Take Action
Later in the response (i.e., from month three onwards), for larger or protracted emergencies, with a longer timescale (i.e., more than six months), when there is a good level of community engagement and accountability experience and capacity within your organization, or when the response has a good level of funding and human resources – in addition to the minimum standards (1.4.1), aim for meeting the below advanced standards as you use the rest of this toolkit.
Advanced actions for participation:
- Assessments: Conduct detailed Information Needs Assessments (INA) and consider interagency joint assessments. Attend external coordination meetings to gather information on what others are doing, and discuss assessment plans and findings, to identify areas for collaboration and avoid duplication. This includes attending community engagement and accountability coordination groups. Share the results of the assessment with community representatives and cross-check they are accurate and discuss anything that is still unclear.
- Design: Use participatory planning approaches, such as community workshops and meetings, human-centered design, vulnerability capacity assessments or activities such as ranking, decision trees, mapping, etc. Engage all groups in the community in planning the response. Conduct more in-depth consultation or collaborate with frontline staff (23) to design the program. Consider agreeing on who your responsive information service should target with the community given the resources available to you. Crosscheck plans with the community before you start implementing.