Accountability to Affected Populations and Community Engagement Working Group Myanmar: Key Messages for Humanitarian Actors Myanmar Earthquake (March 2025)
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LISTEN FIRST, ACT SECOND: Prioritize understanding the immediate needs, priorities, and capacities directly from diverse affected communities (including women, children, elderly, persons with disabilities, and ethnic minorities) before designing and delivering aid. Use rapid, context-appropriate methods for consultation.
TRANSPARENT & ACCESSIBLE INFORMATION: Clearly communicate who we are, what assistance is available, who qualifies, how decisions are made, and how long support might last. Use multiple channels and local languages to ensure information reaches everyone, especially the most isolated or marginalized.
SAFE & DIGNIFIED PARTICIPATION: Actively involve affected people in decisions that impact their lives, from planning distributions to monitoring effectiveness. Ensure participation is safe, voluntary, and respects cultural norms, actively seeking out voices often unheard.
RESPONSIVE FEEDBACK & COMPLAINTS MECHANISMS: Establish and publicize safe, accessible channels for people to ask questions, provide feedback, or raise complaints (including sensitive issues like PSEA - Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse). Critically, ensure mechanisms are actively monitored, and people receive timely responses and see action taken based on their input.
FOCUS ON VULNERABILITY & EQUITY: Continuously assess who is most vulnerable and facing barriers to accessing aid due to the earthquake and pre-existing factors. Adapt programs to ensure assistance is delivered impartially, equitably, and reaches those most in need, upholding their dignity and rights throughout the response.
ENSURE COLLECTIVE ACCOUNTABILITY: Coordinate with other relevant humanitarian actors and service providers to be able to avoid the duplication of aid and improve the effectiveness of the assistance to be able to reach affected populations widely and in a timely manner.
AAP Practical Guidance
• Humanitarian organizations and staff must adhere to the commitments outlined in the Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS); in so doing, they must respect all affected populations and not discriminate against anyone on basis of ethnicity, religion, sexual identity, economic status, etc.
• CHS Commitments 4 and 5 stress that affected populations have the right to access the assistance they need, including information and the right to participate in decision-making processes that affect them.
• The communities have the right to request information related to the assistance that is being provided – where it is being provided, from whom, when, etc.
• The communities have the right to collaborate and coordinate with the responding agencies and provide feedback on the appropriateness of the assistance being provided vis-à-vis their actual needs.
• Humanitarian assistance is free. The recipients do not need to pay anything to receive assistance.
• Humanitarian workers must not accept/ask for any payments or gifts in kind from the affected communities/those they are helping.
• Any instances of demands/requests for payment, sexual exploitation or any disrespectful attitudes from responding organizations or staff can be reported.
• PSEA (interagency) reporting channels and/or agency-specific reporting channels should be identified and disseminated to communities.
• Feedback can be provided on the assistance and operations of the humanitarian assistance, as well as on the staff involved in the provision of assistance.
• Clear channels of communication, that are appropriate for the community, must be identified and communicated to the community.
• Any complaints/feedback that is submitted will not affect the provision of assistance.