Download Guide
The Good Enough Guide
Available in 13 languages:
|
|
|
The Good Enough Guide
Section 2: Profile the people affected by the emergency
Why?
Establish a basic profile of the population to help decide who is most in need of your assistance. Women and men will be affected differently by the emergency. Some people will be at greater risk than others, because of their age, disability, ethnicity, social status, or religion.
Basic information about the population is essential to help you begin making decisions about your response. Agencies that respond without starting to assess who is affected and in what way may offer assistance which is unnecessary, inappropriate, or fails to reach the most vulnerable.
When?
Humanitarian agencies need to act quickly when lives are in imminent danger. Do not wait until you have perfect information about the people affected. But do start building a profile of those affected as early as possible during the needs-assessment phase. Continue to update your information and add to it as the situation changes and when you find out more.
How?
Every emergency is different. Slow-onset disasters may allow more time for assessment. But in conflict or sudden-onset emergencies, collecting information can be difficult and dangerous for field staff and beneficiaries. That makes it very important for staff to know what secondary information is already available.
Secondary information can come from:
- Your local field staff
- Your agency’s files
- Another organisation, for example, the government, the United Nations, a local or international NGO
Government and United Nations agencies, for example, are likely to hold statistical data on the area affected by the emergency. Nevertheless, in most emergencies it is possible to involve at least some beneficiaries directly before your response starts. Profiling can be repeated when time allows and access is easier.
Assessment teams should include both women and men: an all-male team will find it difficult to assess female vulnerability. The team should talk to women as well as men and assess the needs of other groups at additional risk such as children (Tool 8). Staff should try to cross-check the information they receive whenever possible, in order to test its accuracy.
Aim to co-ordinate assistance with local and international NGOs where possible: conduct joint assessments, capitalise on local resources, share information and decisions, and/or identify gaps.
Suggested tools
Tool 4 How to profile the affected community and assess initial needs
Tool 5 How to conduct an individual interview
Tool 6 How to conduct a focus group
Tool 7 How to decide whether to do a survey
Tool 8 How to assess child-protection needs
Involving people affected by an emergency before humanitarian response startsDuring sudden crises there is an imperative to act quickly. But it is always possible to speak to some affected people. Given time constraints, only a few interviews will be possible, so interviewees must be carefully selected. The first step is to identify areas most affected, using secondary information and key informants. Secondly, the most vulnerable groups are selected through rapid, on-the-spot consultation with different stakeholders. Finally, random sampling is used to select individual and group informants. Each of these three steps can be done in less than an hour, though with more time the accuracy of the process will be improved. Agencies should not delay the initial deployment of resources until perfect information is received. But they should adjust activities as the quality of information improves. Assessment and implementation must run in parallel. Source: IFRC (2005) World Disasters Report 2005. |
Share and Bookmark
E-mail page Add to favourites