Latest Discussion Posts

Hi Nelly. Regarding your first question, most of the well-funded humanitarian programs are, as you very well noted, in the food, WASH, sector. This is certainly linked to several factors. Some of them are due to the humanitarian effectiveness objective, while others may also be due to methodological ... More

Following up on our recent event on parliamentary efforts to eliminate statelessness , I wanted to pose a question on the role of humanitarian actors in this domain to the community members that was asked by one of the event participants (who prefers to post anonymously): Why is the discussion on ... More

Hi Sandra! Yes, for sure, I will share progress as we go along, and good to hear that the question is useful to others as well! cheers, andrew ------------------------------ Andrew Cunningham Humanitarian Researcher Independent/Consultant London United Kingdom ------------------------------ More

Thank you Andrew for this question! I am facing the exact same situation now, so this and all the great replies are really helpful. Please do share any other findings/observations/conclusions etc. you have with us in the thread. Many thanks! ------------------------------ Sandra Wetherall-Abbott ... More

Thank you, Coralie!  As you say, 'to avoid reinventing the wheel each time a Country wants to solve a problem' is one of the most important objectives. In our case we don't want to exactly standardize processes -- we want to ensure a diversity of responses to common challenges, but we for sure want ... More

Hi Andrew, I have set up a CoP in my organisation, one for each region. I have 4 CoP x 12/15 Countries  The minimum requirement is to have a purpose, specified outcomes, a structure and ways of working. For us, we aim to open the discussions on challenges, but most importantly to avoid reinventing the ... More

Are there any out there that have engaged in access negotiations with NSAs in the Sahel Region (in this case it could be either BH, ISWAP, and equivalent groups active in the Sahel)? If so, what approaches have been used? Have these been successful, and has humanitarian action been carried out safely ... More

Thanks, Alexei. ------------------------------ Andrew Cunningham Humanitarian Researcher Independent/Consultant London United Kingdom ------------------------------ More

Thank you, Vanessa, for these comments -- this was very helpful. I definitely recognize the challenges in the first part, and appreciate the positive comments in the second part! Networking events sound interesting--I shall think about that, and also to consider the hint about what to share. Happy ... More

Just another point based on my experience with LinkedIn communities. What usually helps in generating good discussion is posting a short, slightly provocative statement about the subject matter (whatever you want people to discuss) and asking "What do you think about it?" The number of comments would ... More

Thank you for asking this question because we are currently busy establishing a CoP as part of a larger project and I do see several challenges: It was initially planned to have in-person kick-off meetings, in-person events, gatherings, and other networking opportunities in order to establish and ... More

Thanks, Moses for bringing up this question.  I found the discussions full of insights and helpful in allaying our day-to-day fears when working in volatile contexts.  Each contribution (approximately 17 I read so far) was helpful.  As some of the posts mentioned, my conclusion was that this is a very ... More

Thank you, Angelina, intriguing idea. Much appreciated for your time sharing tis methodology. cheers, andrew ------------------------------ Andrew Cunningham Humanitarian Researcher Independent/Consultant London United Kingdom ------------------------------ More

A recent  report  about transitional justice in Yemen highlighted the need to include migrants and other non-Yemeni nationals under the purview of a future redress mechanism. I was wondering whether, from your specific contexts, you had any examples to share about reparations and other redress measures ... More

In addition to the suggestions shared so far, the following documents might be of interest and use to you. Recently in Iraq, several IDP camps have been suddenly closed with little notice being given to residents. The following documents were developed to provide operational guidance to humanitarian ... More

Hi, I am working in Iraq and had been working in post conflict situation in South Asia. I can understand the travel restrictions of female staff members very well and know how frustrating it can be. But as a humanitarian worker, we need to understand the context and respect their cultural values. As ... More

Hi Carmen, This is great - thanks so much! Best, Oranutt ------------------------------ Oranutt Narapruet Consultant Independent/Consultant Bangkok Thailand ------------------------------ More

Dear Joel, we have such attempts at times in Afghanistan as well, meaning requested government participation in hiring or even procurement procedures. I see two pathways to push back: Organization through umbrella NGOs / advocacy NGOs that negotiate with the government officially (long-term approach). ... More

Hi, I am working in Afghanistan - here it is not regulated by authorities, but many women have male family members that opposed their travel to the field. It happened to me repeatedly at job interviews that female applicants withdrew their applications because of that. Once I was stopped at a check ... More

Thank you Alexei, I would never be willing to work with any organisation that was not willing to do everything in its power to ensure my safety. What good am I dead? In order to encourage and motivate humanitarian workers; there is need for protection. If any of you just left me behind; I would definitely ... More

Andrew, One way that has worked for me is Book Reading Whats App Groups. Methodology A colleague and I who had met in a leadership training space identified a book and shared a link drawing different people into the learning space. We chose a meeting day together and decided to meet on the weekends ... More

Hi Oranutt, I just came across this organization and I thought it could be useful for you: OutRight Action International (outrightinternational.org) They focus on LGBTIQ rights, but in a webinar this week I learned about their MHPSS work in several countries. It could be useful to contact them? All ... More

Thank you, Alissa! That was quite informative. And I see a pattern emerging in the advice, which is encouraging. Polling to define challenges is a great idea. We do need to work a bit more on the feedback loop. Using a survey methodology is definitely something to consider. All the best and good luck ... More

Hi Andrew, I think you've raised a really interesting and important point, since Covid-19 is forcing us to bring colleagues together who may be working on similar topics around the world, and who may not have the opportunity to meet and create in-person relationships so readily. In my organisation, ... More

Thank you, Sandra, very helpful. Good to hear the advice about webinars. In March we are starting a series of roughly monthly, short webinars on very practical issues -- we are thinking of them as 'professional development' activities. Some of the themes covered will be transformed into CoP channels ... More

From experience, a balance between knowledge sharing and information overload is required. If in a group of 100, you have 5 people sharing documents or information everyday, then it's highly likely that apathy will develop and people will not actually engage with the information. What I have seen work: ... More

Thanks you, William. I shall take a look at that resource. And may come back to at some point! Offer of further support is highly appreciated. best, andrew ------------------------------ Andrew Cunningham Humanitarian Researcher Independent/Consultant London United Kingdom ----------------------- ... More

Hello, This is a great question and I look forward to hearing how your research goes. I agree with the other respondent that this would be a non-probability sample. That said, there is some recent work (outside of humanitarian settings) to adapt respondent-driven sampling (RDS; which theoretically is ... More

That's a tough one and I think there are probably a number of fronts which would be good to take into consideration (and coordinate with other trusted partners ideally): In terms of the mechanics of camp closure, have you seen these? https://cccmcluster.org/sites/default/files/2018-10/Camp_Closure_Guidelines.pdf ... More

In my opinion, the organizations should put extra effort into plans to prevent such thing to happen to their employees in the first place, but should also have plans in place to deal with the situation immediately. First, every organization should have safety and security officers who are in charge ... More

Completely agree Roel and great to hear how that is working so well in Cameroon. Not paying does not equate to abandoning the staff member.  ------------------------------ Andy Hedley-Smith Security Manager MAF International United Kingdom ------------------------------ More

Hi, Trust you are keeping safe. You've already mentioned that you do not have control over the data you will receive, this takes you out of probabilistic/random sampling techniques. Meaning you are considering a non-random sampling method. You should also know that the higher the sample size, the better ... More

Dear community members, Is protection receiving adequate attention in Humanitarian Response Plans? It seems traditional priorities (Food, WASH, etc.) continue to be more funded and protection struggles, yet in my country, for instance, one of our partner organisations reported a five-fold increase in ... More

Greetings Andrew,   I took the World Bank Group Collaboration 4 Development (C4D www.collaboration.worldbank.org Community Manager's training courses and found them very good.   Allow me to urge you to check it out....    I will be happy to dialogue with you about general questions that you may have.  ... More

Dear All, Hope this correspondence finds you well. May I request you for quick guidance on the below situation: We are conducting a survey to understand community perception on COVID-19 in 6 countries, and we are planning to collect data via an online survey (through social media), phone calls, and ... More

The clear and principled answer is: no ransom payments by aid agencies. And one would hope there is quite some consensus on this approach. Engaging in ransom payments, or any kind of illegal payments of a criminal or corrupt nature, adds to the conflict economy, diverting scarce humanitarian resources ... More

Absolutely, Moses. When I worked with the Red Cross in West Africa years ago, we had a very clear, if unwritten, "policy". If any staff or expatriate didn't feel comfortable going in the field, for whatever reason, they just had to say "No". No questions would be asked, and it would never undermine this ... More

True. And beyond staff working in humanitarian contexts being aware of the policies of their organizations in this regard, they should importantly ensure that staff have to power and capacity to say NO, in situations that they feel there lives and those of team members are likely to be exposed to unnecessary ... More

Very true. Reminds me of one agency I used to serve for and we had an 'Official' position and an 'operational' position regarding some of these matters. Official: for what we needed to project ourselves to be to the outside audience and donors, Operational: that reflects actual realities and the need ... More

Indeed I find your response well reasoned and very reflective of field realities. Your " Doing anything else (for whatever "humanitarian" reasons) would only lead to 1) sacrificing the lives of humanitarian workers for nothing", couldn't me more true in the wake of the Italian Ambassador, his bodyguard ... More

I read your question on PHAP Exchange with interest.  My name is Casey Barrs-Director of the Center for Civilians in Harm's Way .  One of the possible responses to your situation could involve mass messaging .  What that looks like would be shaped by issues like: Time - how much you may have. ... More

Thanks, Claire and Fabien--I have responded directly. best andrew ------------------------------ Andrew Cunningham Humanitarian Researcher Independent/Consultant London United Kingdom ------------------------------ More

Thanks, Alexei. Good input. ------------------------------ Andrew Cunningham Humanitarian Researcher Independent/Consultant London United Kingdom ------------------------------ More

Thanks, Iesha!  Smaller, and more coherent, groups seems better indeed ------------------------------ Andrew Cunningham Humanitarian Researcher Independent/Consultant London United Kingdom ------------------------------ More

Thanks for clarifying, Andrew. The main question there would be, of course, what's behind this "desire to be brought closer together", what do they really mean by "closer together", and only based on that deciding whether a "community of practice platform" would address that issue. In my experience, ... More

Hi Andrew I've had some different experiences with CoPs. In my previous organisation, we had a CoP using Yammer and focusing on the humanitarian within an agency with a wider development mandate. We were a relatively close-knit community sharing policy guidelines, tools, latest research and questions/problems ... More

Thanks, Alexei. Actually, I am helping a pre-existing community to develop better ways of engaging together. It is thus an organically grown community that desires to be brought closer together through a community of practice-type platform (it is a global community). So in this case it wasn't a top-down ... More

Hello there, My organization, the Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC) works with communities in warzones, such as Afghanistan, Nigeria, Iraq, Ukraine or Yemen. Applying a CBP approach, we support these communities to come together and impartially discuss their protection issues, provide some technical ... More

I have been involved in various network groups, often between organisations, and would agree that it takes more than an internet forum to generate the relationships and exchanges needed to share good practice. Am currently attempting to develop a network of data rights champions across my organisation, ... More

Hi Andrew, We are within my organisation developping and supporting communities of practices. I would be glad to share experiences and discuss with you the approach if you are interested. Best Fabien MEAL Manager France ------------------------------ Fabien Cassan MEAL Manager Humanity & Inclusion ... More