Within the INSPIRE consortium led by Groupe URD, IRMA developed core components of DG ECHO’s Disaster Preparedness (DP) Toolkit to guide future preparedness funding, programming and learning. The toolkit was designed to help DG ECHO and its partners improve the quality, timeliness and risk-informed nature of humanitarian response by strengthening preparedness across its portfolio.
Purpose
- Translate DG ECHO’s Disaster Preparedness Guidance Note into practical, operational tools for staff and implementing partners.
- Clarify principles, prioritisation criteria and programming choices for targeted and mainstreamed preparedness, and support monitoring, evaluation and learning on DP results.
Scope of work
- Refined a set of learning questions on DP principles and prioritisation (where, why and how much to invest), programming (how to design and appraise good DP interventions) and monitoring, evaluation and learning (how to track and learn from results).
- Produced draft toolkit outputs including:
- A concise guidance note on core preparedness principles unique to DP.
- Geographic prioritisation guidance with objective criteria and real examples.
- Budgeting guidance on levels and proportions of preparedness funding across instruments.
- Multi-level programming checklists for partners’ proposal design, DG ECHO proposal appraisal and DG ECHO monitoring.
- A short programming guidance paper on balancing regional, national and community-level action and sectoral integration.
- Around ten good practice case examples illustrating DP design choices and lessons.
- Menus of potential indicators and priority learning questions for DG ECHO’s DP work.
Methodology
- Used mixed methods: targeted desk review, an online/Brussels workshop with DG ECHO staff, a survey, approximately 30 key informant interviews and validation workshops.
- Iteratively adjusted learning questions and methods based on feedback from DG ECHO field and HQ staff, including regional perspectives.
- Structured all outputs to be modular, concise and directly usable in DG ECHO’s programming cycle and by implementing partners at country and regional level.
IRMA’s team for this assignment included Marilise Turnbull, Edward Turvill and Lezlie Moriniere
Photo by Salah Darwish on Unsplash
