Trainer's Notes for the UNHCR Emergency Management Training

Analysis of Assessment Data

Session at a glance

Content / Approx. Time / Instructional Activity
Introduction / 10 minutes
Exercise 7.3. Wasaville Camp Assessment / 45 minutes / Small Group work analyzing secondary assessment data
Exercise 7.3. reports & review / 30 minutes / Plenary review of small group results
Final Commentary and Wrap-up / 5 minutes / Plenary Presentation
Total Time / 90 minutes

Main objectives

After completing this session, participants will be able to:

  • List the key UNHCR indicators of a population displacement emergency and explain their use in ascertaining the existence and magnitude of an emergency
  • Apply key UNHCR emergency indicators in operational planning

Supplies

Flip charts and markers for each group

Exercise 7.3. Wasaville Camp Assessment (annexed to these notes)

General guidance

This session is designed to provide participants with an opportunity to apply many of the technical indicators presented in the previous site & shelter, wat/san and food & nutrition sessions. It will familiarize them with the use of the UNHCR Emergency Handbook as a key source of technical information concerning needs assessments. It also helps to highlight the concept that the technical sectors examined in an emergency are inter-dependent with regard to impact; a serious condition in one technical sector can have severe ramifications on refugee well-being with regard to other key sectors as well.

Key Points

The main points in this session include:

  1. Water, sanitation, health, hygiene, nutrition and shelter problems are all inter-linked. One must assume that an unsatisfactory condition in one of these areas will have adverse effects in other areas as well.
  2. Because of this “inter-dependence”, an assessment team, regardless of organizational mandate, must be concerned with the status of all of these technical sectors and indicators. For example, the team cannot simply ignore the water

Session Activities

Introduction

10 minutes

Introduce the session by informing participants of the assessment task at hand. Form the participants into small groups (6 – 8 participants each). Ask them to turn to Exercise 7.3. in their books. (It is also annexed to these trainer notes.) Set up the scenario for the participants. Try to be dramatic, as though you are briefing a team about to leave for the field. Tell them to work quickly as lives may depend upon their efforts.

Form the participants into five groups and assign the following areas of focus to the groups:

Public Health

Food & Nutrition

Water

Environmental Sanitation

Sites & Shelter

They will have to select the three rows from the chart that are of most concern to their particular group. They should reach consensus on this point and analyse the information to determine whether or not the circumstances pertaining to their particular sector indicate emergency conditions or not.

Tell the participants they have 45 minutes to do assess the emergency indicators.

Refer them to the Tools and Resources section of their notebooks or to the HCR emergency manuals for details on emergency indicators. Remind them to appoint a facilitator and reporter for the group. Wish them luck.

Exercise 7.3. Wasaville Camp Assessment

45 minutes

As the groups work on the exercise, roam from table to table answering questions about the process. Refer them to the written sources for figuring calculations (rather than giving them answers directly.) Make sure that they attempt to calculate the death rates in accordance with the two different population figures.

Exercise 7.3. reports & review

30 minutes

Go around the room and ask each team in plenary to answer quickly the question: Is there an emergency with regard to your sector? If any groups say “NO”, have them give their analysis first. Assuming that most groups come to the conclusion that the situation is unclear but perilously close to emergency conditions:

Ask them to explain their reasoning. Let the first group give a piece of its analysis; then the second group another piece, etc., working your way around the plenary. If groups were stuck on certain parts, take time to do the calculations on the flip charts for all to see. Ensure the following points are touched upon:

  • Numbers: The differences in population figures affect all indicators, especially the death rate. The refugees’ higher numbers actually lead one to question whether or not there is an actual emergency situation . Therefore, numbers are extremely important, are often political, and must always be weighed against other critical factors. As well agendas of those giving the numbers must be considered.
  • Health: Any cases of measles require immediate attention and are indicative of emergency conditions. Also the high rates of diarrhea indicate unsanitary conditions which are likely to push a potentially dangerous situation into outright crisis.
  • Water/Sanitation: The long lines at the hand pumps and the probable reliance by the refugees on the river for water indicate that availability of clean water is an issue. One could probably recommend that an immediate response be taken to treat the river water or obtain more clean water from another source. The insufficiency of clean water is likely one of the major reasons for the poor health conditions.
  • Site/Shelter: The camp is crowded. this, is likely to exacerbate the spread of disease given the unsanitary and unhealthy conditions in which the refugees currently live. This should be considered a potentially aggravating factor.
  • Nutrition: Refugees observed were “on the street” – clearly the stronger, healthier ones. This “sample” is obviously skewed in favor of the strong. Assessors will have to observe/measure people in their shelters, at clinics, etc. where the weaker are likely to be found. 1800 kcals is below the recommended ration; for people who are sick this is likely to be too little. This finding was based on distribution records rather than on household surveys which could indicate that less than 1800 kcals/per person/per day is actually being consumed due to leakage (theft, losses) from the food distribution system.

Final Commentary and Wrap-up

5 minutes

Note that the camp conditions are such that the situation should indeed by treated as an emergency; the poor health of the refugees is likely to decline further soon without a concerted effort to improve the water/sanitation situation. Remind them that indicators, while necessary, are not sufficient; they must be accompanied by a good dose of common sense. Take any final questions or comments and congratulate them on their fine work.

Exercise 7.3. Wasaville Camp Assessment

Read the case below and the assessment data in the table that follows. Be prepared to answer some basic assessment questions about this situation.

Adjacent to the small town of Wasaville, Suremia, there is a refugee camp with a population of some 13,000 "old caseload" refugees from the country of Tulera. There has been an ongoing "care and maintenance" program for these refugees for the past several years, as the conflict in Tulera has not yet been resolved.

Your headquarters has just received news that due to a large influx of new refugees fleeing the renewed violence in Tulera and sorely limited local resources, a new emergency may be in the making. You have been asked to travel immediately to Suremia Island to determine the extent of the problem and report back to headquarters whether or not there is an emergency in Wasaville.

You will join one of the following teams:Public Health

Food & Nutrition

Water

Environmental Sanitation

Sites & Shelter

1. As a team, select the three rows from the chart that are of most concern to your group. You must reach consensus on this point. Analyse the information to determine whether or not the circumstances pertaining to your particular sector indicate emergency conditions or not.

2. What would be your next steps in conducting further assessment in your team's sectoral area? What assessment tools would you need to carry out these steps?

3. Be prepared to explain your findings and analyses to the plenary.

Results Of Initial Assessment Mission

Wasaville Camp Assessment Information
Type of information / Qualitative Aspects / Quantitative Aspects / Source
Population / Adults and children appear healthy from windshield survey and brief tour around the central administrative block and schools
Refugee leaders seem to be well organized and capable. / Local office official population figures show 16,450 Tulerans presently registered in the camp as refugees
Refugee leaders say that there are at least 20,000 Tuleran refugees currently in the camp due to new influxes. / UNHCR registration data – compiled from previous 10 years history in the camp.
Refugee leadership
Deaths / Some deaths in children reported to be due to measles/complications / 200 people have died in the last two months. / Clinics, correlated with requests for burial shrouds.
Illness / Measles outbreak reported last month. / Local public health NGO reports 50% of all medical complaints relate to diarrhea. / Local Public Health NGO doctor and staff.
Water / Water sources are small local river and shallow wells. River source is not controlled, but wells are well-made and protected with a concrete apron and hand-pump. There are always long lines waiting to use the hand-pumps. / Estimated 30,000 liters of water from hand-pumps available per day.
River source provides potential 500 cu. m. of water per hour, actual consumption from this source not measured / Local NGO hand-pump programme director
Sanitation / Site looks clean, although numerous public latrines stink badly / 650 public pit latrines have been constructed under a local programme / Sanitation/shelter NGO programme director and refugee sanitation team leader
Site area / Site looks very bare. Large areas of standing water in and around the camp, especially near water taps and washing areas. / One square kilometer provided by Government from National Park property. Roughly one half of this is unusable due to low lying swampy areas / Ministry of Interior and aerial photography
Shelter / Most shelters are self-built with plastic sheeting used for additional protection on the roof. / Analysis of aerial photography reveals approximately 2,000 separate shelters, each about 12 sq. m. / Air photography, verified through on-site correlation of sample areas
Nutrition / People on the street look thin, but healthy / There has not been a recent nutritional survey, but the total food aid provided amounts to the equivalent of 1800 kcal/person/day / WFP logistician, Distribution center officials, warehouse records

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