Accountability to Affected Persons Manager

Gulu

Organization: IRC - International Rescue Committee
Location: Gulu
Grade: Mid level - Mid level
Occupational Groups:
- Monitoring and Evaluation
- Managerial positions
Closing Date: Closed

Organisation Description

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC offers lifesaving care and life-changing assistance to refugees forced to flee from war or disaster. At work today in over 40 countries and 22 U.S. cities, we restore safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted and struggling to endure. The IRC leads the way from harm to home. The IRC has been working in Uganda since 1998 supporting nationals and refugees and various institutions in the country notably the government, community-based organizations, the civil society and the private sector. The current program portfolio in Uganda includes health, peace building, gender-based violence, economic recovery and agribusiness, and children & youth. IRC has a country office in Kampala, and field offices in Lamwo, Kiryandongo, Kyaka II, Yumbe, Imvepi and Moroto

As part of the larger FCDO-funded ULEARN Project, the IRC is conducting new efforts to identify, suggest, and enact improvements to existing accountability mechanisms and referral systems for collecting and addressing client feedback used by FCDO BRAER Downstream Partners (hereafter, ‘Partners’). In particular, this project will strengthen existing AAP mechanisms’ ability to ‘hold account’ by focusing on 1) engaging women and children, 2) ensuring that two-way communication mechanisms exist and are operating effectively, and 3) ensuring there is adequate and survivor-centred reporting, referral, and response to allegations of all forms of fraud, abuse, misconduct, corruption, or any other breaches of organisation Codes of Conduct in line with best practice (e.g. the IRC Guidelines for a Survivor-Centered Approach to Reporting Safeguarding Misconduct). To support ‘taking account’, the Consortium will also create a new Beneficiary Perception and Preferences Assessment (using both quantitative and qualitative data) that is specifically developed to take account on topics that are not well captured in existing AAP mechanisms, and will suggest and support 1) the creation of other new mechanisms, and 2) technological improvements to existing mechanisms. From past experiences, the IRC knows that it it is not enough to simply provide stakeholders with findings or suggestions about holding, giving, or taking account, but that true uptake of findings and suggestions will require a dedicated change management team. Therefore, the IRC is developing three Regional AAP (RAAP) teams (based in Arua, Fort Portal, and Gulu), each consisting of one AAP Manager and one AAP Senior Manager, all led by one AAP Deputy Coordinator based in Kampala

Scope of Work

With support from the AAP Deputy Coordinator, the Manager will be charged with challenging Partners within the Northern region to demonstrate an organizational culture of feedback, while also providing support to taking account (e.g. by supporting question development, data collection methods, and interpretation of data), giving account (e.g. by packaging data, identifying preferred channels for outreach, supporting visibility, directly engaging with relevant stakeholders and community representatives), and holding account (e.g. by strengthening networks of accountability, independently tracking uptake of results). He/she will assess gaps and weaknesses within Partners’ existing AAP approaches, support Partners to develop work plans for addressing these weaknesses and will conduct or facilitate trainings to support these work plans. To further support taking, giving, and holding account, he/she will facilitate meetings and discussions between Partners, local governments, community representatives, and other stakeholders to aid in a more community-driven interpretation, triangulation, and packaging of data from feedback and independent verification efforts, and will also support giving account by disseminating relevant results at the regional, district, national, and settlement-levels.

The Manger will support the Deputy Coordinator’s efforts to engage with various Partners. In particular, the Manager will focus on the day-to-day implementation of this project, including by conducting trainings, setting up meetings between stakeholders, packaging information for presentation and analysis, tracking work plan progress, and other duties as required.

Duties and Responsibilities

Build capacity within Partners’ existing AAP approaches.
- Support informal and formal assessments of Partner’s approaches to giving, holding, and taking account, with a special consideration for improving the participation of women, children, and marginalized groups.
- Support various solutions for addressing gaps and weaknesses within AAP approaches.
- Conduct trainings to build capacity around Partners’ ability to give, hold, and take account.
- Analyse and package for presentation regular and systematic insight into the views and needs of refugee and host communities at the district level.
- Support questionnaires, surveys, and FGD guides related to AAP, both for use in large-scale assessments and for more moderate district-level use.
Challenging partners to demonstrate an organizational culture of feedback.
- Support Senior Managers efforts to track and report on district-level work plans for improving AAP mechanisms.
- Actively participate in district-level coordination mechanisms related to AAP.
- Champion an organizational culture shift among partner organizations to increase respect for and adherence to principles of and best practices for AAP, with a specific consideration for ensuring that feedback is used in decision-making.
- Support Partners to evidence how they have improved their ability to actively seek affected populations input to programming and consistently respond to participant feedback.
Facilitate meaningful and accountable discussions between Partners and representatives of affected populations (e.g. Refugee Welfare Committee members)
- Implement efforts to ‘give account’ to affected persons, by ensuring that updates on the refugee response are communicated to refugee and host communities and community leaders (e.g. via printed materials, community meetings, or through community representatives).
- Identify district-level stakeholders (across communities, partners, government, RWCs, etc.) who are relevant to holding, taking, and giving account by using a Social Network Analysis.
- Build relationships with the most relevant actors identified by the Social Network Analysis, with the explicit aim of strengthening this network of actors to ensure that relevant stakeholders are empowered to support AAP after ULEARN ends.
- Support representatives of affected populations in interpreting and presenting key findings from data collected by various AAP mechanisms and independent verification exercises.
- Moderate and facilitate discussions of various sizes between Partners and representatives of affected populations, and support efforts to track and hold partners accountable to any commitments made during these meetings.