Interview with Matthew Frost, Tearfund
It is vital that we must put the beneficiary voice at the heart of our work and how we do accountability, stresses Matthew Frost.
What is your role at Tearfund?
As Chief Executive I am responsible for the direction and vision of the organisation. I make sure that Tearfund is fit to deliver its goals and that it performs at a high level. I aim to provide leadership of a high calibre and ensure that we have the capacity in place so that we can function effectively as a team.
I also advocate on behalf of Tearfund and the poor against poverty and injustice.
What inspired you to work in the sector?
I am a values-based person and I have always felt very passionately about issues of poverty and injustice - feelings that were compounded by a visit to India in my gap year. I think it is in my bloodstream; to me, poverty and injustice are fundamental issues that must be addressed.
What motivates you to go to work every day?
The main motivator is knowing that I, and the people that I have met and worked with, are making a tangible difference to poverty and injustice. A lady called Joyce springs to mind. Joyce is HIV-positive. I went to stay with her for a few days, in her small hut, to see the world from her perspective; the way she lives and how she makes a living. The reality of her predicament is, significantly, the by-product of the way that I, and others in the West, choose to live. It is profoundly challenging to think in this way.
Often the people working with the poorest of the poor are poor themselves, and this resonates with my strong Christian beliefs. I find it inspiring to see grassroots communities, which are more often than not Christian communities, rise to the challenge of meeting the needs of the poor in their midst.
What are you are working on at the moment and what impact do you hope this will have?
There are two key areas of work. Firstly, Tearfund has a long tradition of knowledge and learning and an essential part of this is growing the resource base of guides and tools for frontline communities, partners and staff, which are available free on the internet. We need to take the whole of the knowledge and learning strategy to the next level, looking at how to better support our partners and the wider sector.
I hope that this work will empower frontline staff by giving them the support and tools they need to maximise their capacity for effective action. We put frontline staff at the heart of our organisation, empowering them with as much responsibility as possible. So it is vitally important that our knowledge and learning serves them and increases their capacity, and that of our local partners and the communities they serve.
Secondly, I am on the board of the Humanitarian Accountability Partnership (HAP) and am passionate about bringing beneficiary accountability to the heart of the way the development sector works; the voice, views and perspectives of the beneficiary must be at the centre of all we do. We must be more accountable to those we seek to serve. I think there is a growing appetite to make it happen, and many realise it is the right thing to do, but it is challenging because it turns the way we currently work on its head. There has been the desire to control and dictate and some are fearful of the consequences of losing this power to a new model.
The promise of beneficiary accountability is that it gives the beneficiary voice power. This in turn builds the capacity of grass-roots civil society, and this in turn is the missing element to truly sustainable development. Frontline communities should, indeed must play a central role in shaping the development agenda.
What are the main challenges for Tearfund's work at the moment?
The turbulence in the exchange rate and the depreciation of Sterling against the US dollar is having a severe effect on our programme work.
Another challenge is the need to educate and challenge Christians in this country to really live in such a way that demonstrates they are following Christ's example. We need to see a renewed commitment of what it means to be Christian, embracing a commitment to compassionate care of those in need in the community and a determination to take our faith into the public square speaking out on behalf of the voiceless.
We need to mobilise grassroots civil society, which is often an overlooked and forgotten partner in the fight against poverty. Local faith organisations - typically local churches - are key to this. In the toughest to reach and poorest communities they are all that exists by way of effective and trusted grass-roots civil society. I think a serious focus on this is critical to sustainable development and meeting the holistic needs of people living in poverty.
There is much talk about the effectiveness of the sector and how to best balance the needs of different stakeholders. What are your thoughts on this?
Again, the role of beneficiary voice is so important; their voice is often unrepresented and unheard. This remains a massive issue. The focus tends to be on donor accountability alone and, although this is clearly important, we need to find a better balance. We need to give more power and voice to the beneficiary and then to the actors who are closest to them. As INGOs we need to see our role more as one that serves those at poverty's frontline.
What part of Tearfund's work are you most proud of?
I am hugely encouraged by the results we are seeing in two key areas of work: HIV and environmental sustainability.
The role of frontline faith communities in confronting HIV is immense and growing. The active involvement of caring and compassionate people - motivated by their faith - is critical to fighting the disease, People living with HIV need ongoing community support: to know their HIV status, to access antiretroviral drugs (ARVs), to take these drugs regularly, to provide care and livelihood support. Faith communities also have a powerful role in confronting prejudice, raising awareness, and standing with vulnerable people for their rights and dignity. And their reach is unequalled. We are working to multiply and build the capacity of the best of these grass-roots faith communities.
We also need to acknowledge that some faith communities are also part of the problem, for example, when they have contributed to stigma. In these instances we are working to challenge church leadership on their theology and their understanding of HIV. We expose them to the experience of others and the stories of those living with HIV who have had to endure stigma.
Environmental sustainability is another key area of work. We are working to integrate disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation approaches into frontline programmes in such a way that grassroots communities can shape and take action. We are rolling out a climate risk assessment tool to help grass roots organisations understand and respond to climate change and environmental degradation.
Tearfund has taken a strong lead on climate change adaptation issues with a very effective advocacy and campaigning agenda. We have done much to help shape the focus, ambition and pace of the international climate change negotiations. And we have also worked hard to mobilise the church in the UK, for example by setting up a carbon-sharing scheme and a carbon ‘fast' for Lent.
What is the best professional advice you have been given?
Talk less, listen more.
What is the key challenge for the sector in the coming year?
To genuinely and wholeheartedly address the voice of the beneficiary and put it at the heart of how we do accountability. So much would flow from this. I believe quality and impact would improve. I think our organisations would become more agile and adaptive to the rapidly changing context of poverty. We would become more transparent to our supporters.
We can also learn a lot from the business community. Although business is admittedly driven by a narrow profit motive that often ignores externals, they have far more experience than us at putting the customer first, and creating organisations that are flexible, responsive, empowering and accountable around their stated goals.
Matthew Frost is Chief executive at Tearfund
