Yemen. Somali refugees return home through UNHCR’s Assisted Spontaneous Return program. © UNHCR/Dotnotion 1. Introduction 1.1 Accountability to Affected People in MENA: Introduction and Context The UNHCR Age, Gender, Diversity Policy 2018 emphasizes the importance of establishing and implementing effective Accountability to Affected People (AAP) interventions for refugees, asylumseekers, returnees, internally displaced and stateless people, including in mixed movements as well as host communities1, in coordination with government, UN agencies, civil society, and other actors . This commitment is reflected in the 2018 Global Compact on Refugees (GCR), the UNHCR 5-year AAP Strategy, and the UNHCR Strategic Directions 2022-2026 . It is further elaborated in UNHCR Operational Guidance on Accountability to Affected People 2020 which defines AAP by commitment to the intentional and systematic inclusion of the expressed needs, concerns, capacities, and views of displaced and stateless persons in their diversity; and being answerable for our organizational decisions and staff actions, in all protection, assistance and solutions interventions and programmes” .2 At the interagency level, AAP is reflected in the IASC Grand Bargain, of which UNHCR is a signatory and current co-chair3, while the main interagency conceptual framework remains the IASC Statement on Accountability to Affected People (AAP) - ICVA 2022 . In line with UNHCR4 and IASC5 global guidance and commitments, UNHCR’s Regional Bureau for the Middle East and North Africa (RB MENA) continues to strengthen its community and rights-based approach to protection and solutions interventions for forcibly displaced and stateless persons in the MENA region . With the support of the PROSPECTS Partnership, the RB MENA has implemented a three-year strategy to 1 Forcibly displaced and stateless people herein after. 2 See UNHCR, “Operational Guidance on Accountability to Affected People (AAP).“ 3 See UNHCR, “Progress towards implementing the grand bargain commitments“ 4 See UNHCR, “Understanding Community-Based Protection.“ 5 See IASC, “Best Practice Guide on Interagency Community-Based Complaint Mechanisms“ MENA AAP TOOLKIT: STRENGTHENING INCLUSION AND ACCOUNTABILITY TO AFFECTED PEOPLE 1