5. Humanitarian Performance Targets

The CARE Program Strategy indicates that CARE is committed to providing quality, life-saving humanitarian assistance to 20 Million People affected by humanitarian crisis. Based on various forecasts for trends of natural disasters and human-made crisis we estimate that this objective translates into a target of 5% to 15% of the people affected by a particular crisis depending on the type of CARE’s response.  The following table provides the target thresholds and performance scores by type of crisis.

Targets and Performance Score (as of July 2015, 3 = highest) for: % affected people directly reached through CARE’s humanitarian assistance
by type	>15%	10-15%	5-10%	<5%	No response
Type 1	3	2	1	1	0
Type 2	3	2	2	1	0
Type 3	3	3	3	2	0
Type 4	3	3	2	1	0

In addition, achievements will be measured against the response specific targets in terms of reaching expected numbers of people with particular vulnerability profiles.

Furthermore, every humanitarian response by CARE is expected to reflect CARE’s focus on four core sectors – WASH, Shelter, Food & Nutrition Security and Sexual, Maternal & Reproductive Health in emergencies – as well as the CARE Approach as described by the Global Programme Strategy.

What is the CARE APPROACH?   CARE aims to tackle the underlying causes of poverty and social injustice and to bring lasting change to the lives of poor and vulnerable people.   CARE International prioritises therefore three approaches that together constitute The CARE APPROACH:	• Strengthening gender equality and women’s voice CARE promotes the empowerment of women and girls, and engages with men and boys, to transform unequal power relations and address gender inequality.
	•  Promoting inclusive governance CARE promotes good governance in three key areas: empowering people to know and act on their rights; influencing those in power to be more responsible, responsive and accountable; and providing opportunities to link the two together.
	• Increasing resilience CARE strengthens people’s capacity to adapt to changing situations, manage risks, address underlying causes of vulnerability and respond to new hazards and opportunities.

In order to align with the CARE Approach CARE teams are expected to develop response strategies and implement humanitarian responses that:

• are largely focused on (not more than) 1-2 core sectors
• show clear complementarity between interventions of different sectors
• are compliant (minimum score: 2) with criteria established by CARE’s Global Gender Marker and Inclusive Governance Marker.
• support building back stronger approaches for recovery and link to recognised resilience strategies

The operational definitions of these indicators and generic targets are described in the Response Performance Monitoring Tool. More specific targets that can be agreed for a particular response by the appropriate decision making body such as the Crisis Coordination Group (CCG) especially if diversions from the generic targets are likely and appropriate in the response context (for more detail about response specific decision making see Emergency Management Protocols in Chapter 4.

In its Humanitarian and Emergency Strategy (HES) CARE states its ambition to be a leading humanitarian agency known for :

• its particular ability to reach and empower women and girls in emergencies.
• its culture of humanitarian leadership and accountability at all levels
• the efficiency of its operational models which expand and nurture strategic partnerships with traditional and non-traditional actors at the local, national, regional and global levels
• the talent, capabilities and capacity of its staff in terms of global preparedness, surge and response management capacity
• its sustainable business model which ensures adequate funding and effective use of resources for humanitarian preparedness and response

The HES sets out organisation-wide strategic priorities for achieving the institutional and operational strengths required to establishing CARE as a leading humanitarian agency. The following table provides an overview of core performance criteria linked to each strategic priority.

Strategic Priority	Institutional Strength	Operational Strength
Response Focus	·   global gender support capacity ·   gender capacity within core sector teams ·   global advocacy capacity to support gender sensitive humanitarian programming	·   response analysis, strategy and activities aligned with gender criteria (see gender marker) ·   solid documentation of evidence of effectiveness gender sensitive and transformative approaches in humanitarian responses
Leadership & Authority	·   efficient global and regional decision making mechanisms for all types of crisis & responses ·   Efficient corporate response mobilisation mechanisms ·   corporate accountability mechanisms	·   clear and transparent operational decision making authority ·   efficient response monitoring, & reporting ·   timely response reviews and management responses
Operating Model	·   global partnership approach with investment in strategic alliances ·   corporate preparedness and risk management mechanisms ·   Efficient remote management systems	·   efficient response preparedness ·   efficient operational cooperation and collaboration ·   effective integration and support of local actors and responders
Capacity & Capabilities	·   Globally funded and managed surge, flexible response and support, risk analysis & management capacities ·   Coordinated staff training, talent management,  human resource support mechanisms	·   adequate response management capacity based on response specific assessments, enhanced through deployments and complemented through appropriate partnerships
Business Model	·   Global communication and information management systems ·   Pooled rapid funding mechanisms ·   Program support capacity at corporate level ·   Geographically focused preparedness and response management platforms	·   timely public communications ·   efficient fundraising and information management ·   adequate response funding (pooled and response strategy based) ·   efficient management of response specific  and reallocated resources

The Response Performance Monitoring Tool provides details of the indicators for measuring the operational strength of CARE’s humanitarian responses. Aggregated data from CARE’s responses provide the Humanitarian Performance Metrics which contribute to the analysis required for assessing CARE’s institutional strength. The HAF Accountability System establishes the linkages between the monitoring and review mechanisms allowing for documenting CARE’s organizational performance as a humanitarian organization.