Paper details

Paper authors	Marina Kobzeva
In panel on	Can Standards and Reforms Drive Effective Change?
Paper presenter(s) will be presenting	In-Person / Online

Abstract

Tearfund has had its Quality Standards for over a decade now. Inspired by the commitment to humanitarian best practice and developed in an attempt to harmonise the growing number of industry-wide and sector-specific standards for the country teams and partner organisations, they drove Tearfund’s work towards greater quality and accountability, which has been consistently certified under HAP and then CHS. Working predominantly through local partners and churches however has not made it an easy task.
This paper explores the recent review of Tearfund’s Quality Standards undertaken in order to improve adherence to the Standards among partners and staff. It details the steps taken and success factors and potential obstacles identified, namely (1) Ensuring universality of standards, (2) Developing quality indicators and targets, (3) Drafting realistic capacity development plans and allocating resources for improving quality and accountability, (4) Fostering synergies within the organisation (5) Ensuring industry relevance and (5) Promoting ownership of the process by partners through moving away from compliance language.
The paper examines several cases from the field and concludes with recommendations relevant to those organisations that are currently developing or updating their quality and accountability frameworks.

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