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LRC Accountability Measures

The Lebanese Red Cross (LRC) has received the support of tens of thousands of donors in order to respond to the Beirut Port Explosion.

This support was directed towards LRC because of its long-established reputation as a trustworthy organisation. The LRC is intent on maintaining the trust of the population and of its partners and donors. We have therefore developed a set of 10 transparency and accountability measures for that purpose.

Weekly updates

LRC posts the number of people it has helped in response to the 4th of August Beirut Port explosion, every week (on Fridays) on its social media channels. This includes the number of families receiving the 300 USD unconditional cash grant (in USD).

Hotline

LRC has set up a 24/7 hotline to receive feedback and complaints. The hotline faced difficulties due to the huge number of calls received per day (more than 1200 calls), but now we are no longer missing more than 2% of calls due to an increase in capacity, round the clock working hours, and better use of technology (within a few days, the hotline will be switched to “1760” to make it easier for the public).

Fast-track process

LRC assessment teams have not been able to assess ALL households within the area of operations that is allocated to LRC (see attachment Geosplit), therefore, we encourage people we missed because they were not home when our assessments teams visited the first and second times, to call our hotline and book an assessment.

Complaints management mechanism

Complaints are received across multiple channels including social media, and escalated to an independent complaints management team. This helps to ensure the integrity of the complaints management process.

Post-distribution monitoring

A separate team is sent to survey about 5% of the beneficiaries in order to check if the intended impact of LRC’s support is achieved. This will start in early November.

Filming crew/beneficiary interviews

LRC hired a filming crew for 2 month to follow LRC’s teams on the ground and interview beneficiaries (with consent) in order to document the response.

Full MSNA

LRC performed an emergency assessment (called Multi-Sectoral Needs Assessment) during the first 2 months of intervention. The advantage of this system is that it is quick (more than 35,000 households assessed), the disadvantage is that it is not very comprehensive. Now LRC is starting to reply a full, detailed assessment which will help to identify the most vulnerable of the (at least) 10,000 families which LRC aims to support for at least 7 months.

Website

Next week LRC will be launching a website specific to this crisis response, on which information and reports related to LRC’s intervention will be published to be accessible to the public.

Financial audit

LRC has commissioned an external financial audit for all funds received from 4 August till the end of the operation. The results will be published on the website. This is distinct from the annual external financial audit which LRC has to perform according to its Statutes.

External evaluation

LRC is currently tendering for the services of a team of external humanitarian assistance experts which will be tasked with evaluating LRC’s direct financial assistance program. This is being done early on so that the results can be used to improve the program as soon as possible (about half-way through), and the results will also be published on the website for transparency.