Why doesn’t HAP focus on accountability in development contexts?
This is more an accident of history than it is a logical and rational decision. The founders of HAP were all concerned about the absence of regulatory instruments and quality assurance systems within the humanitarian domain, and took action accordingly. Arguably, in the “development context”, political oversight and formal regulatory mechanisms, including judicial and administrative review systems, are more likely to be in place than in emergency contexts. Thus, in theory, cases of abuse of vested authority, criminal negligence and simple waste are more likely to be addressed satisfactorily. In fact some commentators have suggested that because so much development aid is in the form of budget support, it is even more vulnerable to corruption, mismanagement and abuse than the relatively smaller, more visible and identifiable projects financed by humanitarian budgets. Whatever the case, HAP´s mandate has formally sets its sights upon the humanitarian emergency response system, and it wou
