Information in DisastersTanoa Plaza Hotel, Suva, Fiji

Opening ConsiderationsSeptember 2011

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What is this workshop about?

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If this is what you are hearing, please intervene

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Workshop objectives

1) Participants are familiar with Roles and Responsibilities, particularly regarding information during humanitarian emergencies  

• Roles and Responsibilities of Humanitarian Cluster Lead Agencies, and who they are   • Requirements on government agencies  

2) Participants are familiar with principles of coordinated assessments  • Harmonized and Joint assessments• Principle building blocks of coordinated assessments   • Assessment phasing over time, and implications on methodology, data quality and reliability

 

3) Participants are familiar with information requirements for humanitarian assessments and programming  

• Which key indicators have been identified by sectors• Where can the indicators be found• How and when are they used, what to do if they're not available

4) Foster the relationship between National Statistics Offices, Disaster Management and Humanitarian Clusters  

• Raise awareness of NSO publications and encourage their usage and dissemination  

• Explore data processing capacities of NSOs in support of disaster management  

• Draw up a road map for information management in disasters   What next ?   What of analysis?     4

Specific Outputs

1) Define "best source" for key humanitarian indicators by country (for Cook Islands, Fiji, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Vanuatu)

• Table of indicators filled in with source of data for Secondary Data Analysis • Indication of best way to monitor these variables during emergencies

2) Definitive list of publications from Statistics offices and data tables  

• List by country of the latest available data that can be used by all humanitarian actors  

3) Humanitarian Analysis Plan plan for each country present  

• Identification of best offices to be involved in analysis of joint assessment material    

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Ground Rules

• Please arrive on time. Can we set a time by which we will start even if not everyone is here?

• Please attend all the sessions. If you cannot because of other engagements, please advise us so that we know when to start. Evening sessions are not compulsory but should be quite interesting

• Feel free to interrupt as soon as you have a question. We will either answer it there and then, or keep it for later. The ‘parking lot’ is on the side of the room. Please write down your questions there and we will strive to ensure they are all answered.

• Participant committee: to keep us on track, we will ask that three people be nominated as representatives of the audience. 1 for the NDMO reps, 1 for the NSO reps, and 1 for the agency staff. We will meet every evening for 15 min after the last session to gather feedback on how the day went and what we can do to ensure the next day is just as fulfilling.

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Housekeeping

• Bathrooms,

• Exit paths for Fire or other emergency,

• Internet usage

• Admin questions

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Agenda

Monday: Drinks

Tuesday: - Introduction of the facilitators, and - Introduction to the architecture of international humanitarian assistance- Introduction to the guidelines which frame the material to be covered by the workshop

Wednesday: - Waiting for the disaster- First actions when the disaster hits: the scramble for information

Thursday: - Assisting affected populations – making sense of field observations and understanding needs

Friday: - Exploring ways forward, defining ways of working together

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Organisation

Participants have been selected based on their role during emergencies:

1. Participants from National Statistics Offices

2. Participants from National Disaster Management Offices

3. Participants from Agencies with a role in disaster management

Groups will be organised around country membership:

4. Solomon Islands

5. Vanuatu

6. Fiji

7. Samoa

8. Tonga

Agency staff are asked to join a country group and to work with one country for the 2 exercises on Wednesday and Thursday

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