information management course - reporting

European Civil Protection

Dissemination and Reporting

Gisli Olafsson – Consultant

Overview

• Determination of various stakeholders’ reporting needs

• Coordination with others regarding information to be included in reports.

• Prioritization of information in reports.

• Reporting

Know your role

• What is your role in the response?• Who sent you there?• What is your TOR?• If you are not sure about your

reporting requirements, ask!

Stakeholders

• Who is providing you with information?– Response organizations– Government– Media

• Who are you reporting to?– Headquarters– Donors– Government– Media– Affected community?

Stakeholders - Input

• What do they want to report?– What is their mandate?

• How do you get them to report to you?

• How do you priortize reports from multiple stakeholders?

• Who are your contacts?

Stakeholders - Output

• Where will your report be distributed?

• What do they want to know?• How do they want to be informed?• How will they use this information?

Coordination

• How are you getting information for the reports?

• When are you getting the information?

• How do you process the input?• How do you transform the input into

actionable output?

Prioritization

• Time vs. Content• What will the report influence?• Who will the report influence?• Narrative vs. Statistics• Actionable Information

Group Exercise

• Use Westlandia Earthquake• Determine your reporting needs• Determine your stakeholders• Define a reporting process

– Who to get input from– How to get input– When to get input– When to send

Situation Report Life Cycle

Situation Reports

Writing Situation Reports

• Reports should be short and to the point

• Aim for balanced coverage• Put numbers into context• Explain specialist terminology• Always explain uncommon acronyms

Short and to the point

• Generally no more than three pages. • Avoid long narrative paragraphs. • Use short statements, tables and bullet

points. • Examples:

– Heavy rains since 29 January have caused flooding in a number of areas of the Solomon Islands. Four provinces are reported to have been hardest hit: Guadalcanal, Malaita, Makira and Central.

– Flow of aid and staff into Gaza remains insufficient.

Balanced coverage• Report who is responding; do not overemphasize UN, EU

agencies. • Source all information clearly, especially numbers. Do not

bulk-source information at the beginning or end of the situation report. Readers often cite numbers as official UN figures, so be sure you can justify everything you include.

• Specify information sources (especially in case of reporting on assessed needs) and the reliability/credibility of the information.

• Examples: – The Government of Nepal estimates approximately 70,000

people were affected by flooding in the Saptari and Sunsari Districts.

– ICRC reported that at least 100 people have been registered by their families as missing since the fighting began.

Provide Context

• Ask your sources to explain their response in terms of how many people they helped and for how long – not just how many kits or tons of food were distributed.

• Example:– From 10 to 23 December, 1700 families, or 54 percent of

the population living in temporary shelters and tent sites, received reconstruction kits and cash to cover transportation costs for the materials received.

• Indicate if information has not been verified, and provide follow-up in future situation reports whenever possible.

• Example: – Unconfirmed reports suggest that more than 20,000

IDPs have returned.

Explain terminology

• Explain specialist terminology for non-specialists. • Example:

– Fifty UNICEF emergency family water kits (enough for 500 families) were distributed on 9 January through the local Red Crescent Society. Each kit contains buckets, collapsible water containers, soap, and water purification tablets.

• Make every effort to complete the thread of reporting on any given situation, even if considerable time has passed since the initial reporting.

• Example:– If you report that an assessment is taking place, make

sure to report on its outcome.

Acronyms

• Always explain uncommon acronyms. • Use full name or description on first

mention, with acronym in round brackets, if needed; thereafter, use the acronym where appropriate.

• Example: – In response to the serious risk posed by

Explosive Remnants of War (ERW) and Unexploded Ordnance (UXO), Mine Action is airing two new radio announcements on mine risk education. The amount of UXO in the country is estimated to be highest in the border region.

Joint EU/HA Reports

• Daily reports shall be prepared by the DG ECHO-HA and EUCP experts together (in the period when both present) and, where required, with the assistance of the responsible Delegation (if appropriate with some additional contextual information provided by the EU Ambassador).

When to report?

• The report shall be submitted by 16.00 CET each day, unless there is mutual agreement between HQ and the experts stipulating otherwise.

• The first report shall be submitted as soon as possible upon arrival at the disaster site.

• Send all information available. Do not delay because information is lacking. If delays are foreseen because of technical problems inform HQ by phone.

EU/HA Template

• Follow the layout of the report template*: all items mentioned below should be included. If there is no information available for an item, state this fact explicitly (i.e. "no information available" or "nothing new", etc.).

General Guidelines

• Be explicit, precise and double-check figures.

• Specify phone numbers/e-mail addresses of key interlocutors and partners.

• While writing, imagine yourself at the receiving end.

• Do not repeat information that has already been sent.

Template

Summary Header

1. BACKGROUND / OVERALL SITUATION (EU

DELEGATION)• Security situation• Impact of disaster on local

infrastructure (roads, hospitals, telecommunications etc)

• Likely developments/secondary threats

• Incidents since last report

2.0 AID AND ASSISTANCE REQUIRED / NEEDS

ASSESSMENT2.1 Humanitarian Aid (DG ECHO-HA)2.2 Civil Protection (EUCPT)• Describe primary relief needs (give

as much detail as possible - size/quantity/priority/targeted beneficiaries/intended implementing partners or teams)

2.3 Preliminary Recommendations

3. Local Response

• Describe– Response by national and local

authorities of affected country– Response by national authorities of

other countries in the region

4. INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE

(DG ECHO-HA)• Describe

– Response by major humanitarian organisations

– Response by major donors

5. International civil protection response

(EUCPT)• Describe

– Assistance delivered– Activities of Participating States' teams

6. ON-SITE COORDINATION MECHANISMS• Describe

– National coordination structures / LEMA– International coordination structures /

which humanitarian clusters are operational?

– Civil-Military coordination

7. DELIVERY OF ASSISTANCE

• Describe– Reception Departure Centre (RDC)– Relief entry point– Logistical constraints– Customs information– Distribution System

Next sections

• 8. OTHER INFORMATION• 9. MAPS (INCLUDING SCHEMATIC

ONES, WHEN RELEVANT)• 10. OVERALL

RECOMMENDATION / ACTION• 11. ISSUES WHERE FEEDBACK IS

REQUESTED FROM HQ

OCHA Situation Reports

• Split into 6 sections– Highlights/Key Priorities– Situation Overview– Humanitarian Needs/Response– Coordination– Funding– Contacts

Highlights/Key Priorities

• Bullet or number separate key updates, keeping them brief and to the point.

• Situation overview is reserved for detailed information.

• Example:

Situation Overview

• Recap of the general situation, key facts and figures.

• Include important incidents since last report.

• Include new information on access and security and operational constraints.

• Report on interagency assessments.

Situation Overview - Sample

Humanitarian Needs and Response

• Omit sections not relevant to this emergency or this reporting cycle

•  For each cluster– Needs – Response, including local government– Key gaps in the response

Humanitarian Needs and Response

Coordination

• Report on the overall coordination mechanisms in place, both national and international.

• Report on the outcome of meetings.• Report on constraints in coordination.

Coordination - Sample

Funding

• In many cases this could simply be 2-3 bullet points with a link to FTS.

• Provide information about the total appeal and how much has been committed so far

• Provide information about in-kind donations arriving

Funding - Sample

Contacts

• Provide location, name, title, email address and phone numbers of those that can give more information about the information in the situation report

• Provide a link to relevant websites• Provide information about how to get to

the SitRep mailing list

Contacts - Sample

Group Exercise

• Use the information you have in the case study for today

• Put together an initial situation report using the joint EUCPT/HA format

• Skip sections you don‘t have

© European Commission

Thank you

gisli.olafsson@nethope.org

Gisli Olafsson

Skype: disasterexpert