Assessment Preparedness
Preparedness is key to the success of a coordinated assessment and should be undertaken in partnership with other humanitarian (and development, as relevant) actors, and in support of the relevant national authorities. Assessment preparedness helps to ensure the availability of timely, relevant and quality information necessary to respond effectively during the days immediately following an emergency. This should be part of a broader inter-agency and/or FSC contingency planning process.
Phase “0” - What is the role of the FSC Coordinator in Assessment Preparedness? As part of the FSC contingency planning process (see 5.8.2), the Coordinator should work with partners on preparatory measures to ensure food security specific or inter-sectoral needs assessments are undertaken in a timely, coherent, systematic, and coordinated manner following an emergency.
The Coordinator (with the IMO) should consider the following actions, working within the FSC and with other clusters (ICCG level):
- Agree on assessment coordination structures and key stakeholders (i.e. identify FSC partners that will participate and links to national disaster management bodies as well as set out collaborative arrangements (agree on draft TORs for an NAWG outlining roles and responsibilities).
- Develop new or reviewing existing assessment toolkits. This includes reviewing government contingency planning, assessment formats/ approaches, existing technical guidelines and existing (multi-sectoral and FSC) assessment toolkits. If available, adapt existing (or develop new) SOPs, reporting formats, information requirements and questionnaires (for both multi-sectoral and FSC assessments).
- Discuss logistics and resources. Identify members of the assessment team, ensuring a suitable gender balance and, where possible, availability of staffs with expertise in cross-cutting issues (gender, protection, etc.). If possible, ensure agreements for the funding and transportation of equipment (tools, computers, tablets, smartphones). Identify resource gaps, capacity-building needs and information gaps, with an associated plan for how to address them.
- Strengthen capacities and skills of partners and stakeholders through training and maintain an updated list of trained staff, their location and contact details.
- Work with partners to collect baseline (disaggregated) data, populate key indicator sets, and compile common datasets. Based on vulnerability and risk mapping, adapt fact sheets and lessons learned.
- Develop protocols for data sharing and a dissemination plan for communicating the findings.
Examples of Assessment Preparedness: In Bangladesh, as part of overall preparedness efforts, assessment tools for Phase 1 and 2 (multi-sectoral joint needs assessments (JNA) see here), and for Phase 3 (a FSC specific tool – see here) have been developed. See also this example (in French) from Chad: the Plan de contingence du cluster et Questionnaires MIRA et sécurité alimentaire (Cluster contingency plan and MIRA food security questionnaires – 2020 Chad).
Resources: See detailed recommendations on “assessment preparedness” in IASC Operational Guidance for Coordinated Assessments in Humanitarian Crisis, pp. 19-20 (check IASC website for expected updates in 2023) and IASC Multi-Cluster/Sector Initial Rapid Assessment (MIRA) guidance (2015), p. 22.
See also 5.8 on preparedness and contingency planning: the IASC ERP Guidelines provide practical guidance on strengthening preparedness including through MPAs and APAs related to assessments (see annex 5 and 6 of the ERP guidelines).
Early Warning and Monitoring Systems
Early warning systems (EWS) and monitoring systems support the FSC’s ability to respond quickly to a new crisis, and if possible, through anticipatory action (see 5.8).
The most common international early warning and monitoring systems for the FSC include:
| Early warning systems for earthquakes, cyclones and floods – especially relevant for early action for sudden onset emergencies: | Monitoring systems for food security and nutrition – especially relevant for projected/slow onset emergencies: |
|---|---|
The Automated Disaster Analysis and Mapping (ADAM) for 24/7 automated data harvesting, analysis and mapping of earthquakes, tropical storms and floods. | The Famine Early Warning Systems Network’s (FEWS NET) is a leading provider of early warning and analysis (using key IPC protocols) on acute food insecurity around the world. FEWS NET provides regular regional food security outlook briefings with overviews of current and projected acute food insecurity outcomes. |
Most regional disaster management agencies (CDEMA in the Caribbean, ASEAN Committee on Disaster Management in the Pacific, etc.) have strong early warning systems. Other resources: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Pacific Disaster Centre. | The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) can support famine prevention by highlighting areas in IPC Phase 4 Emergency and Households in Phase 5 Catastrophe (see IPC Manual 3.1 p. 9). Projection of famines can be made (or “Risk of Famine” identified) even if the current situation is not yet classified as famine, thus allowing early warning. Note that anticipatory action should take place before reaching IPC phase 3 although for “Risk of Famine”, there is a need to urgently scale up anticipatory action and humanitarian assistance to prevent it from becoming a famine. See 6.7.1 for more on IPC. |
In specific countries, the meteorological department (or military) are mandated to provide early warnings of, for example, cyclones, to trigger a cluster response. | WFP Systems:
FAO Systems:
The FAO and WFP Hunger Hotspot Reports – although not a traditional EWS, they highlight countries of concern for upcoming months along with recommendations for anticipatory and early actions. Check the FSC website for the most recent report. |
Note: The 2022 Early Warnings for All Executive Action Plan is expected to lead to further EWS tools - read more on the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) website (WFP and FAO have contributed to “pillar 4” on preparedness and response capabilities in this action plan. | |
What is the role of the FSC Coordinator? Early warning and monitoring systems can help signal the need for the FSC and the Coordinator (and the HCT) to take a closer look at a situation. The Coordinator should keep on top of all available information, which may need to be acted on within the cluster. This also includes risk assessments, general FSC monitoring or cluster assessments. If any data monitored give cause for concern, the Coordinator should ensure this is discussed at FSC and ICCG level – and, if relevant, an initial assessment should be launched.
In many countries the government provides early warning information on market prices, agro-climatic conditions, droughts or floods so the Coordinator needs to engage with these actors for better awareness and planning.
Repackaging EW Data (making sure it is shared in a simple way): The FSC can play an important role in centralizing the data collection on early warnings. Pending available capacity, the Coordinator (and IMO) can repackage key information from different sources (some are highly technical and does not translate well to partners and what they should do) into simpler and more practical formats that can be used by partners, e.g. a simple EW booklet/brief. Repackaging EW data can, for example, be done through maps (or other visualisation) in FSC dashboard or bulletins.
This could also help to strengthen the link with and identification of early / anticipatory action (5.8.2). Since many EWS are quantitative and remote, the FSC can play an important role bringing EWS closer to the field and as such strengthening localisation (10.3).
Acting on EW Data (trigger FSC actions based on alerts): Based on the EW data and pending the specific alert, the Cluster should trigger its contingency/preparedness plan (see 5.8.2 for details). That is, the FSC should start checking if partners have capacity to respond, collecting planning figures, agreeing on priorities (geographical, specific activities etc.). It is also recommended to prepare an initial gap analysis (comparing partners capacity to needs as per EW data).
ICCG level: The Coordinator can help to link early warnings with an operational food security perspective whilst also helping to ensure appropriate cross cluster linkage (which at ICCG level could be more scenario based than sector based).
Examples:
- This EW Bulletin for food security is a joint initiative of the Madagascar Government, WFP, FAO and UNICEF, showing IPC projections, as well WFP HungerMap data, rainfall and NDVI maps, food price data, etc.
- See also this example of an IPC Monitoring Framework: IPC Post-Analysis Monitoring Brief produced by the Afghanistan IPC TWG, 2022 (in Afghanistan, the FSC has an early warning information working group with membership from various technical organizations).
- Contact GST for examples of country dashboards (with early warning focus).
Support: The Coordinator can lean on in-country resources including the NAWG, technical staff and support units (e.g. WFP RAM). The gFSC can also support (gFSC Help Desk).