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A key barrier to delivering responsive, inclusive, timely information services in emergencies is that it is often not considered a top priority amongst other humanitarian services by decisionmakers, which makes it so adequate preparedness actions are not taken and resources are not allocated when an emergency strikes.
Adapted from CDAC How to Guide for Leaders and Responders, Section Five (11)
Leaders of organisations are critical to ensuring that community engagement is timely and sustainable. Only they can ensure that teams have the human capacity, time, funding and space needed to properly mainstream it. Strong leadership is required to ensure that communication and community engagement evolves from an ‘add on’ to a nonnegotiable part of how we work.
- Identify the framework. Identify existing policies, guidance, plans and values in your organization that are enablers for communication and community engagement and use these as frameworks for suggesting new approaches and activities. Lobby for inclusion where they are missing from policies, guidance and protocols – especially for emergency preparedness.
- Create awareness. Start a conversation with colleagues and collaborators about what more could be done to champion – prepare, budget, and coordinate for - community participation in meeting information needs in crisis. Ask for community engagement to be included as a standing agenda item for meetings, strategic and operational planning, and reviews. Get your manager and colleagues on board and convey shared messages.
- Share information and success stories with colleagues and collaborators. What are the benefits to the organization and collective humanitarian response? How does it help to implement organizational or global commitments like the Core Humanitarian Standard, IASC Commitments to AAP, and Protection Frameworks? What has interested you in doing more about communication and community engagement? You could do this in meetings, in newsletters or by hosting an event or training.
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- IRC. (2020). An Evidence Review of the Signpost Project, Empowering Through Responsive Information.
- BBC Media Action. (2012). Still Left in the Dark? How people in emergencies use communication to survive – and how humanitarian agencies can help.
- CDAC. (2017). Policy Paper. The Role of Collective Platforms, Services, and Tools to support Communication and Community Engagement in Humanitarian Action.
- CDAC. (2019). Collective Communication and Community Engagement in humanitarian action, How to Guide for Leaders and Responders. Pg 7-8.
- BBC Media Action. (2015). Humanitarian Broadcasting In Emergencies: A Synthesis Of Evaluation Findings.
- Harvard Humanitarian Initiative. (2017). The Signal Code: A Human Rights Approach to Information During Crisis and Ethical Obligations for Humanitarian Information Activities