also assessed space and opportunities for further assistance. Joint deployments helped to build a sense of common purpose amongst the initiatives, even if – in practice – the overlapping amongst them remained minimal. The support was appreciated, but it was suggested the “revolving doors” approach – i.e. different support people visiting the country for short periods – should be discouraged in the future.
Findings debrief for participating agencies
A debriefing session was held in June 2009 at the Save the Children offices in London to present the findings from the independent evaluator of the DFID funded inter-agency quality and accountability initiative and from the quality and accountability coordinator, Deborah Bickler.
All eight agencies that received one to one support and representatives from other agencies with operations in Myanmar attended the event. There was active discussion on the lessons learnt from the two initiatives working together, the support provided to agencies in a collaborative manner as well as on how HAP, Sphere and the agencies can continue their engagement in Myanmar and build upon this collaboration. The discussion also covered issues such as the ‘humanitarian space’ and questions of access relating to the deployment.
One of the outcomes from the meeting was the clear message that providing staff training was not enough; there needed to be senior management buy-in, which enables the agency staff to move forward in their efforts to strengthen quality and accountability. Other suggestions included, that agencies would require ongoing support from their head office, and that HAP and Sphere should identify opportunities for a follow-up support visit, perhaps, in six months’ time. This visit would be to assist those agencies that participated in guided self-assessment training as they prepare for their first self-assessment exercise and to support them in implementing any recommendations developing from the process.
As part of future plans, it was recommended that the Accountability & Learning Working Group (ALWG) in Myanmar provide a forum for networking, sharing experience and peer support.
Finally, those taking part in the meeting agreed that additional tools are needed to ensure that support can be provided to agencies in a more pragmatic way. It was felt that these tools could be developed as a means of continuing future joint operations by HAP and Sphere, bringing together their training and communication materials.
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Resources and case studies from Myanmar
HAP 2007 Humanitarian Accountability and Quality Management Standard in the Myanmar language.
HAP Principles of Accountability Poster in the Myanmar Language (produced by Save the Children Myanmar).
Case study: 'Young Voices, Big Impressions' (Save the Children in Myanmar) – a Children's Feedback report based on an External Evaluation. This child friendly report was designed by Apple in its role as external consultant focused on children's participation during the evaluation. It will be translated into Myanmar and provided to the children who were consulted during the evaluation. Alongside the Evaluation report, Save the Children in Myanmar also prepared a brief note on the Process and Methodology used.
Case study: Disaster Response and Resilience Learning Project (Save the Children in Myanmar) outlines approach to building humanitarian capacity following Cyclone Nargis. The project targeted staff from national and international NGOs, using an innovative learning approach to increase awareness of concepts and principles related to humanitarian work.
Case study: Creating information centres in Myanmar (Save the Children in Myanmar) outlines the experience of operating Information Centres in the Delta region along side their food distribution services. The Centres provide information on the programme, distribution process and locations, as well as allow community members to feedback to agency staff with questions, complaints and suggestions. See also their presentation on the infomration centres.
Case Study: HAP & Sphere Support Program in Myanmar following Cyclone Nargis (June 2009) – summary of main activities, learning and challenges of the HAP Sphere support in Myanmar.
Inter Agency Real Time Evaluation of the Response to Cyclone Nargis (Inter Agency Standing Committe (IASC) December 2008). The report is the third in a series of an IASC-mandated pilots to conduct real time evaluations in the aftermath of major humanitarian disasters in order to provide an overarching analysis of the international community’s response and recommend improvements for ongoing activities. The evaluation and final report was managed and funded by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
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Updated June 2009
