HAVE WE ACHIEVED A PARTICIPATION REVOLUTION YET?
How to put communities at the center of humanitarian project design, and the positive benefits when we do.
Despite all the promises by the humanitarian community to increase engagement with crisis-affected populations, there is a still major gap between the rhetoric and the reality. Studies and analysis repeatedly show that we do not systematically engage communities in project design and implementation and that even when we do, it is not always in a meaningful way. Given participatory methods have been discussed since the 1980’s, why do aid agencies still find this such a challenge?
In this global webinar hosted by the Communicating with Disaster Affected Communities (CDAC) Network, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) will present research examining the key barriers faced by agencies in collecting and using community feedback in humanitarian project design and the internal and external factors which can enable us to do this better. The Kenya Red Cross (KRCS) will share their experience of scaling up accountability to communities, the institutional environment that helped them achieve this, and the positive impact on community ownership and project sustainability. Finally, CDA Collaborative Learning Projects will share some key lessons they’ve learnt about how organizations can strengthen accountability to communities, drawing on the IRC and KRCS research, as well as the many studies they’ve carried out globally.
Link to join the webinar http://cdacn.adobeconnect.com/webinar/ or register below.
PRESENTERS
Marian Casey-Maslen, Executive Director, CDAC Network will introduce the webinar and speakers:
- Nicolas Seris, Technical Specialist, Client Responsiveness, International Rescue Committee
- Lydia Atiema, Head of Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL), Kenya Red Cross Society
- Sarah Cechvala, Senior Program Manager, CDA Collaborative Learning Projects