Yemen Humanitarian Fund (YHF) Terms of Reference for Beneficiary Feedback and Complaints Mechanism

Overview OCHA as the Managing Agent of the Yemen Humanitarian Fund (YHF) is committed to ensure that the Funds’ program interventions are designed in a way which positively contributes to the lives of beneficiaries and communities. To abide by this commitment, OCHA Yemen has developed monitoring modalities which aim at verifying partner self-reported project progress and quality of YHF interventions.

As described in the YHF Operational Manual the main purpose of monitoring is to assess progress made towards set targets and to verify the accuracy of reporting submitted by partners. YHF monitoring and reporting activities have the following key objectives:

• Verify partner progress in delivering project outputs and activities (as per log frame and work plan), the beneficiary targeting process, the use of resources (as per budget) and internal monitoring and reporting systems.

• Triangulate information collected through other means, identify gaps and trends in humanitarian operations and reflect on best practices and lessons learned using findings and recommendations for results management, risk mitigation and public information.

• Strengthen partnership and coordination between OCHA, the partner and the local authorities, and to engage and seek feedback from affected communities.

Accountability to the Affected Population (AAP), and in particular the quality of work and services offered by YHF partners to all beneficiaries, is a key objective of the Fund’s monitoring activities. YHF monitoring field visits in 2017 and 2018 revealed weak complaint mechanisms and a lack of knowledge among beneficiaries of their rights and how to complain about poor quality of services. Consequently, OCHA Humanitarian Financing Unit (HFU) decided to establish its own feedback and complaints mechanism to reinforce the beneficiaries’ and stakeholders’ right to be heard, acknowledging that the existing YHF complaints email (yemenhpfcomplaints@un.org) may not be accessible to all.