Learn
Module 3.1 is adapted from the CDAC How to Guide. (69)
- Plan ahead to understand human resources required, where, in what core function(s), for how long and what competencies and skills they will need (such as language or technical knowledge). Remember to include the required budget in your overall response funding plan (See Module 2.4.6).
- Recruit locally. The added value of having a diverse workforce and policies that support this cannot be emphasized enough. People with lived experience of marginalization are likely to be strong assets. Moreover, close knowledge of the context and language skills are incredibly valuable for responsive information services.
| Participation – At a minimum, responsive information services should aim to have at least one staff member who is from the community they aim to serve. The profiles required for core functions of responsive information services may be difficult to find – particularly for information production. Even if community engagement experts are not available, there will be many people with expert skills in data management, minority group engagement, language, journalism, etc. Investing in staff local to the context and familiarizing them with response systems will be a more sustainable investment than relying on short-term expatriates. |
- Due to a sector-wide gap in personnel skilled at communication and community engagement, provide awareness raising and training in responsive information services across your organization and partners working in the response, both to gain buy-in and deepen knowledge and skills. Consider collaborating with other organizations to advertise posts, (for example, universities or community groups). Hiring for content development support can be challenging – consider working with media or media development organizations to identify candidates with journalism experience.
- Check staff rosters, either at your own organization through your HR department, or partner agencies (for example, NORCAP or RedR) that deploy expert personnel in communication and community engagement. As a preparedness measure, consider setting up a partnership agreement with any rosters from which you may request deployments in future. This helps roster managers to understand demand, advocate for funds and plan for future surges in requests.
| RESOURCE – See CDAC Expert Pool. (70) |
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What is in the tool?
This tool provides sample job descriptions which can be used to identify the skills you need on your team and can be adapted to develop job postings.
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