Simulation Debriefings
"Simulation debriefings are the most important part of the simulation during which the learning takes place and the work plan is created. The information from this session should be immediately applicable after the Simulation is finished via a work plan or next steps.
"There are three main shared challenges for IASC and ECB: First it is to make senior managers understand the importance of simulations as a learning tool that will help them uncover and solve humanitarian response challenges. Second, it is to recognize that the key element of a simulation is the debriefing where the learning takes place. Finally, it is important to ensure that a simulation’s key output is a work plan addressing the challenges uncovered during the simulation."
Richard Jacquot, Mercy Corps ECB Agency Manager
IASC Simulation Facilitator Training, Sweden
By Richard Jacquot, Mercy Corps ECB Agency Manager, and Deputy Director Strategic Response & Global Emergencies (SRGE)
The UN Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) simulation training held in Sweden in September 2011, is part of an annual training series aimed at creating a group of simulation facilitators trained in the IASC Simulation Model.
The IASC will coordinate these trained facilitators to support the facilitations of national, multi-agency, two day simulations on the request of UN Humanitarian Regional Coordinators.
Representatives from World Vision, CARE, Merlin, IFRC, the Government of Philippines and Mercy Corps were invited to this UN led training, hosted by Myndigheten för Samhällsskydd och Beredskop (MSB) or the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency. Only two out of the 27 participants had never facilitated or participated in a simulation prior to the training course.
As Mercy Corps Deputy Director ,responsible for emergency response team training, I have facilitated a dozen single agency (ECB #1) or multi-agencies (ECB #2) simulations. As a member of the ECB Simulation Reference Group, I also facilitate ECB Consortia simulations.
Comparisons with ECB Project Simulations
The key difference between the IASC and the ECB Simulation models is that IASC Simulations are concerned with national strategic issues while ECB Simulations are concerned with intra and inter agency coordination and operational issues.
Participants in an IASC Simulations are typically host governments, UN agencies, donors, International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs), Local Non-Governmental Organizations (LNGOs) and private sector senior representatives. Participants at ECB Simulations are Country Directors, Emergency Program Managers as well as operation and program staff from INGOs and other national humanitarian actors.
IASC Simulations focus on national systems and procedures interfacing with their regional and global components. ECB Simulations engage agencies’ systems and procedures but with a heavy focus on operation and service delivery. The ECB model known as the Multi-agency Simulation #2 engages the operational sides of national government, UN and other humanitarian actors. Increasingly, ECB agencies are trying to invite more national level UN stakeholders and government members to participate in their multi-agency simulations.
While ECB Simulations use computer generated "injects" (information introduced in the simulation to trigger a response) focused on beneficiaries’ information, IASC injects are specifically adapted to the systems and procedures they want to test.
Although it is not a necessary feature, information and communications technology (ICT) is frequently used in IASC Simulations as many UN and government agencies’ management systems rely heavily on ICT. ECB Simulations are currently less reliant on ICT to support their success given that there is no common ICT emeregency coordination platform that exists between our INGOs partners.
The international humanitarian system is quite complex and the UN system has a distinct culture and terminology that can be difficult to understand for INGO and national staff. The transfer of learning during this training requires some adaptation to the INGO context to be relevant to our community. The training was a reminder that any preparedness effort has to include national government entities and local actors.
Our next group of inter-agency Simulations start in early 2012. They will be held in all our ECB consortia over the coming months. Contact us for futher information info@ecbproject.org
View the full contents of our Simulations training materials here.
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