Over the years, the term ‘quality’ has acquired a negative connotation for some who see it as having essentially become a donor requirement, based on a technocratic vision, and the ‘over-standardisation’ of the sector. The concept of ‘quality’ has also gradually been diluted with the emergence of important new issues such as localisation and the environment. Nevertheless, international aid organisations, donors and (above all) those who receive assistance, continue to demand aid quality. In this context, we need to look at what ‘quality’ means and how we put it into practice.
So, what can we do to give back meaning to the notion of quality? Can it still be considered a sophisticated notion when the international aid system is no longer capable of meeting all the needs of crisis-affected people? Who has the legitimacy to define what constitutes aid quality? Donors? Aid practitioners? Beneficiaries? Governments? How do we redefine quality so that affected people and local actors are, at last, given a prominent place? In a system that is increasingly focused on the ‘local’, can we continue to ignore alternative visions of quality?
These are some of the questions that Groupe URD would like to invite you to discuss at the 15th edition of the Autumn School on Humanitarian Aid.
Speakers
- Véronique de Geoffroy, General Director of Groupe URD
- Patrick Iribarne, Associate Director of Strateis – to be confirmed
- Karine Meaux, Head of the International Solidarity Department at Fondation de France
- Aline Hubert, Groupe URD Environment Focal Point
- Claire Fehrenbach, Project Manager, Nutriset
- Pierre Hauselmann, Former Director of HQAI
- Marie Faou, Groupe URD Quality and Accountability Focal Point
- Carolyn Meyer, Programme Manager, Ground Truth Solutions
- Laura Mosberg, MEAL Specialist, Humanité & Inclusion
- Johanna Baché, facilitator of the Local Solidarity Network at Groupe URD
- Habyba Samira, Association de Jeunes au Cameroun, implementing partner working on the RESILAC project
- Bonaventure Gbétoho Sokpoh, Senior Advisor on CHS and Outreach, CHS Alliance
- François Grünewald, Director of Strategic Foresight of Groupe URD
- Rowan Cody, Director – Emergency Readiness and Response Unit, ACF
And others still under discussion, including from the field, see the provisional programme. More information soon…
Whether you work in academia, in a civil society organisation or in the aid sector, we invite you to come and share your thoughts and questions so that we can work together to redefine the notion of quality. Over two days, witness accounts from different countries and different sectors will show the variety of ways of understanding quality. We will use these concrete examples as the basis for discussion about the place that affected populations and national and local actors should have.
The exchanges and discussions will provide food for thought for the revision of the Core Humanitarian Standard and there will be a collective exercise for this purpose.
Organised with the support of French Development Agency, Fondation de France, Région Auvergne-Rhônes-Alpes and Monegasque Cooperation.