The 12 Essentials for System Change

"To imagine that meaningful interaction can be retrofitted into the existing, well-established systems and structures falls short of a 'revolution'. Revolutions denote a change in power dynamics, which is happening as people affected by disaster have access to new technologies."

The '12 Essentials' focus on what would need to happen for participation in a humanitarian emergency to be authentic, and for there to be a genuine shift in power toward those caught up in a crisis so that they feel communicated with and fully involved in the humanitarian response. The document emerged from a May 2017 global forum, "The authenticity challenge to the Participation Revolution", organised by the Communicating with Disaster Affected Communities (CDAC) Network and the Standing Committee on Humanitarian Response. Attended by more than a hundred humanitarian workers and thinkers, the forum fell on the anniversary of the World Humanitarian Summit, which announced a 'Participation Revolution' in terms of the engagement with those most in need and most affected.

Forum participants expressed a desire to see more participation by affected people in decision-making. However, it was clear also that most international agencies, at least, are struggling to make it work. The final judgement about whether organisations are "participation ready", and whether engagement is "authentic", can only come from the communities themselves. In the context of that discussion, the 12 Essentials that were articulated include:

1. Participation and authenticity call for new actors, new tools - Dr. Dhananjayan (Danny) Sriskandarajah, Secretary General and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of CIVICUS (see also video, below) observed that while we have built a very sophisticated system for delivering humanitarian relief, we have not been serious about community involvement or feedback so that citizen voice is heard and amplified. A Participation Revolution entails a new set of actors, a new landscape, and a new eco-system for how we do humanitarianism.
2. We need to engage at a deeper level, and in different ways - Jenny Hodgson, Executive Director of the Global Fund for Community Foundations, discussed community philanthropy, which she said has much to offer to turn the current aid system on its head and to shift power. Organisations such as grassroots grant makers would make good partners for international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) or United Nations (UN) agencies, bringing knowledge and expertise due to their deep relationships in local communities.
3. The private sector is a powerful enabler of participation - Kathleen Reen, Director of Twitter's Public Policy and Philanthropy in Asia Pacific Region, spoke of the role of social media in emergencies, with the example of the Philippines, where hashtags helped bring attention to those in need. In terms of key lessons, she said that preparedness for emergencies is where the most important work is done, and an acute crisis is the worst time to attempt to introduce a new app. Dulip Tillekeratne of the Groupe Speciale Mobile Association (GSMA) identified several "myths" that have frustrated interaction between humanitarian and telecom companies in the past, such as that we can't engage until there is a crisis.
4. Innovation demands systems change, not just "magic puzzle pieces" - Dan McClure, Innovation Design Lead at Thoughtworks, spoke about the need for system change, which requires deep insights from communities and diverse organisations, including local and non-traditional actors. Dan stressed that this kind of change is a long journey, one that requires everyone involved to be active ongoing participants. Far from having just one answer to the challenge of participation, we can pursue many paths to both participation and high-impact change. Click here for McClure's full PowerPoint.
5. "Willing" and "trying" are not good enough - Beat Schweizer, Head of the Regional Delegation for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in South East Asia, reminded participants that the same things have been said about participation and engagement for years. In a similar vein of honesty, Dr. Gaya Gamhewage of the World Health Organization (WHO) said that overall, big international agencies struggle to define and understand communities. Too often, localisation and participation requirements are box ticking exercises that have an effect of negatively impacting on the organisations critical to community resilience.
6. Engaging communities systematically in non-crisis phase is critical - Iyan Kusmadiana, Deputy Director for Management of Disaster Affected People in the Ministry of Social Affairs, Indonesia, described a community-based information based disaster management system that uses formal and informal channels, including WhatsApp and images, to collate and monitor material from across its vast territory and islands. Monitta Putri, Assistant Advisor at the Executive Office of the President of Indonesia, spoke about a feedback system that requires a response to an individual within five days of the request being received in a government department.
7. Money might trickle down, but power doesn't - Calls were made for the creation of an institutional landscape that is not as top heavy, not as northern led, and is more democratic. Those closest to their own community are more likely to be trustworthy and to ensure value for money.
8. Donors could be "market regulators" for change in the sector - Participants suggested that there should be recognition that reworking the aid infrastructure to utilise myriad participatory approaches including, for example, accommodating dialogue in multiple indigenous languages, mapping of potential partners, involvement of national experts and pre-planning with communities for emergencies, and establishment of shared platforms based on principles of equality, needs to be funded. There should also be more effort to provide funding matches for local organisations, with money going to those with a "local appetite" for community impacts. Such funding could be a benchmark for demonstrating commitment to participation and securing a real shift in power.
9. We must know and support local ecosystems to enable communication between communities - The need for increased diversity through participation was repeated throughout the forum. Linking on-the-ground capacity with global tools is key to shifting to being really, truly participation-ready.
10. Accepted standards must be applied to the context - The Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS) on Quality and Accountability presents a new way of working by putting people at the centre. The CHS Alliance Executive Director, Judith Greenwood, noted that the CHS sets out what one should expect as a member of the affected community when dealing with an aid organisation. Kate Halff, Executive Secretary of the Steering Committee for Humanitarian Response, noted that the third-party quality assurance services provided by the Humanitarian Quality Assurance Initiative (HQAI) enable diverse entities to objectively demonstrate where they stand in the application of an internationally recognised standard, such as the CHS, thus equalising the playing field for local and national organisations.
11. We can ask for more data, but we need to make sense of the data we have - Humanitarian responders should be engaging now in thinking around data and developing good practice, both internally, and as part of networks and sector wide emergency preparation as well as data security in a humanitarian context.
12. We need to work with the communicators already active in the revolution - that is, the media - Daniel Bruce, CEO (Europe) for Internews, argued that too often media is engaged in a formulaic or traditional way and seen, wrongly, as rather one dimensional. Len Manriquez, the Projects Coordinator of the Peace and Conflict Journalism Network (PECOJON), emphasised how media working with communities involved in a crisis may have a humanitarian role and provide a link to communities, which is vital in terms of participation and localisation. National and local media involvement in a humanitarian emergency needs to be planned for and funded, with efforts being made to utlise their knowledge and skills at a policy level.

The document goes on to outline next steps, which include:

• System change that switches focus from organisational, top-down approaches to those that build capacity and decision making at the national and local level.
• Leadership that demonstrates drive toward a shift in power - e.g., humanitarian leaders welcoming both positive and negative feedback from communities and taking action in response to this feedback. Part of this process should involve community-led audits rather than the measuring of outputs established by an organisation or donors.
• Institutionalisation of collective platforms - whether they are for the purpose of independent needs assessment, common language platforms, or collaborative models on communication and community engagement - to support participation within a humanitarian response in order to achieve a common purpose. Benefits include: the potential for collective development and standardisation of tools; improved coordination and efficiencies; shared approaches and understanding for language and translation issues and putting the people who need the information in charge of having the translation when they need it; the ability to have greater outreach and therefore increased understanding of trends and issues affecting populations; the potential to reduce confusion, tensions and conflict with and between communities through consistency of messaging; and stronger advocacy based on collective messages.

An analysis of the contributions of speakers and participants on Day 1 led to the identification of seven distinct strategies - a roadmap for participation for transformative change: (i) informing the community; (ii) listening to the community and (iii) adapting and changing actions as a result; and (iv) funding the changes. If it's a longer-term crisis, also: (v) developing new capacity within the sector, new national and local actors, and supporting, guiding, nurturing, and learning from them; (vi) transforming the affected community; and (vii) transferring control. It is suggested that all seven steps need to be taken on if the goal of changing power dynamics and challenging the established hierarchy is to be achieved.

In conclusion: "The aid agencies that can adapt to a shift in power toward communities will be ones that will be the most relevant in the future....This must involve some of the most dominant actors in humanitarian response becoming willing midwives to a new and exciting dynamic, where the opportunities of technology and increased expectations are exploited for the gain of all. It must mean that private sector and other bodies such as community foundations become part of response and emergency planning as, increasingly, aid is happening 'without us'."