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What lessons can be taken from the humanitarian response to the food crisis in Kenya? UN-IASC release their evaluation http://t.co/iO0YmqiG 10th May

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The Emergency Simulations Guide:

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Tip

In an abridged version, you will have to take the time to prioritise carefully which of the Management Memos should be delivered and acted upon. Given the time constraints, try to stick to the essentials and not overwhelm the participants by trying to deliver all of the memos in the ECB Simulation package. Remember: Always consider the Learning Objectives and weed out any of the Memos that you deem are not absolutely essential to achieving those objectives.

If You Must Run an Abridged Version

Planning & Implementation

This Guide has been written to help you prepare and run the full, two-day version of either ECB Simuation (one full day of simulaiton exercise and one full day devoted to the debriefing.).

Admittedly, however, it is not always possible to schedule a two day event. In the event that time is limited, it is possible to run a one-day, abridged version of either simulation. (As of the writing of this Guide, CRS had already run on three different occasions an abridged, one day version of ECB Simulation #1.)

If time constraints dictate that you must in fact limit your time to one day, you should plan to run a half day simulation exercise and conduct a half day of debriefing. A half-day of simulation exercise, if well-planned can generate sufficient emergency preparedness & response (Simulation #1) or coordination (Simulation #2) issues and concerns to be analysed during the debriefing phase.

What you should not do is to plan a full day of simulation exercise without a follow-up debriefing phase. Such a schedule would likely serve only to expose participants to emergency preparedness & response or coordination system gaps or weaknesses without the requisite follow-up time for analysis, discussion, and action planning sessions – sessions which are vital to the participants’ learning. Without time for an adequate debriefing of the exercise , there is a real possibility that the simulation will simply serve to raise the level of frustration of participants who will have been exposed to critical agency problems without sufficient time for follow-up during which the reasons for - and possible solutions to - those problems might be understood.

Proposed Calendar for an Abridged Version

The calendar for an abridged, one-day simulation & debriefing might look like the following:

Real Time	Simulation Time
0800 – 0900	Welcome, Introductions, Objectives
0900 – 1000	Hour 0 - The time before the crisis
1000 – 1045	Hour 1 – Day 1 of the crisis
1045 – 1130	Hour 2 – Week 1 of the crisis
1130 – 1215	Hour 3 – Month 1 of the crisis
1215 – 1230	Venting Session: “What Happened?”
1230 – 1330	Lunch
1330 – 1500	Debriefing Session # 1 (e.g. Identification of key issues or concerns raised during the exercise.)
1500 – 1515	Break
1515 – 1630	Debriefing Session # 2 (e.g. Analysis of agency system needs & recommendations for changes.)
1630 – 1700	NGO or Individual Action Planning
1700	Close

While not ideal, this calendar does represent a practical means of running an ECB simulation as a one-day event in the event that time is constrained.

Note that the simulation “Hours” have each been reduced to 45 minutes in order to enable inclusion of instructions, Hour Zero, three “hours” of exercise, and a half day of debriefing.

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