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Published on 1 July 2010

The second objective of the ECB project focuses on increasing the speed, quality, and effectiveness of emergency preparedness and response mechanisms within and across six ECB agencies. Each agency has a set of strategic priorities outlined in an annual Agency Performance Improvement Plan (APIP). Earlier this year each agency took part in a comprehensive self-assessment survey designed to measure the impact of capacity building efforts in their organization. As agencies continue to implement their plans, it is important to establish baselines and learn about progress so that adjustments can be made and capacity building activities can be refocused towards the achievement of each agency’s performance targets and the overall global project results. A review of agency-level self-assessment data also enables benchmarking among organizations, which then allows agencies to share learning, facilitate peer support, and inspire further joint action.

A soon-to-be published full report of the ECB agency-level self-assessment findings will provide insights from and implications for organizational development efforts towards improved performance in humanitarian action. This year’s exercise serves as a baseline against which subsequent assessments will be compared to explore positive changes in agencies’ level of confidence, consistency, and continuity in program quality.

World Vision International believe that “The self-assessment has provided us with an integrated view of the cross-cutting themes in the organization, and has probably given us the most comprehensive view to date of how we are doing. The Quality, Strategy, and Humanitarian Policy (QSHP) group will be tapped to manage this self-assessment next year in order to get it into the mainstreaming processes in the organization.”

The findings from the ECB organizational self-assessment are examined using a three-tier approach, which are further described in the full report. A descriptive analysis provides a global scan of foundational capacities, while a comparative analysis identifies the respective strategies and approaches employed by ECB agencies to improve their performance in the core themes of staff capacity, disaster risk reduction, and accountability and impact measurement. An interpretive analysis discusses associated implications for organizational development by reviewing agency commitments and actions for priority-setting, planning, and active monitoring of support needs for positive change.

The self-assessment findings provide evidence that the ECB agencies have made and continue to make important progress in strengthening their capabilities for improving the speed, quality and effectiveness of emergency preparedness and response. Critical organizational development building blocks are in place, and agencies continue to demonstrate their long-term commitment to honing and scaling-up positive practices across all three core themes.

Save the Children, US highlight their perspective on the benefits “The self-assessment enables review of global capacity and support to high-risk countries, providing a more consolidated view of capacity building and performance. These have been traditionally viewed separately.”

The analysis also highlights that improvements on all three fronts are still needed. With regards to staff capacity, structured approaches to developing and retaining local staff, along with more robust evaluation of the impact of staff development activities, are identified. Plans are in place for organizational accountability frameworks to be revisited to ensure they reflect all of the agreed key elements of transparency, leadership and governance, participation, feedback, design, monitoring and evaluation, and that there is more consistent use of systematic approaches to assess organizational capacity to meet sector standards.

Concerning Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), though a strategic priority for all agencies, further global mainstreaming of successful implementation strategies needs to be supported, inclusive of explicit commitments to increased staffing and programmatic resources. Important findings focus on further efforts needed institutionalization processes and the consistency with which ECB agencies establish increased capacity and, by extension, demonstrate improved performance.

Important evidence exists that tells of investments in organizational infrastructure around the three thematic themes areas. However, deliberate efforts towards formalized institutionalization processes, monitoring and evaluation of the processes and products of systemic organizational change are suggested.

The findings of this self-assessment represent the first of a series of annual exercises designed to monitor and calibrate individual and collective ECB agency emergency preparedness capacity as it is being nurtured through implementation of the ECB Project. Regular review of self-assessment findings will enable participating agencies to:

1. More accurately define the shape and scope of change management efforts
2. More clearly identify and describe impact pathways for capacity building that result in efficient and effective emergency preparedness and response.

CARE concurs “The self-assessment will add to our global performance metrics reports, which will support sharing, feedback, and learning among senior leadership.”

Furthermore, intentional follow-up on and learning from implementation of the recommendations for action can help to build agency-specific and sector-level knowledge of organizational development requirements for improved performance in humanitarian action.

Learn more about our agency advisory group activities focused on our three core themes.

Look out for the full self-assessment report to be released on the ECB Project website homepage in August 2010.

Written by: Stuart Belle, former ECB Organizational Development Project Manager

Photo courtesy of CRS