Nepal Earthquake – C4D Network

Communicating with Disaster-affected Children: A Case Study from the 2015 Nepal Earthquake Response (Plan International Report 2016)

September 30, 2016

In disasters and conflicts around half of those affected are children. Despite this, in humanitarian settings children are rarely asked to share their views, provided with adequate information or consulted on what they need and prioritise in emergency preparedness, response and recovery. Plan International’s experience shows that engaging children in humanitarian responses helps them to respond better and in more relevant ways. Girls and boys who are well informed and have opportunities to communicate about decisions affecting their lives are able to make better contributions to safer communities in which their rights are respected.

This new report, released by Plan International and supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency*, looks at communication with disaster-affected children in the preparedness and response after the earthquake that hit Nepal on 25 April 2015.

The report findings show that humanitarian actors should invest in better and more effective ways to provide information to children, communicate with girls and boys of different ages and invest in children’s abilities to contribute to communication and information provision. This report is designed to inspire the reflection and action of all humanitarian actors to increase and improve the meaningful communication with children and young people in humanitarian work. The report also provides concrete recommendations on how this can be done.

Learn more about Plan International’s global work in emergencies

*Plan International is not responsible for content on external websites

Using Social Media Data in International Development Research, Monitoring & Evaluation (DFID Practice Note 2016)

September 25, 2016

Abstract: The global adoption of social media has seen the user base expand to an unprecedented level. Estimates put social media membership at around 2.5 billion non unique users globally, with Facebook, Google+ and Twitter accounting for over half of these. Social media data can add value to international development research, monitoring and evaluation in several ways.

These data are‘transformative’ as they are user generated in real time and produced in large volumes in contrast to the necessarily retrospective snapshots of social trends provided by conventional means such as household surveys and administrative data. As such, they can provide insight into the behaviour and opinions of specific populations that are often unreachable by conventional methods where social media uptake is high.

The examples in this pratice note show cases where social media data were available in high volume in development contexts. However,it is important to note that for some situations and regions social media data may not be available in such volumes, precluding their use to gain near real time insights

4 case studies are included:

Data-Pop Alliance: Big Data for Disaster Resilience
Assessment Capacities Project – Nepal Earthquake
Mapping Refugee Media Journeys
Nigerian Election

Click here for full study.

Are you Listening Now? (CDAC Network briefing 2016)

May 13, 2016

When agencies launch communication efforts to reach people in crisis, or to bring in feedback,’ how are their efforts received by populations? Are the messages relevant to want they actually want to hear? Are the agencies themselves able, or willing, to adjust their programmes to the feedback they are getting from populations? And what is the role of agencies and their communication outreach several months after a disaster when a lot of the information wanted by people relates to government support? These questions are raised by research carried out for the CDAC Network among communities in Nepal about their information needs and which is due to be published in May/June 2016. This briefing papers outlines some of the key findings and lessons.

Did the Humanitarian Response to the Nepal Earthquake Ensure No One was Left Behind? A Case Study on the Experience of Marginalised Groups in Humanitarian Action (Save the Children 2016)

April 9, 2016

The report considers the success and the shortcomings of the Nepal earthquake response in meeting the particular needs of vulnerable and marginalised groups. It focuses in particular on two components of the response that, based on consultations with communities and other actors, appear to have exacerbated the challenges faced by vulnerable and marginalised groups in accessing assistance: the identification and selection of beneficiaries (targeting); and the conduct of distributions, specifically, the lack of representation of vulnerable groups in decision-making bodies, and the often prohibitive distance that vulnerable individuals had to walk to distribution sites.

In conclusion, the report uses the experience of the earthquake response to highlight the fact that unless the particular needs and vulnerabilities of the most marginalised groups are addressed as part of a relief effort, then humanitarian crises – and humanitarian responses – can exacerbate and entrench social disadvantage, leaving already vulnerable people even further behind.

The report is based on focus group discussions with community members in five earthquake-affected districts, supplemented by interviews with village and community representatives, government authorities, UN and NGO staff at national and district level, and civil society representatives. Altogether over 200 people were consulted during the course of the research. The report was written by Rebecca Barber, Humanitarian Policy Adviser of Save the Children Australia. It is the result of a collaborative effort that has benefited enormously from the interest, support and expertise of a large number of Save the Children staff in Nepal.

The report provides recommendations aimed at ensuring an equitable and inclusive reconstruction process in Nepal, and at ensuring that preparedness work undertaken in Nepal now enables a more inclusive and equitable disaster response in the future.

Ahead of the World Humanitarian Summit, it also calls upon donors and humanitarian agencies to make commitments towards more inclusive humanitarian action targeting vulnerable and marginalised groups. In particular, it calls upon donors and humanitarian agencies to use the opportunity of the World Humanitarian Summit to:

Recommit to ensuring that every humanitarian response is based on an assessment and analysis of the needs and vulnerabilities of different groups, and is targeted to meet the needs and strengthen the capacities of the most vulnerable;
Commit to concrete initiatives aimed at more effectively involving affected communities, including vulnerable and marginalised groups, in humanitarian action;
commit to institutionalising the inclusion of national and local organisations in international humanitarian coordination structures.

(Source: 29 March 2016 ADRRN group email)