Description
There is an imbalance in the development and humanitarian sector where accountability is often directed upwards to donors rather than downwards to beneficiaries. Unlike donors, beneficiaries often have little power to hold organisations accountable, and this can often have negative impacts. Production of knowledge on what counts as accountability is also often directed from positions of power and authority. Governance and protection implications of an imbalanced accountability paradigm have made it into some frameworks, such as the Accountability to Affected People (AAP) commitments in the humanitarian sector, but children and young people who are the target of many interventions are especially excluded in accountability reform dynamics. Drawing on participatory research with care-experienced children and young people in Rwanda and South Africa, this paper explores how youth-defined understandings of accountability can shape how we conceptualise and approach accountability to them in development and humanitarian spaces through a lens of the global care reform agenda. Through co-production methodologies, the research offers novel insights into how youth-produced knowledge on accountability can shape approaches to child protection and efficacy of interventions. This is research that is part of a two-year knowledge transfer partnership with global NGO Hope and Homes for Children.
