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Recent Events and Activities ALNAP Bulletin SEPTEMBER 2009 Welcome to the September 2009 edition of the ALNAP Bulletin, which provides regular updates to Full and Observer Members on ALNAP Secretariat activities. Since the last Bulletin, we have completed and published the 8th Review of Humanitarian Action. It contains three in-depth studies on performance assessment, impact assessment and humanitarian innovations (each chapter is covered in more detail later). It is now available online The 8th RHA was published in July 2009. and in hard copy. Recent Events and Activities All Full Members should have received their hard copies of the complete edition, stand alone copies of each of the chapters and key message sheets, the latter also March 2009 published in French and Spanish. Ben Ramalingam presented at the Save the Children Leadership Development week, on the leadership We have already received a lot of complimentary competency around ‘External Orientation of Leaders’. feedback from within and beyond the membership. His presentation covered key crisis drivers for the Please do send more feedback on all/any of the humanitarian sector, and networked approaches to chapters, positive or negative! A survey about the strategic change. format, dissemination and use of the 8th RHA is now live and readers are encouraged to take part in it. This ALNAP also made a contribution to a HFP Distance kind of feedback is essential for us to be able to make Learning Module for ECOWAS, on the topic of strategy improvements next time round. and leadership. In collaboration with the ProVention Consortium, we have also published a lessons paper on response and April 2009 recovery following urban disasters. John Mitchell was invited by OCHA to give a presentation in Geneva to the Global Cluster Leads Donor meeting on During the last months, members of the Secretariat have accountability in the clusters. attended and contributed to a number of meetings and events, enabling us to communicate our research The pilot ‘State of the System report’ work was launched findings to interested parties. and work is on schedule. The team of consultants, led by Paul Harvey, are now working on the first draft We are now busy getting ready for a new round of which is expected in late autumn of this year, with initial ALNAP initiatives, about which more below, and for findings from the pilot to be presented at the 25th bringing the network together in London for the 25th ALNAP Meeting. More information and supplementary ALNAP Meeting in November 2009, which will focus on documents can be found here. Innovations in humanitarian response. We are also delighted to welcome a new Full Member to MAY 2009 the ALNAP network – New Zealand Aid (NZAID). In May, Karen Proudlock attended the launch of the ALNAPBulletin SEPTEMBER 2009 Page 2 joint follow-up evaluation of the links between relief, performance agenda and builds upon previous ALNAP rehabilitation and development (LRRD) organized by research. Although it is not a short read, it is essential Sida. to anyone who really wants to get a deeper insight to what the humanitarian performance agenda is all about. The ALNAP Organisational Change chapter was key It will also be very useful when we come to improve the background material for the EPN Conference on methodology for the next State of the System report. Facilitating Change. Ben Ramalingam and Paul Clarke ran a Master Class ‘Breakthrough Change in Times of Another key part of the Humanitarian Performance Crisis’ which was very well received by all attendees. Project (HPP) is also about improving humanitarian impact assessment and our recent study Kim attended the HAP General Assembly in Geneva. has been published in the 8th RHA. We are ALNAP, People in Aid, Red R, Skill Share and BOND ran the pleased to report that the chapter is now being featured first meeting on leadership in the aid system, Learning on the website of 3IE, the International Initiative for to Lead. Hosted by Save The Children, it was very well Impact Evaluation. received, with a follow up planned for the autumn. One of the central features of the study is a new framework for planning and implementing impact JUne 2009 assessments, which has already been picked up by a In June, John Mitchell and Karen Proudlock also number of ALNAP members including OCHA, Save the presented the framework and findings of the ALNAP Children, ECB and the DEC. Impact Study to members of the Inter-Agency Standing The innovations study, with case studies on cash, Committee (IASC) Real-time Evaluation Interest Group community feeding therapy, mobile technologies and in a workshop on ‘Joint evaluations and the future of the transitional shelter approach, has proved especially inter-agency evaluations’ in Geneva. Download the popular among the membership and more widely. presentation here. This will be the focus of the 25th ALNAP Meeting in Any organisation interested in John or Karen presenting November, about which more below. to their own agency on impact issues please write to John ([email protected]). John Mitchell participated in a Tearfund advisory group on capacity building for Disaster Risk Reduction, and wrote a conclusion for AIDMI’s publication on ‘Reducing Risk: Learning and Doing’ . JULY 2009 July was a big month for the Secretariat, with saw the launch of the new ALNAP website and the new Review of Humanitarian Action. The first chapter in the 8th RHA presents a wide a wide- ranging overview of the performance agenda - at the New website at www.alnap.org heart of ALNAP’s work - drawing on experiences from the private, public and development sectors. The chapter The new ALNAP site (www.alnap.org) has been very ‘Counting what counts: performance and effectiveness well received, and makes ALNAP resources far more in the humanitarian sector’ is, as far as we are aware, accessible than before. It also incorporates a number of the first comprehensive overview of the humanitarian new features such as membership areas, forums and the ALNAPBulletin SEPTEMBER 2009 Page 3 ALNAP Blog. Watch this space for more developments. The ‘State of the System’ survey closed with 500 respondents. We would like to thank the many Last, but not least, July saw the publication of a new respondents who took the time to participate in the lessons paper. Disaster response in an urban environment survey as this will form an important element of the presents a wide variety of challenges. Humanitarian findings. organisations often have more experience of disaster response in rural settings, and local authorities and ALNAP’s Annual Report 2008-09 was published online. community organisations may have little experience of planning and executing large-scale activities in response September 2009 (to date) and recovery. The publication of the HPP Briefing Note no 2 gives a The latest lessons paper was the result of over 8 months current update on our work as part of our humanitarian of work by ALNAP and the ProVention Consortium, performance workstream. synthesizing key research in this important but neglected The ALNAP Steering Committee meeting was held on 8 area. This research focused on responses to a number September. of urban disasters, including earthquake responses in Bam (Iran), Bhuj (India), Izmit (Turkey), and Kobe (Japan); storm and hurricane in Gonaives (Haiti) and New Orleans (United States), and conflict responses in Angola and Planned FUTUre Events and Activities Mostar (Bosnia-Herzegovina). The paper highlights key lessons to guide local authorities, national governments, September 2009 international agencies, the private sector, learning Preparations are being made for ALNAP to launch its centres and community organisations in approaching series of Innovations Case Studies highlighting specific the specific challenges of addressing and responding to innovations in the humanitarian sector. The first of these disaster risks in urban environments. case studies is looking at Concern’s use of M-PESA for mobile cash transfers and will be published shortly. If anyone is interested in contributing a particular case study, which could be of interest across the membership and the wider sector, please contact Kim Scriven ([email protected]). September will see the start in earnest of a new study on establishing how to use information from beneficiary surveys as a mechanism for assessing performance. Karen is leading on the development of a concept note, which is being shaped in consultation with member © Manoocher Deghati/IRIN agencies, academics and independent institutions who are either involved in implementing participatory ‘Responding to Urban Disasters: Learning from Previous methods or conducting research on the relationship Relief and Recovery Operations’ is now available on the between participation and improved performance and website. accountability. Initial discussions between ALNAP and HAP‐I, The Fritz Institute, The Listening Project and Tufts AUGUst 2009 University have already begun. If you are interested in IRIN featured the Innovations Study in an excellent article being involved, contact Karen Proudlock (k.proudlock@ by Anna Jefferys, which had front page coverage on the alnap.org). site and much interest across blogs and on Twitter. As an aside for those who don’t know of it, ALNAP’s ALNAPBulletin SEPTEMBER 2009 Page 4 Global Study on participation is one of the most detailed the functions they play. It will explore the overarching reviews of participation undertaken in the aid sector, relationships and dynamics among different actors covering six country case studies. This can be found here. and institutions, and associated policy, programming, political and financial interests and relationships. This The second of the meetings in the ‘Learning to Lead’ USAID-supported study is led by the Humanitarian series will be held at British Red Cross on 23 September. Policy Group and Ben will be closely involved. Contact Catherine Russ ([email protected]) of Red R for more details.
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