1.13 The IPC Quality and Support Strategy

The rapid expansion of the IPC worldwide and increased use of its findings for decision-making underscore the need to ensure the overall quality of IPC processes and products.

The IPC initiative, through the global partners and the Global Support Unit, is committed to supporting this process through implementation of the comprehensive IPC Quality and Support Strategy. The Strategy aims to ensure that IPC products meet global standards and respond to the needs of decision-makers. The strategy has four components: (i) capacity development; (ii) country technical, implementation and strategic support; (iii) technical standards and guidelines; and (iv) quality assurance (Figure 4).

  • Capacity development: Capacity development is the stepping-stone of Quality Assurance and aims to ensure the professionalization, decentralization and sustainability of IPC technical capacity. It entails developing capacities at the country and regional levels, as well as at the global level, to implement and support the IPC in line with global standards. Modalities include standard and tailored training, cross-country learning exchanges and a certification programme, among others. 
  • Country technical, implementation and strategic support: This entails providing real-time remote and in-country technical support to the various stages of the IPC implementation process (both ex ante and ex post support), depending on the Technical Working Groups’ needs. This includes systematic in-country facilitation during analyses in various contexts. It also entails providing strategic guidance for future improvements and monitoring quality enhancements over time. Ensuring that good practices related to IPC governance and IPC implementation processes are identified, documented, promoted and replicated also contributes to greater quality of IPC analytical and communication products across countries and regions.
  • Technical standards and guidelines: These are a pre-condition to ensuring high-quality IPC analyses and related products. The IPC Quality Assurance Strategy thus includes feedback mechanisms to ensure that learning from IPC application feeds into IPC normative work at the global level (e.g. the IPC Technical Manual and IPC Resources).
  • Quality Assurance (Function 4 of IPC protocols): This refers to mechanisms that foster technical rigour and neutrality of analysis and self-learning for future improvements. To this end, tools and procedures have been included under Function 4 to allow country Technical Working Groups to assess to what extent they followed the protocols in their ongoing analyses and learn from the exercise to inform future improvements by using the self-assessment tool. Still under Function 4, if necessary, the Technical Working Group may also request and engage in an external quality review, which serves to strengthen the quality of the IPC products prior to their release.