Sustaining lives and livelihoods in the face of disasters ACT Alliance key asks on the post-2015 framework on disaster risk reduction
February 2014 – ACT Gender and post-2015 for Commission on the Status of Women
This position paper is founded on the concern within our organisations around the persistence of poverty and growing inequality inmany countries around the world. Both these issues have been well-documented in successive UN Human Development Reports. Despite increasing global prosperity in the last decades, relative and absolute poverty in many countries in the South continues.
More than a quarter of the world’s population survives on the equivalent of less than one US dollar per day. Almost half strugglesto survive on less than two. The first of the Millennium Development Goals – the reduction of poverty and of the number of hungry and malnourished- is where least progress has been achieved.
The FAO notes that the number of hungry and malnourished has increased since 1996. This persistence of poverty remains alarming, particularly given the wealth and possibilities at the disposal of mankind. Resources, knowledge and skills are available to develop and implement policies that could and should contribute to a sharp decline in poverty. It is this gap between what is possible and what is actually being done, together with the clear signs of a general lack of political will to address theses issues, that encourages us to explore how we and our partners can act and work together more effectively to contribute to better policy answers to the current challenges.
Enrichment and exclusion are not necessarily but are often two sides of the same coin. It is entirely feasible to redistribute welfare gains more equally within a society in such a way that even the poorest segments of a society can eventually escape poverty. However, too often policies stimulate the enrichment of small elites and lead to or cement the social exclusion of poor and marginalized groups.
This paper elaborates on these issues and is available in English, French and Spanish.
Joint Position Paper_ENG-scherm
Joint Position Paper_FR-scherm
Joint Position Paper_SPA-scherm
(ACT Policies and guidelines)
Capacity development takes place in several different ways within the ACT Alliance. Some members develop their own capacity using their own and locally-raised resources; some develop their capacity with support provided by other ACT members; some develop their capacity with support provided by partners from outside the ACT Alliance. For some, developing capacity is about seeking organisational change, either at an individual member level or at a forum level.
These might be internal organisation capacities (such as vision, mission strategies etc.) or external relations capacities to enable linkages with actors outside the organisation. For others, the focus is more on developing technical capacity in the range of issues the alliance is engaged with, across the three pillars of humanitarian, development and advocacy work. This strategy seeks to provide a common framework for capacity development within the alliance, providing a strategic focus on the areas of leadership, forum development and capacities for impact through an applied learning approach.
In the past, ACT International, and subsequently ACT Alliance, has taken different approaches to capacity development. Between 1998 and 2004, this was predominantly through the Emergency Management Training (EMT) programme. An evaluation in 2002 recognised that while the training was of high quality, the benefits accrued largely to individuals rather than the member organisations that they worked for.
In response to this evaluation, and a desire to seek to put capacity development “…at the heart of ACT’s work”, the Capacity Development Initiative (CDI) was developed which aimed to support ACT members and forums to undertake a process of organisational assessment leading to a capacity development plan and subsequent implementation of that plan. The CDI ran from 2008-2013 and a number of members and forums used the Organisational Capacity Assessment (OCA) tool to assess their capacities and then sought funding to implement different capacity development activities. The CDI evaluation in 2013 culminated in a “Learning and strategy workshop on capacity development” which found that while the impact of the CDI was significant for those who had undergone the process, the low-take up rate had meant that the impact on the overall capacity of the alliance had not been as high as had been hoped. In addition, the ‘shared learning’ aspect of the CDI had largely been overshadowed by the development and application of the OCA tool.
This strategy seeks to build on the lessons learned from the CDI evaluation and intentionally strengthen key areas of capacity in the alliance through an applied learning approach.
The ACT Alliance Capacity Building and Learning Strategy is available in English, French and Spanish.
ACT Capacity Development and Learning Strategy_ENGLISH
ACT Capacity Development and Learning Strategy_FRENCH
ACT Capacity Development and Learning Strategy_SPANISH
(ACT Policies and guidelines)
Many members of the ACT Alliance offer assistance to people in natural and man-made crisis situations. Striving to reach people in need across front lines and national borders, they provide assistance without discrimination.
Since the 1990s, however, there has been an unprecedented increase in the protection needs of those we seek to assist. In particular, deliberate or indiscriminate attacks during armed conflicts that kill, injure and forcibly displace civilians; the increase in the use of rape as a strategy of war, the recruitment and abduction of boys and girls as child soldiers and sexual slaves, and persistent sexual exploitation and abuse and other gender-based violence such as rape, female genital mutilation, forced child and teenage marriages and domestic violence.
Principle 1: Prioritise the safety, dignity and empowerment of all women, girls, boys and men at all times without discrimination.
Principle 2: Make a core commitment to mainstream gender and protection into all humanitarian assistance programmes.
Principle 3: Adopt a community-based approach to protection work that enables the active participation of communities in determining appropriate risk reduction measures.
Principle 4: Ensure that all humanitarian needs assessments address risk, taking into consideration threats, vulnerabilities and capacities of individuals and communities.
Principle 5: Ensure mechanisms are in place to prevent and respond to the occurrence of sexual abuse and exploitation and gender-based violence.
Principle 6: Ensure that organisations having ‘specialised’ protection programmes observe professional standards and have the capacity and expertise to meet the standards required.
Principle 7: Ensure all personal and protection-sensitive information is managed responsibly.
Principle 8: Protection advocacy must be based on a careful risk-benefit analysis involving field staff and affected communities and be part of an integrated protection strategy.
Principle 9: Recognise that the State has the primary responsibility for protection and ensure that the ultimate aim of protective humanitarian action is to reinforce, not replace, the State’s responsibility to respect, protect and fulfil human rights.
Principle 10: In situations of international and non-international armed conflicts, recognise and promote the obligations of States and armed non-state groups under international humanitarian law, including to respect and protect civilians, as well as to facilitate the work of humanitarian organisations working in areas affected by armed conflict.
Principle 11: Seek to work in a complementary and collaborative manner with other humanitarian actors in order to strengthen the impact of collective protective action and avoid unnecessary duplication.
The ACT Alliance Protection Policy is available in English, French and Spanish.
ACT Policy_Protection_ English
(ACT Policies and guidelines)
