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The
ECB project is comprised of the following
initiatives:
Staff Capacity.
The IWG agencies have
recognized that their most valuable resources in
responding to and preparing for emergencies are
their local and international staff. Through the ECB
Staff Capacity Initiative, they are
working to improve the speed and quality of
emergency response through better trained and more
rapidly deployed staff. A
Metrics Study has identified key indicators to
measure performance in emergency staffing. By using
online tools to collect data and display it in a
‘Staff Capacity Dashboard’, agencies will be able to
track their performance and make comparisons with
sector benchmarks. Field- and headquarter-level
exchange visits with human resources and program
staff at the seven agencies yielded a study of
promising practices and common challenges, as
well as valuable networking relationships. Studies
have been published into key staffing issues such as
staff satisfaction and retention, and the causes
and consequences of high levels of
staff turnover. Pilot Projects exploring
Professional Development and Accreditation, Building
Trust in Diverse Teams and the use of Simulations
are underway.
Accountability and Impact Measurement
Many standards for
humanitarian accountability and tools for measuring
impact now exist, and through the ECB
Accountability and Impact Measurement Initiative,
the IWG agencies are working to ensure that their
commitments in this area translate into changed
practice in the field. Informed by a field reference
group and in close collaboration with
ALNAP,
HAP and
Sphere, this focus is inspired by the “good
enough” approach: doing what is safe, essential,
quick and simple in complex emergency situations, to
ensure that even in these challenging contexts staff
take some initial, practical steps towards ensuring
accountability to disaster-affected people and
measuring the impact of their work. These practices
will be published in a
Guide for practitioners in early 2007. A
standing team has been deployed to promote and
strengthen good practice in accountability and
impact measurement within the IWG agencies, and
joint evaluations of emergency responses by these
agencies have been supported, including two in the
tsunami-affected countries, one in
Niger following the 2005 food crisis and one in
Guatemala to assess the response to tropical
storm Stan. Findings concerning the process of and
benefits from
multi-agency evaluations will be published.
Risk
Reduction
Recognizing that risk
reduction activities have a more profound effect
than short-term relief efforts, the ECB Risk
Reduction Initiative is supporting the
exploration of risk reduction models in three pilot
countries - Ethiopia, Guatemala, and Indonesia -
with the objective of helping communities reduce
their vulnerability to disasters. The Initiative is
also supporting inter- and intra-agency cohesion and
collaboration on risk reduction, and building links
beyond the IWG agencies, such as with the new Global
NGO Platform under development by the UNISDR. The
Initiative also works to build the collective body
of knowledge on risk reduction, and will soon
publish the results of a major survey of the sector.
Information and Technology Requirements
Good decisions in
emergency situations require the right information,
which in turn requires appropriate technology to
gather, analyze and disseminate information. The
Information and Technology Requirements Initiative
began with a major
Assessment of how information is managed in
emergency response and what tools and resources are
available for these activities. Based on this
assessment, and in partnership with
Nethope, several initiatives are in development,
including an online
ICT Resource Center for ICT decision-makers and
practitioners in the field, and an innovative
framework for ICT skills training based on
partnership with private sector providers. This
initiative is also supporting other ECB initiatives
in seeking technological solutions to shared
problems.
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