ECB Project

Last updated
Emergency Capacity Building (ECB) Project
Founded2004 [1]
Type Non-governmental organization
Focus accountability and impact measurement, disaster risk reduction and national staff capacity building
Area served
Bangladesh, Bolivia, Horn of Africa, Indonesia and Niger with projects worldwide
Method training, research, innovation
Website www.ecbproject.org

The Emergency Capacity Building Project (ECB Project) is a collaborative capacity-building project aimed at improving the speed, effectiveness and delivery of humanitarian response programs. The ECB Project is a partnership between seven non-governmental organizations (NGOs) (CARE, International Rescue Committee, Catholic Relief Services, Mercy Corps, Oxfam, Save the Children, and World Vision), and implements programs in one region and four countries known as consortia (the Horn of Africa, Bolivia, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Niger). [1]

Contents

Background

The ECB Project concept came about through a series of meetings that began in 2003-2004 between members of the Inter-Agency Working Group (IWG). [2] This group of NGOs includes the six ECB partners and the International Rescue Committee (IRC) who together shared the challenges of working in the humanitarian sector, and identified key capacity needs for their humanitarian response staff. These discussions led to the definition of the core themes of the project in Phase II: accountability and impact measurement, disaster risk reduction and staff capacity. The results of these findings were shared in a report entitled Report on Emergency Capacity, [3] published in 2004. The project's core funding began with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and has since expanded to include support from the Department for International Development (DFID / UKAID), United States Agency for International Development's Office for Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA) [1] and the ECHO (European Commission). [4]

Phase II (2008-2013)

Phase II of the ECB Project included multiple objectives and program activities which were developed by teams within the five field consortia, including technical advisors from each thematic area (accountability and impact measurement, disaster risk reduction and staff capacity) and global level technical specialists from within the ECB partnering NGOs. Each of the five country or regional-level consortia was led by a different ECB organization, working closely with ECB agencies and other NGOs, INGOs and partners from across the humanitarian sector. Each program activity had a variety of outputs and learning materials that were shared and made freely available across the wider humanitarian community. The Project's website has more information about all of the initiatives that were undertaken and the resources that were produced, including a number of case studies that document stakeholder learning.

The ECB Project Consortia

The major themes of the project are integrated into the work of the five ECB Project Consortia (Bangladesh, Bolivia, Horn of Africa, Indonesia, and Niger). These five consortia are made up of the ECB partnering agencies at the global level together with additional partners in each country. The consortia develop their own program activities using ECB tools and approaches to improve upon their capacity to respond to disasters and develop their knowledge and skills around disaster risk reduction, accountability and impact measurement. Recent collaboration has led to joint emergency programming for Needs Assessments in Bolivia [5] and Indonesia, and the development of disaster engagement protocols in Indonesia and expected soon in Bangladesh. [6]

Good Enough Guide

The Good Enough Guide: Impact Measurement and Accountability in Emergencies is a free, downloadable tool that is one of the results of the collaboration between partners in the ECB Project. It is a guide focused on accountability to beneficiaries, and provides guidelines and practical tools on how to ensure that beneficiaries are involved in every step of the process in a humanitarian emergency: "In The Good Enough Guide, accountability means making sure that the women, men, and children affected by an emergency are involved in planning, implementing, and judging our response to their emergency too. This helps ensure that a project will have the impact they want to see." [7] [8] The Good Enough Guide, currently available in 14 languages, is accompanied by communications materials such as posters, leaflets and films, as well as a Training of Trainers module. All tools are available in several languages. [9]

In 2015, the Good Enough Guide: Humanitarian Needs Assessments was published in collaboration with Assessments Capacities Project (ACAPS).

Building Trust in Diverse Teams

This facilitation handbook, also freely available for download, is designed to build trust in situations where diverse teams are coming together for humanitarian emergencies. The Building Trust handbook includes exercises on measuring trust between team members (for instance, a Trust Index), as well as a number of ice-breakers. This tool supports emergency teams in building staff capacity during emergencies. [10]

Joint Needs Assessments (JNAs)

Needs assessments are conducted in order to determine the needs of beneficiaries in the first 72 hours following a disaster. Multi-agency, or joint needs assessments are increasingly perceived as being more beneficial than single-agency assessments as they provide better opportunities for improved coordination, and prioritization of assistance both in terms of resources and geographically [11] The ECB Project developed the joint needs assessment template and tools so that agencies could begin to coordinate their disaster response programs, and co-develop operating procedures, common standards and a common platform for assessment data capture [12] in ECB countries. [13]

Joint Evaluations

Several joint evaluations have been undertaken by ECB NGO agencies, following natural disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake [14] [15] and the 2006 Yogyakarta earthquake in Indonesia. [16] [17] A guide entitled What We Know About Joint Evaluations of Humanitarian Action: Learning from NGO Experiences [18] assists humanitarian organizations with practical guidelines on how to effectively conduct a joint evaluation. This tool also includes a number of practical tips and templates.

Simulations

Simulation exercises in the humanitarian sector are meant to prepare humanitarian staff for emergencies, such as quick onset disasters. Simulation participants engage with disaster scenarios such as floods or landslides, with the expectation that participants will be able to practice and reflect upon their response strategies and therefore be better equipped to deal with future disasters. In Phase II of the ECB Project, there have been multi-agency simulations in Niger, Uganda, Bolivia, Kenya and Bangladesh [19] in partnership with many different stakeholders, including UNICEF and local NGOs.

Simulations Administrators Guide

The Simulations Administrators Guide is designed for trainers and facilitators in the humanitarian sector to prepare for and implement a single or multi-agency Simulation exercises. The Simulations tools which accompany the guide are designed to support the detailed planning and preparation required for a simulation and consists of materials including a detailed timeline form, evaluation forms, situation report templates, and role-playing materials.

Themes

Accountability and Impact Measurement

Accountability and Impact Measurement for the ECB Project team is focussed on the ways in which NGOs provide information to beneficiaries in times of crisis, and how agencies can measure the effectiveness of the assistance they provide. "Evaluations of emergency response frequently highlight insufficient accountability, especially to the people affected by emergencies, such as failure to provide communities with even the simplest information on what programs are there, and why. Country offices often lack clearly defined accountability frameworks and related tools that would enable them to systematically assess performance and ensure their response meets sector-accepted quality standards." [20]

The ECB Project has engaged with this theme through the development of reports, tools and inter-agency activities. Some of these include the Good Enough Guide, Joint Evaluations and Joint Needs Assessments. [21] The Project also works with partners in Quality and Accountability Initiatives including ALNAP, Humanitarian Accountability Partnership International, People in Aid and the Sphere Project. The Department for International Development is funding a new specialist Good Enough Guide to Impact Measurement, which will be most useful for rapid-onset natural disasters. This guide is being developed in partnership with the University of East Anglia. [22] [23]

Staff Capacity

The Staff Capacity theme of the Project encompasses several sub-themes, all of which are aimed at increasing staff capacity to respond to humanitarian emergencies and engage in disaster preparedness at the national level. The ECB Project is working with the Consortium of British Humanitarian Agencies (CBHA) to support the implementation of their Humanitarian Staff Development Project and two core programs designed to build staff capacity at the national level: the Humanitarian Management & Leadership Skills Development Programme, and the Humanitarian Core Skills Development Programme. [24] [25] In addition, the ECB Project published recent findings on addressing the challenges of staff retention with a case study of the Horn of Africa in partnership with People in Aid. [26]

Disaster Risk Reduction

The ECB Project website describes disaster risk reduction (DRR) as "the process by which disaster risks and vulnerabilities are identified, analyzed, and minimized to avoid or limit the adverse impacts of hazards". [27] UNISDR (2007) defines DRR as "the concept and practice of reducing disaster risks through systematic efforts to analyze and manage the causal factors of disasters, including through reduced exposure to hazards, lessened vulnerability of people and property, wise management of land and the environment, and improved preparedness for adverse events". [28] DRR encompasses early warning and prevention systems, disaster preparedness, and disaster risk management, and can take the form of disaster risk tracking systems and training of nationals in disaster preparedness. The ECB Project consortia have developed programs designed to raise awareness of disaster risk reduction as well as improve capacity in DRR at the local level. Toward Resilience: A Guide to Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation was developed by a specialist committee within the ECB Project. [29]

Partnerships and Networks

The ECB Project works with several partners and networks in the sector, sharing learning, and drawing on the work of various organizations. Some of these partners include ALNAP, Sphere Project, Consortium of British Humanitarian Agencies, Humanitarian Accountability Partnership International, People in Aid, Humanitarian Practice Network and the Inter-Agency Working Group.

The Project partners have collaborated to publish papers with the Humanitarian Practice Network, which include "Getting better results from partnership working", [30] and "NGO–government partnerships for disaster preparedness in Bangladesh". [31]

Working with the United Nations (UN)

ECB Project teams have collaborated extensively with several UN institutions including UNOCHA, UNISDR, UNICEF, WFP, and UNDP. [32] ECB stakeholders have supported the work of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) including presentations during the 2011 Global Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction and planned further work together on activities including joint simulations. [33] In May 2011 the ECB Project worked with the IASC to contribute to a paper entitled "Preparedness: Saves Time, Money and Lives". [34]

Related Research Articles

CARE is a major international humanitarian agency delivering emergency relief and long-term international development projects. Founded in 1945, CARE is nonsectarian, impartial, and non-governmental. It is one of the largest and oldest humanitarian aid organizations focused on fighting global poverty. In 2019, CARE reported working in 104 countries, supporting 1,349 poverty-fighting projects and humanitarian aid projects, and reaching over 92.3 million people directly and 433.3 million people indirectly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations</span> European Commissions department for overseas humanitarian aid and for civil protection

The Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations, formerly known as the European Community Humanitarian Aid Office, is the European Commission's department for overseas humanitarian aid and for civil protection. It aims to save and preserve life, prevent and alleviate human suffering and safeguard the integrity and dignity of populations affected by natural disasters and man-made crises. Since September 2019, Janez Lenarčič is serving as Commissioner for Crisis Management in the Von der Leyen Commission, and since 1 March 2023, Maciej Popowski leads the organisation as the Director-General.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Humanitarian crisis</span> Large threat to the health and safety of many people

A humanitarian crisis is defined as a singular event or a series of events that are threatening in terms of health, safety or well-being of a community or large group of people. It may be an internal or external conflict and usually occurs throughout a large land area. Local, national and international responses are necessary in such events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Islamic Relief</span> International aid agency based in Birmingham, UK

Islamic Relief Worldwide is a faith-inspired humanitarian and development agency which is working to support and empower the world's most vulnerable people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emergency management</span> Dealing with all humanitarian aspects of emergencies

Emergency management or disaster management is the managerial function charged with creating the framework within which communities reduce vulnerability to hazards and cope with disasters. Emergency management, despite its name, does not actually focus on the management of emergencies, which can be understood as minor events with limited impacts and are managed through the day-to-day functions of a community. Instead, emergency management focuses on the management of disasters, which are events that produce more impacts than a community can handle on its own. The management of disasters tends to require some combination of activity from individuals and households, organizations, local, and/or higher levels of government. Although many different terminologies exist globally, the activities of emergency management can be generally categorized into preparedness, response, mitigation, and recovery, although other terms such as disaster risk reduction and prevention are also common. The outcome of emergency management is to prevent disasters and where this is not possible, to reduce their harmful impacts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Medair</span> Natural disaiser aid organization

Medair is an international non-governmental organisation (INGO) whose purpose is to relieve human suffering in some of the world's most remote and devastated places. Medair aims to assist people affected by natural disasters and conflict to recover with dignity through the delivery of quality humanitarian aid.

There are a number of meanings for the term humanitarian. Here, humanitarian pertains to the practice of saving lives and alleviating suffering. It is usually related to emergency response whether in the case of a natural disaster or a man-made disaster such as war or other armed conflict. Humanitarian principles govern the way humanitarian response is carried out.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disaster risk reduction</span> Preventing new and reducing existing disaster risk factors

Disaster risk reduction (DRR) sometimes called disaster risk management (DRM) is a systematic approach to identifying, assessing and reducing the risks of disaster. It aims to reduce socio-economic vulnerabilities to disaster as well as dealing with the environmental and other hazards that trigger them. The most commonly cited definition of disaster risk reduction is one used by UN agencies such as United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP): "DRR is aimed at preventing new and reducing existing disaster risk and managing residual risk, all of which contribute to strengthening resilience and therefore to the achievement of sustainable development".

Sphere is a global movement started in 1997 aiming to improve the quality of humanitarian assistance. The Sphere standards are the most commonly used and most widely known set of core humanitarian standards. Sphere's flagship publication is the Sphere Handbook.

An environmental emergency is defined as a "sudden-onset disaster or accident resulting from natural, technological or human-induced factors, or a combination of these, that causes or threatens to cause severe environmental damage as well as loss of human lives and property."

The Sudanese Red Crescent (SRC) is the biggest and most decentralized and widespread humanitarian organization operating in Sudan. The society developed out of the Sudan branch of the British Red Cross Society and was established in 1956. Upon Sudan's independence in March 1956 received official recognition as an independent National Society following the Sudanese Council of Ministers decree No. 869. The National Society covers nearly the entire country with 15 State branches and several sub-branches/units in the provinces/localities and administrative units, with a nationwide community-based network of 35,000 active volunteers and another 300,000 who can be deployed as need arises. It has well-established working relations with public authorities at federal, state and local levels, and good partnership and collaboration with Movement partners and UN specialized agencies and national and international NGOs working in Sudan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Humanitarian Accountability Partnership International</span> International non-profit organisation

Humanitarian Accountability Partnership International, established in 2003, was the humanitarian sector's first international self-regulatory body. A multi-agency initiative working to improve the accountability of humanitarian action to people affected by disasters and other crises, HAP members ranged from organisations with a mandate for emergency relief and development activities to institutional donors. The organisation aimed to strengthen accountability towards those affected by crisis situations and to facilitate improved performance within the humanitarian sector. The ultimate goal of the organisation was to uphold the rights and the dignity of crisis-affected populations across the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UN-SPIDER</span> Space technology for disaster management

UN-SPIDER is a platform which facilitates the use of space-based technologies for disaster management and emergency response. It is a programme under the auspices of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA).

RedR is an international NGO whose stated mission is to “rebuild lives in times of disaster by training, supporting, and providing aid workers to relief programmes across the world.” It was originally an acronym for Register of Engineers for Disaster Relief, although it is no longer used as such.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction</span> United Nations organization

The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) was created in December 1999 to ensure the implementation of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction.

The Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) was an organizational unit within the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) charged by the President of the United States with directing and coordinating international United States government disaster assistance. USAID merged the former offices of OFDA and Food for Peace (FFP) in 2020 to form the Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Logistics Cluster</span> Coordination mechanism for emergency response

The Logistics Cluster is a coordination mechanism established by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC), activated to ensure an efficient and effective emergency response.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">All India Disaster Mitigation Institute</span>

The All India Disaster Mitigation Institute (AIDMI) is a NGO registered in India. Located at Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India, it works on disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation and disaster mitigation. It is a community-based ; action planning, action research and advocacy organization, working towards bridging the gap between policy, practice and research related to disaster mitigation. AIDMI have been working on six pillars: (i) Awareness generation, (ii) Capacity building, (iii) Policy advocacy, (iv) Direct implementation, (v) Research and publications, and (vi) Networking.

Common Operational Datasets or CODs, are authoritative reference datasets needed to support operations and decision-making for all actors in a humanitarian response. CODs are 'best available' datasets that ensure consistency and simplify the discovery and exchange of key data. The data is typically geo-spatially linked using a coordinate system and has unique geographic identification codes (P-codes).

ACAPS is a non-profit, non-governmental project that provides international, independent humanitarian analysis. Founded in 2009, ACAPS provides daily monitoring and analysis of the situations in 150 countries, to support humanitarian aid workers. This analysis is freely provided to the NGOs, UN agencies and donors. ACAPS is also known for having developed a severity ranking of humanitarian crises. It employs around 30 professionals based in Geneva.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "About the ECB Project". Archived from the original on 2015-02-18. Retrieved 2015-02-18.
  2. ↑ "Background and context - ECB Project". Archived from the original on 2012-03-11. Retrieved 2011-06-30.
  3. ↑ "Report on Emergency Capacity - World". July 2004.
  4. ↑ "Funding - ECB Project". Archived from the original on 2012-03-11. Retrieved 2011-06-30.
  5. ↑ http://www.ecbproject.org/News/45%5B%5D
  6. ↑ http://www.ecbproject.org/News/50%5B%5D
  7. ↑ "Good Enough Guide: Home". Archived from the original on 2010-07-30. Retrieved 2011-06-30.
  8. ↑ "Oxfam Publication Product Listing". Archived from the original on 2010-12-07. Retrieved 2011-06-30.
  9. ↑ "Download PDF - ECB Project". Archived from the original on 2012-07-31. Retrieved 2011-06-30.
  10. ↑ "Resources | Emergency Capacity Building Project".
  11. ↑ Darcy, James; Hofmann, Charles-Antoine. "According to need? Needs assessment and decision-making in the humanitarian sector" (PDF). Humanitarian Policy Group. Retrieved 12 September 2017.
  12. ↑ "Joint Needs Assessment". Archived from the original on 2011-07-01. Retrieved 2011-06-30.
  13. ↑ "ECB Project archive". ecbproject.org. Retrieved 2017-05-25.
  14. ↑ "An Independent Joint Evaluation of the Haiti Earthquake Humanitarian Response - Haiti". 31 October 2010.
  15. ↑ "Resources | Emergency Capacity Building Project".
  16. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-09-28. Retrieved 2011-06-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  17. ↑ "ECB Project archive". ecbproject.org. Retrieved 2017-05-25.
  18. ↑ "Resources | Emergency Capacity Building Project".
  19. ↑ "ECB Project archive". ecbproject.org. Archived from the original on 2011-07-20. Retrieved 2017-05-25.
  20. ↑ http://www.ecbproject.org/Pool/keyelements-of-accountability-forecbagencies-final.pdf%5B%5D
  21. ↑ "ECB: Accountability and Impact Measurement". Archived from the original on 2011-07-09. Retrieved 2011-07-05.
  22. ↑ "Measuring Change - ECB Project". Archived from the original on 2012-09-05. Retrieved 2011-07-05.
  23. ↑ "ELRHA's research matching facility: successful case study | www.elrha.org". Archived from the original on 2012-03-21. Retrieved 2011-07-06.
  24. ↑ "The Consortium of British Humanitarian Agencies (CBHA) - ECB Project". Archived from the original on 2012-03-26. Retrieved 2011-07-05.
  25. ↑ "CBHA - Capacity Building". Archived from the original on 2011-07-01. Retrieved 2011-07-05.
  26. ↑ "Resources | Emergency Capacity Building Project".
  27. ↑ "ECB Project archive". ecbproject.org. Archived from the original on 2011-07-09. Retrieved 2017-05-25.
  28. ↑ "Home". 3 March 2023.
  29. ↑ "ECB: New Practitioners Guide to Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR)". Archived from the original on 2011-10-17. Retrieved 2011-07-05.
  30. ↑ "Getting better results from partnership working". Archived from the original on 2011-09-30. Retrieved 2011-07-15.
  31. ↑ "NGO–government partnerships for disaster preparedness in Bangladesh". Archived from the original on 2011-09-30. Retrieved 2011-07-15.
  32. ↑ "Partners - ECB Project". Archived from the original on 2012-08-01. Retrieved 2011-07-06.
  33. ↑ "ECB Project archive". ecbproject.org. Retrieved 2017-05-25.[ permanent dead link ]
  34. ↑ "ECB: UN-IASC report features ECB Project". Archived from the original on 2011-07-20. Retrieved 2011-07-15.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.