Mauritania. Mbera Fire Brigade honoured for environmental activism © UNHCR/Colin Delfosse 2. Participation and Inclusion 2.1 Overview UNHCR is accountable to communities from the onset of displacement until durable solutions are achieved. This requires continuous direct engagement with affected people to ensure their meaningful participation in decisions that affect them. Participation entails engagement of communities from assessment, planning and implementation, to monitoring and evaluation of programmes. Effective Two-Way communication is key to designing participatory interventions which may include observations, dialogue, consultation, and feedback sessions among others. The results from such participatory interventions, including subsequent decisions, must be communicated back to affected communities to close the engagement loop. The reach and quality of participatory interventions will increase community ownership of programmes and allow implementation and follow-up to be driven by the communities themselves. Participation and inclusion are also reflected in UNHCR’s global commitment to support partnership with refugee-led organizations (RLOs) and community-based organization (CBOs), including through the provision of grants.16 16 PARTICIPATION AND INCLUSION – UNHCR’s Policy on Age, Gender and Diversity 2018 “Women, men, girls, and boys of diverse backgrounds are able to engage meaningfully and are consulted on protection, assistance, and solutions. Core Action: At a minimum, country operations will employ participatory methodologies at each stage of the operations management cycle, to incorporate the capacities and priorities of women, men, girls, and boys of diverse backgrounds into protection, assistance, and solutions programmes.” In the MENA region, participation and inclusion are embedded in the strategic directions of regional initiatives such as the Regional Refugee & Resilience Plan (3RP). The 3RP is a strategic, planning, coordination, advocacy, fundraising and programming platform for humanitarian and development partners to respond to the Syria crisis. The first strategic direction of the 3RP focusses on including and empowering women, men, See UNHCR, Grant Agreements with Organizations led by displaced and stateless persons – Briefing Note. MENA AAP TOOLKIT: STRENGTHENING INCLUSION AND ACCOUNTABILITY TO AFFECTED PEOPLE 6

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