Quality Principle 2:
Participation, Empowerment & Local Ownership
Development and humanitarian responses enable sustainable change through the empowerment of local actors and systems.
Rationale
Quality Principle 2 is focused on participation, empowerment and local ownership, and recognises the importance of communities and individuals being fully empowered actors in their own development process. As primary stakeholders, those who are directly affected shall be an integral part of decisions and activities that impact them. The voice of primary stakeholders is integral to the development process and their involvement helps ensure that development activities meet their needs. It is just and fair that local participants have a say in activities that affect their lives.
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The Code addresses the principles of empowerment and local ownership explicitly. Commitment 2.2 addresses empowerment generally, and Compliance Indicators relating to gender and people with disabilities explicitly promote empowerment as well as participation. The Indicators and Verifiers for the Commitment to gender equity and equality place a strong focus on women and girls, whilst at the same time acknowledging and where appropriate addressing discrimination and exclusion due to gender identity.
The inclusion of a Commitment requiring Members whose primary stakeholders include children to demonstrate a commitment to the participation of children (2.5), was a direct response to feedback from the ACFID Child Rights Community of Practice and the ACFID Board. In this case participation is taken to mean inclusion, participation and giving voice to children. “Participation” is used rather than “empowerment” in order to distinguish the way member’s work with children from the way they work with adults which in turn reflects that children’s agency is different from that of adults.
Taken together, this approach accommodates the diversity of approaches taken by ACFID Members while still making explicit Commitments to participation, empowerment and local ownership.
Quality Principle 2 is implemented through five Commitments by ACFID Members.
Commitments
COMMITMENT 2.1
We promote the participation of primary stakeholders.
COMMITMENT 2.2
We promote the empowerment of primary stakeholders.
COMMITMENT 2.3
We promote gender equality and equity.
COMMITMENT 2.4
We promote the empowerment of people with disabilities.
COMMITMENT 2.5
We promote the participation of children.