Socializing accountability in humanitarian settings: A proposed framework

We draw on a conceptual framework that outlines practical dimensions of socializing accountability among networked non-profit staff (Romzek, LeRoux, Johnston, Kempf, & Schede Piatak, 2013) and apply it to the reproductive health responses in two case studies, Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar in 2008 and the Haiti earthquake in 2010. Using interviews with 96 aid workers in the two cases, we explore the ways in which they held each other to account through social, interpersonal means for the implementation of the minimum standard in reproductive health service provision. We identify new behaviors, rewards, and challenges, such as constructive criticism and overwhelming workloads, that augmented or undermined socializing accountability within the two case studies. We adapt and extend the model for the humanitarian context and propose a preliminary conceptual framework for assessing socializing accountability in a crisis response.