1. McRAM Pakistan A Lesson in Assessment Preparedness

2. McRAM Pakistan Floods August 2010 Provinces4 Interviewers107(m) 95(f) Districts27 Settlements/Villages383 Households2,442 Total days24 (4 collecting data in the field)

3. McRAM timeline Date (August) EventDateEvent 13First AWG26Field 1427Field 15Sandie Arrives28Field/ Herbert arrives/ Richard arrives 16Cluster inputs29Data entry, cleaning, IM product design with clusters 17AWG30 18Bilateral meetings with clusters Alice arrives 31 191 (September)Preliminary findings 202 213Full HH data shared 224 23Training5Full Com data shared 24Training6 25Field7Report uploaded

4. The Multi-cluster Rapid Assessment Mechanism (McRAM) project commenced in Pakistan in March 2008 with the aim of designing a post-emergency assessment that: was collaborative (i.e. a multi-cluster assessment) utilized Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) technology Assessment Preparedness

5. McRAM Project Objective: …..to have a well designed, multi-cluster assessment mechanism in place and a system prepared to implement this mechanism at very short notice in order to improve the quality and timeliness of joint assessments.

6. Pre-crisis Vulnerability Rapid Onset Emergency Vulnerability Baseline Early Warning Scenario Mapping Preparedness Arrangements for Multi-Cluster Assessments Impact ………..…Recovery Contingency Planning PREPAREDNESSRESPONSE Phase 1 Information gathering Phase 2 Multi-cluster Assessment Phase 3 Sector Assessments Phase 4 Multi-cluster Assessment Assess Response McRAM Preparedness Within Contingency Planning NB, phase 4 multi-cluster assessments could be deployed to assess the effectiveness of humanitarian response.

7. Key Features of the McRAM Preparedness Community needs assessment Joint Ownership and Commitment Collaboration Technology Out-sourcing of data collection

8. Challenges in McRAM Preparedness 1.Galvanizing commitment 2.Establishing coordination and management structures 3.Identifying roles and responsibilities for carrying out an emergency assessment 4.Defining key initial information needs 5.Ensuring gender was mainstreamed 6.A multi-cluster assessment is complex 7.All emergencies are not the same 8.Funding preparedness and actual assessments.

9. 1. Galvanizing commitment For the agencies and organizations involved: a common needs assessment should represent more efficient deployment of resources For the population affected: a common needs assessment to get the information required by multiple clusters reduces assessment fatigue. Without genuine commitment to a joint assessment, agencies will continue with their own agency or sector specific assessments

10. Key features in Pakistan that contributed to galvanising joint commitment to the McRAM: The Government of Pakistan accepted the need for a community based needs assessment. The Pakistan Humanitarian Forum (PHF) committed that they would ask members to hold off on initial assessments and use McRAM data. A functioning cluster system already existed in Pakistan. The Pakistan HCT was already engaged in inter- agency contingency planning.

11. 2. Identifying coordination and management structures Formation of a McRAM Steering Committee consisting of the cluster coordinators, the PHF representative, the ICRC, the IFRC, and the NDMA, chaired by OCHA. During ongoing contingency planning, this groups became the IASC Operations Group.

12. 3. Identifying roles and responsibilities for carrying out an emergency assessment A core McRAM team comprising of a Project Coordinator, programmers and a Social Scientist. In Pakistan linguistic and cultural differences, difficult terrain and vast distances make information gathering difficult with implications for timeliness, logistics and cost. The solution to this in the Pakistan context was to have stand-by arrangements with local partners.

13. 4. Identifying key initial information needs A country sector specialist may not necessarily be able to design a good set of questions! Improved access to global guidance such as IASC tools would be an advantage for this part of the process, but these need to be embedded in country level ownership.

14. 5. Ensuring gender was mainstreamed Gender poses particular challenges in the Pakistan context. Ensuring female field researchers was a challenge in Pakistan but, through good local partners, not impossible. A separate report on Mainstreaming Gender in the McRAM was compiled.

15. 6. A multi-cluster assessment is complex Having field teams pre-trained as part of assessment preparedness. Dedicate sufficient time to this. Ensure cluster input.

16. 7. All emergencies are not the same Be ready with a set of different options; e.g. Household, community, camp management, health facility.

17. 8. Ensuring information is timely Use available technology Prioritise information management from the outset in the assessment design.

18. 9. Funding Preparedness requires commitment and resources. The level of commitment and resources in preparedness impacts the quality, timeliness and usefulness of an actual assessment.

19. RC/HC Humanitarian Country Team IASC Operations Group Assessment Team Coordinator Technical / MIS / GIS Partner Organization Responsibility Over-arching support Ensure Gov’t support Oversight Direction for Assessment Ensure Cluster Involvement Approve design and SOPs Management + Execution Liaison with clusters & partners Finalization of questionnaires Document SOPs for Assessment Training of Survey Teams Programming of questions / database / reporting formats Execution Support Deploy teams & logistics Involvement in McRAM Preparedness Funding?? UNICEF

20. Revisiting McRAM Preparedness... A “neutral home” for the McRAM After 2 years, what was left:  Ownership  Tool  Consensus on the concept  Some data expertise  Equipment “Assessment Maintenance”