SDG Detail

INAF U4090Accountability in Humanitarian Assistance

Postgraduate course

Project description

Prerequisites: Undergraduate students are not permitted to register this course This short course will explore the concept of accountability within humanitarian intervention. In particular it will look at the contemporary significance of accountability for humanitarian response � when and why it has become an important concept for humanitarian intervention, and specific events that have led to a shift from donors to recipients of aid as the agents of accountability and how it is being implemented in the field. Key questions that will be explored include: To whom are humanitarian agencies accountable? What are the competing accountabilities and how do these influence program decisions and agency performance? Why is accountability to affected people important during a humanitarian response? Aside from ideological views, why should the humanitarian sector be concerned with accountability to affected people? What are its end goals? What does an effective accountability mechanism look like? How do agencies implement it? Do these work? In what contexts? How is their effectiveness being measured? By whom? Through an exploration of case studies from the field (including 2005 South East Asian tsunami, Pakistan earthquake and flood response, Haiti earthquake, European Migration of 2015/2016), a mix of lecture, group exercise, video presentation, the course will address the above questions. Guest speakers will be brought in to discuss the issues with those who are grappling with the accountability debates in the field.