An Independent Commission for Voices in Crisis: Changing the Referee Instead of Changing the Game

This week outgoing Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock offered a scathing assessment of progress on accountability to affected populations (AAP) and proposed an Independent Commission for Voices in Crisis (ICVIC) as a mechanism to hold aid agencies to account. This call is in response to data that shows humanitarian organisations consistently perform poorly when it comes to truly including affected populations in humanitarian decision-making, taking their opinions into account when providing aid, and addressing complaints.