I would like to add to what already said, 1. Incorporating PSEA into staff code of conduct 2. Regular sensitization and capacity building for staff 3. Having reporting mechanism such as hot line, whistle blower, free call line, etc 4. In placing community based feedback and complaint mechanism 5. Main ... More
We've found two steps are critical -- first, having zero tolerance and prosecuting abuse and second, ensuring that there are initiatives in the community and with local government systems that the human rights of every person must be respected under the leadership of local civil society. Developing a ... More
I support localization of aid and I have a question about how to best approach certain partnership situations with this in mind. You informally hear about harassment/abuse of e.g. refugee volunteers by a staff member of a local NGO you are remotely working with. What would you do besides 1) getting ... More
Indeed, the question about statelessness is rarely addressed by humanitarian actors. In addition to the apprehensions linked to the respect of humanitarian principles, statelessness can require long-term actions, and most humanitarian organizations have a short term action focus on life-saving activities. ... More
Thank you Sandra for a very good outline of the FIETS approach! Very true insights there regarding the post-project period, and that is the challenge when there is displacement of the communities trained and organised in management committees. The reflection on institutional sustainability is also very ... More
Hello all, Thank you very much for raising this, Nelly. If I may add something further - in addition to the points mentioned above (engaging public figures, from political leaders to CHWs), one approach we have taken through ConnexUs (a project of Search for Common Ground with funding support from ... More
Thanks alot Henry and everyone else that has shared valuable information and great tips on this topic. These will enrich our current efforts. Many thanks More
Hi Henri looks really interesting I will take a look :) ------------------------------ Julian Srodecki Regional Humanitarian and Emergency Affairs Director World Vision International (WVI) ------------------------------ More
Have you looked at the Social Science in Humanitarian Action platform? There are some great materials on there including this Rapid Review on Vaccine Hesitancy which is really good at unpicking why hesitancy exists and has some very practical suggestions for addressing it (link at the bottom). One ... More
In addition to faith leaders as highlighted by Julian, the use of community hygiene promoters and or community health workers, to disseminate information in a language that the community relates to, has also been valuable. ------------------------------ Sandra Kabiru Senior Program Coordinator World ... More
Specific to WASH projects, the FIETS approach is one of the sustainability measures I have seen implemented by my organization.. Financial sustainability- Post project support is critical and essential and this is done by training WASH committees to manage it. It's not fully efficient, but as a solution, ... More
Great question. Over in World Vision, we have been very interested in working closely with our network of faith leaders to promote vaccine acceptance for all vaccines that have been approved by a WHO recognised Stringent Regulatory Authority (SRA - there is a list on the WHO website). Vaccine acceptance ... More
One of the key aspects that we are all required to include in our humanitarian interventions is that of sustainability. Many of us strive towards the sustainability of our work, and we know that donors want to see such aspects clearly demonstrated in our project applications. A struggle that some ... More
Dear all, To add to this thread, as it is closely related – we are preparing a CoV-2 vaccination campaign in refugee camps in Germany (refugees and asylum seekers) and rumors are floating that the acceptance and uptake of refugees will be low. I have three questions to add to Nelly's original question: ... More
Thanks a lot Peter for this useful response. While high-level political leaders such as presidents and their deputies have taken this approach - being vaccinated publicly, you are right to say that we should go a step further and encourage community leaders to take a lead and this can be a positive ... More
I think this is a very pertinent issue in making sure we do attain herd immunity. Not only are we dealing with the issue of educating the masses with facts about the vaccine we also are fighting the misconceptions on the other hand. I also believe that it is even harder now with social media where everyone ... More
Proper supply chain management is the backbone of an efficient and effective emergency response. What has been your experience on the use of existing framework contracts vis-a-vis transactional sourcing in emergency response? If we consider both cost and time efficiencies, would it be better to use ... More
Dear Julia Very interesting question. In our case, we support refugees in Uganda and IDPs and refugees in DRC. In both cases, the land needs are currently temporal despite the protracted nature of the displacements. As such, there is more of temporal occupancy negotiated by the government, UNHCR ... More
While COVID may be considered a health issue, it is affecting all sectors of our work. My organisation has done lots of work mainstreaming health and hygiene initiatives across our programmes. Today, the concern is no longer so much about people not being aware of prevention but rather the slow uptake ... More
Thanks, Nils for your nuanced feedback. Glad to hear about your positive experiences when community members themselves could stave off instrumentalization attempts by community 'leaders' with other motivations that would have been detrimental to POC. And 100% agree that it is indeed a constant balancing ... More
I am new to the platform – thank you all for raising this important discussion. I call this the fear of "Unknown and the prejudice. As many have already mentioned in their comments, COVID-19 is not well known in many local communities and it has been seen as an imported disease from West, adding to ... More
I concur with the importance of capacity building to enable local partners to deliver on humanitarian needs. I am also seeing an opportunity here for advocacy and communication. It is good to get acceptance and listen to the wishes of the community but it is also important to reassure the community ... More
Dear Julia, I have implemented house projects for IDPs and returnees and generally, owning land is the condition to receive support (material, technicians and livelihoods). ln the case of Burundi where I implemented such a project, land is scarce but fortunately, the government has been providing plots ... More
The reaction of the local community is the trend in a number of countries. This is due to the fact that the pandemic has been hitting more Western countries in particular and initial COVID cases were "imported" from The West. In this case, a good solution, like some already mentioned, would be to ... More
The Center for Civilians in Conflict does similar work like the examples discussed in the event through creating Community Protection Committees, which are tasked with interfacing with Brigades in the local government where they live. We also have joint activities where the community members and the ... More
Thanks for your question Marc - and sorry for my slow response but took a few days off over Easter. As with many of this kind of very relevant questions, I always struggle to answer at a general level as so much will depend on the specific context - and usually, the best way of dealing with these kinds ... More
Dear all, the project I am working in constructs permanent shelters for displaced families in Afghanistan. The land tenure question is as old as shelter assistance itself --- Usually, we identify families that have purchased a piece of land by themselves already. It is often in areas where land is ... More
Dear Elena, I'm not able to contribute much to your question, but it reminds me of a very controversial statement I once read in a publication here in Afghanistan by DACAAR and Samuel Hall https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5cfe2c8927234e0001688343/t/5d53f3be8ce39000019e1103/1565783030072/2015-SH-DACAAR-Full-Report-Final.pdf ... More
I have a question for the panellists and other participants about community-based protection. Do you have any examples of CBP in places where the civilians themselves are parts of the conflict? How social cohesion could be restored if they live in the same community during the time when trust is at risk? ... More
The presentations raised the following question for me – how do we ensure sufficient and timely protection interventions in the context where the state is force closing the IDP camps without provisioning for their rehabilitation and safe returns to their places of origin? They again become secondary ... More
I had a question in particular for @Nils Carstensen (but equally interested in what others have to say about this): How do you navigate tensions between social norms of communities and impartial protection, e.g. when the majority of a community/traditional leaders push aside legitimate protection concerns ... More
I am Anyieth Job, NRC Protection Officer, and I would like to share another brief example of community-based protection. I am part of implementing the USAID/OFDA funded project, "improving the efficacy of the humanitarian response in South Sudan through the strengthening of the Protection Cluster" in ... More
To answer on the question regarding SGBV, thanks for the question and raising that concern - it is of course never a question of responsibility of the survivors of SGBV, and specific cases are never dealt with in the dialogue processes - they are referred to specialized protection services + addressing ... More
Anonymous post I probably misunderstood this, but from the presentation from DRC, it sounded like got victims of GBV "need to understand their own responsibility." They are not responsible for suffering violence... More
A recording of the second session is now available at https://phap.org/30mar2021 ------------------------------ Markus Forsberg Collaboration Center Manager Int. Assoc. of Professionals in Humanitarian Assistance and Protection (PHAP) Geneva Seychelles ------------------------------ More
This event raised the question for me regarding situations where civilians are targeted. We often assume that civilians are 'caught in the crossfire' in conflict, but in some places, civilians are actually the target and they cannot negotiate with armed actors (state or non-state), so what could protection ... More
Hi Elena, Great that you are working on access in the Sahel region. Personally, I think it´s always important to link access to operations to look practically at what works in your context because it might not be the same as in other areas. For example, I currently work on a project where a huge component ... More
Thank you for sharing this Elena, while I do not yet have direct experience working on the ground in conflict this type of approach is something I am very interested in as it pertains specifically to local healthcare workers/providers, health systems and civilian populations in conflict. I really appreciate ... More
We had the second event today in our series with NRC on Civilian Safety in Armed Conflict. Having heard the presentations today and having taken part in the discussion, I would like to ask participants again what your thoughts were. What was your main takeaway? And do you have any other examples that ... More
I am following up on this question, as I have read the responses provided on the thread and I completely and strongly agree this activity level was the national staff to undertake the field-based assessment like post monitoring work. From my point of view, this community may need further awareness ... More
Thank you! ------------------------------ Rozanne Chorlton Consultant Independent/Consultant Moniaive United Kingdom ------------------------------ More
Thanks for posting. Bringing awareness of this issue is so very important to being able to achieve successful SDG outcomes (against all 17 goals) during this Decade of Action in conflict prone nations.. Having been a humanitarian actor in the field, many times in dangerous situations, I am proud ... More
For those of you who missed the live session, a recording is now available at https://phap.org/23mar2021 ------------------------------ Markus Forsberg Collaboration Center Manager Int. Assoc. of Professionals in Humanitarian Assistance and Protection (PHAP) Geneva Seychelles -------------------- ... More
1. Main takeaway violence prevention and community activity engagement based interventions are needed and viable in conflict settings. 2. Great example of a successful and emerging violence prevention program is Hala Systems in Syria, I came across their work performing my current research investigating ... More
Following today's event with NRC on strategies and approaches for direct prevention of violence in armed conflict , I would like to ask participants what their thoughts were after listening to the presentations and taking part in the discussion – to get started, answer one or more of the questions below. ... More
Hi Elena, You might want to look at the following projects by Humanitarian Outcomes: Coverage, Operational Reach, and Effectiveness (CORE) - https://www.humanitarianoutcomes.org/projects/core Secure Access in Volatile Environments (SAVE) - https://www.humanitarianoutcomes.org/projects/save Thanks, ... More
Hi everyone! Is anyone working on improving people's access to humanitarian assistance in any context? I would be interested in hearing examples from around the world on how this is translated into operational advice and on how to facilitate on a daily basis people's access to humanitarian aid. I am ... More
Hi Fred In Iraq (2015-17) what became the CMCoord unit engaged with Coalition, Iraqi and Irregular forces on protection issues on a regular basis. This included engaging on the safe passage of civilians, advocacy on types of munitions being used, treatment and regulation of civilians in areas under ... More
Hi Francis, a great question indeed. Alexei already gave a great answer - from my experience I would like to add that the "impact" we had defined in a logframe might not always be the only or not even the most important one for the community, it is, therefore, worth keeping an open dialogue with the ... More
Thanks Fred! More