The Right to be Heard, the Responsibility to Listen: Mainstreaming BC in IFRC

IFRC has a long history and tradition of community engagement. It is currently a thought- and practice-leader in the humanitarian sector in what it calls “BC’’, or beneficiary communication.

Facing a fresh opportunity to enhance what exists and the continuing rapid pace of change in its external environment, IFRC in partnership with infoasaid has undertaken a review of its current approach to BC, assessing the extent to which it is mainstreamed across all operations.

The review on which this report is based demonstrates that BC is central to the delivery of IFRC’s principles, values and commitments. BC is not just another competing initiative to be internally marketed by an isolated, underfunded, internal champion. BC is about changing the way in which IFRC delivers its programmes, building on what exists, doing better, working smarter and reaching further.

Findings from the review illustrate that BC has yet to be integrated systematically, consistently and predictably, in IFRC’s operations, across both the disaster cycle and programme cycle in all 187 National Societies. Reasons include varying interpretations of BC, confusion about its objectives, and different levels of interest in what some perceive as a “new initiative” but others as an integral part of their existing work.

Based on extensive consultations with IFRC staff, this infoasaid report offers a graphical road map for change, proposals for strategy, staffing and finance, plus a sequenced, step-by-step approach for mainstreaming BC in IFRC.