Oxfam used simulation tools for Avian flu simulation.
Staff Capacity Building
Better trained staff means a more effective response to humanitarian emergencies. Staff - both local and national - are the most valuable resources for humanitarian agencies in disaster prone countries. The ECB Project is working with other humanitarian organizations to improve the recruitment, retention, development and deployment of skilled and experienced people by ensuring that they are trained in how to manage teams and programs, lead staff in difficult and stressful contexts, and support non-humanitarian staff in core humanitarian skills such as communicating with disaster affected communities and the Sphere Standards.
The ECB Project’s work on staff capacity building
The following tools and knowledge products are being tested, developed and refined in ECB consortia in Bangladesh, Bolivia, the Horn of Africa, Indonesia and Niger.
- Two New WASH e-learning courses.
- EFSL 48-hour Assessment Tool and training materials.
- Shelter Training Module to help understand shelter programming and best practice.
- Expanding National Humanitarian Ability (ENHAnce): this 6-9 month training program helps national staff develop their management, leadership and core humanitarian skills through learning alongside colleagues from different NGOs and the government.
- Building trust in diverse teams: a practical toolkit and set of approaches that will help teams to both measure and improve the levels of trust between colleagues.
- Simulations Guide: realistic emergency scenarios are simulated so staff can practice their skills in responding. Simulations are also used by the ECB Project to test staff learning after attending the ENHAnce training program.
- Addressing Staff Retention in the Horn of Africa is a report produced by the ECB Horn of Africa consortium in partnership with People in Aid.
- Staff retention and turnover: People in Aid researched why staff stay or leave agencies.
- Surge capacity research: a study done in partnership with People in Aid exploring the capacities of humanitarian agencies to respond rapidly to emergencies.
- Exchange visits and the staff capacity framework: exchange visits between peer professionals at headquarters and field offices led to the identification, documentation, and sharing of a series of common challenges and practices.
- Staff capacity was a key core theme at the ECBinter-active conferences held between November 2011 and February 2012. For a summary of the learning captured see the Bangladesh, Bolivia, and the Horn of Africa pages.
The following map shows the ECB Project’s work on staff capacity building around the world.
Haiti: ACCOUNTABILITY
CARE and Save the Children request a Joint Evaluation of their humanitarian response to the January 2010 earthquake (September 2010).
Kenya: STAFF CAPACITY
- February 2013 - KIRA election preparedness gathers pace in Kenya.
- December 5-7, 2012 - Kenya Initial Rapid Assessment (KIRA) intiative holds pre-election simulation to test preparedness.
- Final two day ENHAnce workshop comprising simulation and learning event, 15-16 November 2012. ENHAnce participants come from several countries in the region: Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Rwanda.
- The Consortium of British Humanitarian Agencies (CBHA) Leadership and Management Competency Frameworks are reviewed in Nairobi (July 2010).
- Staff Retention Review workshop and training with People in Aid in Nairobi.
- ECB Project support People in Aid Humanitarian HR conference in Nairobi, held June 8-11, 2011.
Pakistan: STAFF CAPACITY
- Oxfam: First part of the pilot for National Staff Capacity Project
- Mercy Corps: Staff attended the National Staff capacity project
- CARE staff member participated in the National Staff Development Program
CARE participated in Georgia Simulation and ran own pilot for CARE Kosovo
- CARE staff member participated in the National Staff Development Program
- Following cyclones Giovanna and Irina in February 2012, humanitarian agencies identified a need and requested the ECB Project to deploy to Madagascar to provide a combination of technical shelter advice and training on Sphere and Accountability.
Mozambique
- MercyCorps: development of ECB Simulations tool.
- Oxfam: deployment of Simulations tool in training.
Sri Lanka: STAFF CAPACITY
- World Vision participated in “Building Trust in Teams” pilot
- CARE Country Office piloted "Building Trust in Teams" toolkits
Sudan: DISASTER RISK REDUCTION
- 65 participants from CRS and Caritas partners took part in Emergency Preparedness Planning training.
Thailand
- CARE helped organize National Staff Development session in Thailand
- MercyCorps staff attended the National Staff Capacity Project.
- Oxfam took part in second part of the pilot for National Staff Capacity Project.
- August 2010: Consortium of British Humanitarian Agencies (CBHA) developed two frameworks that summarize the core professional competencies and leadership behaviours needed for humanitarian aid workers.
- July 2011: CBHA program review held in Oxford.
CARE staff member participated in the National Staff Development program
Bolivia: CONSORTIUM / LEARNING
- Bolivia is one of our key ECB consortia countries – more details
- Objective 1 review and planning process with their Consortium Engagement Plan (CEP) Review and Revision workshop and Consortium Learning Review (CLR) held in La Paz (February 2011).
- ECB Indonesia consortium members visited the ECB Bolivia consortium for a learning exchange (June 2011).
- Representatives from Bolivia consortium travelled to Bangladesh to take part in a learning exchange visit (Sept 2011).
- January 2013 - The 2012 Bolivia Consortium Self-Assessment Survey is now available to download.
Horn of Africa: STAFF CAPACITY
- A Rapid Capacity Assessment was completed, to support the start of the Consortium of British Humanitarian Agencies' (CBHA) capacity building program (October 2010).
- CBHA event held in Horn of Africa in order to capture learning from the Humanitarian Staff Development Project and discuss new training programmes (November 2011).
- Horn of Africa ENHAnce (Expanding National Humanitarian Ability)
- Simulations held in Kenya, April 2010 & November 2011, and Uganda, November 2010
- Final two day ENHAnce workshop comprising simulation and learning event, 15-16 November 2012 in Kenya. ENHAnce participants come from several countries in the region: Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Rwanda.
- The ECB Horn of Africa consortium are planning a simulation in Uganda in May 2013. Read more.
Ethiopia: STAFF CAPACITY
- Oxfam participated in Metrics project.
- Mercy Corps participated in Metrics project, Simulations.
- CRS participated in Metrics project, Simulations Project.
- Save the Children participated in Metrics project.
Georgia
- Oxfam involved in Simulation training and activity
- CRS engaged with Simulations TOT and simulation exercises with Georgian staff
- CARE staff members participated in the Simulations pilot
Guatemala: DISASTER RISK REDUCTION
- CRS: Guatemala Collaboration Platform
- Oxfam: Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), interest in Metrics, Guatemala Collaboration Platform.
- MercyCorps: DRR, Guatemala Collaboration Platform
- Save the Children: DRR
- World Vision engaged in Community Emergency Response and Disaster Mitigation Project
Malawi: STAFF CAPACITY
- CARE Country Office piloted Building Trust in Teams toolkits
- Oxfam used Building Trust for Diverse Teams
United States: INTER-AGENCY WORKING GROUP
- April 2011: The Inter-agency Working Group (IWG) which includes the emergency directors from all of the ECB agencies, held their twice-yearly meeting in Seattle.
Ethiopia: ACCOUNTABILITY
- Trócaire trained their staff and partners using the 'Good Enough Guide' Accountability materials.
Haiti: GOOD ENOUGH GUIDE
- CARE translated the 'Good Enough Guide' accountability materials into Creole.
- Save the Children trained staff and partners using the 'Good Enough Guide' accountability materials (in French).
Sudan: STAFF CAPACITY
- CARE participated in the Metrics Project, which has been shown to add to decision-making.
- CRS participated in Metrics Project.
- MercyCorps participated in Metrics Project.
- Oxfam participated in Metrics Project.
- Final two day ENHAnce workshop comprising simulation and learning event, 15-16 November 2012 in Kenya. ENHAnce participants come from several countries in the region: Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Rwanda.
Bangladesh: CONSORTIUM ENGAGEMENT
- Bangladesh is one of our key ECB consortia countries – more details
- January 2013 - The 2012 Bangladesh Consortium Self-Assessment Survey is now available to download.
- November 2012: The Consortium Self-Assessment Survey (CSAS) workshop was held in ECB Bangladesh to discuss the process, methodology and approach used during the CSAS annual review process.
- October 2012: ALNAP recently published a blog “The trust factor: humanitarian networks in uncertain times” describing the function of humanitarian networks in Bangladesh. The article highlights the constructive work of the ECB Project and the value of their learning resource ‘What We Know About Collaboration: the ECB Country Consortium Experience’ and the fundamental importance of building and maintaining trust, acknowledged by the ECB Project and their ‘Building Trust in Diverse Teams’ tool.
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Consortium Engagment Plan (CEP)/ Consortium Learning Review (CLR) held 4-5 May, 2011
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Food for the Hungry representatives have made contact with ECB Indonesia and Bangladesh consortia and are discussing a potential engagement
- ECB Bangladesh and ACAPS release their Secondary Data Review (SDR) following floods in Bangladesh (September 2011)
Niger: DISASTER RISK REDUCTION
- Our learning from the PDRA and Planning Project - February 2013 newlsetter article.
- Toward Resilience: A Guide to Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation consultation workshops held in Niger (July 2011). The guide was launched in Niger 17 December 2012.
- ACAPS, CALP, Infoasaid and the ECB Project produce a new Secondary Data Review for Niger (November 2011).
Bolivia: STAFF CAPACITY
- 2012 Bolivia ENHAnce (Expanding National Humanitarian Ability)
- Final two day ENHAnce workshop comprising simulation and learning event, 4-5 December 2012.
- CBHA humanitarian competencies development program – for which ECB is an implementing partner - launched in Bolivia (November 2010).
- Consortium members participated in CBHA National Staff Development Program workshops (September 2011).
- The The third day of ECBinter-active Bolivia was dedicated to the CBHA's Humanitarian Staff Development Program in order to capture learning and discuss new training programmes (November 2011).
- Building Trust: A Concise Facilitation Handbook now available in Spanish (April 2011).
- April 2010 Bolivia consortium held first inter-agency emergency simulation
The ECB Project shared self-assessment tools and methods at People in Aid HR conference in Madrid (May 2011).
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