Guidelines on Data Issues in Humanitarian Crisis Situations

1. Guidelines on Data Issues inHumanitarian Crisis Situations THE POST-CRISIS (TRANSITION & RECOVERY) PHASE LAMLENN Samson HRB/UNFPA, New York SUVA, SEPTEMBER 2011 Suva, September 2011

2. Context of a Post-crisis Situation • Main characteristics of the post-crisis phase would include: • Complete cessation of fighting, when main protagonists have laid down arms • A signed peace agreement by main protagonists • A functional elected/legitimate or transitional government in place • End of natural disaster, with no indications of impending ones • Existence of development programmes (UNDAF, agency specific programmes, etc.) driven by development partners • Design/existence of short-/long-term national development programmes. • Constraints: • Huge needs in terms of data but which are hardly ever considered priority over several competing needs; • A rather weakened and poorly coordinated national statistical system.

3. Data Needs During Transition, Recovery & Reconstruction

4. Some Uses of Data During Post-crisis period • Assessing and prioritizing urgent national needs for transition to recovery. • Conceiving strategies for repatriation, disarmament, demobilization, rehabilitation, resettlement, etc. • Measuring the profound impact of the crisis/disaster on the population, enhancing the proper identification and location of vulnerable categories and providing clues for averting or better managing similar situations in the future. • Designing evidence-based advocacy for resource mobilization to implement emergency projects and programmes at a time when most humanitarian agencies are folding up their activities in-country and humanitarian assistance funds are becoming scarce.

5. Rehabilitation of National Statistical Systems • Efforts should be made to rehabilitate the system and strengthen its capacity to design and implement data collection operations and analyze them and provide timely data and information for planning • These may include: • Rebuilding or refurbishing structures or providing rented premises ; • Providing state-of-the-art equipment, logistics support and supplies to jump-start activities ; • Recruiting and providing basic training and refresher courses for national staff ; • Providing international technical assistance ; • Designing a comprehensive national statistical action plan; • Enhancing the creation of national and sectoral databases ; • Ensuring easy access and wide dissemination of results from various statistical operations .

6. Data Collection and Analysis Approaches • Post-crisis/Disaster Needs Assessment • Post-crisis Surveys • Post-Crisis censuses

7. Post-crisis/Disaster Needs Assessment • It involves field and desk assessments by national and international technical experts which provide a baseline evidence and possibility for prioritizing recovery interventions – the TRF • It builds on the comparative advantage of various stakeholders, encourages the development of partnerships and ensures that all major issues are taken into consideration • Ensures that the prioritization process is transparent and participatory and in the best interest of the affected population • It lays the groundwork for national reconstruction and return to development processes

8. Post-crisis Surveys • Sector-specific surveys • When the application of routine nation-wide data collection operations is rendered difficult by protracted conflicts, humanitarian and development agencies may resort to the conduct of localized surveys on specific themes • The results from such surveys may not be generalized but they provide evidence for project or programme orientations in specific domains • Household-based sample surveys • When security conditions are not conducive for the organization of national-wide population and housing censuses, and the requisite funds and human and material resources are not be easily available, sample-frames from past censuses can be adapted for the conduct national household surveys – DHS, MICS, CWIQ, LSMS, etc; • Results from the household module of such surveys can provide plausible post-crisis information at country and regional level on population structure and composition, household size and composition, poverty indicators and their correlates, mortality indices, status of women, etc

9. Post-crisis Surveys (Cont’d) • Limitations of Household-based sample surveys • Samples drawn from sampling frames which are more than 15 years old are likely to be of doubtful reliability especially in post-crisis situations • There are sometimes limited possibilities for the capacity enhancement of the national statistical services when most of the technical components of the surveys – sample size determination and drawing of the sample, core questionnaire design and module structure, data processing and report writing, etc. – are done by international expertise, sometimes out of the country • There are limits to which such surveys can capture the impact of crisis situations on account of the sample sizes.

10. Post-crisis Population Censuses (Cont’d) • Challenges to implementation: • Massive displacement of the population, return migration and resettlement; • Destruction of infrastructure and disruption of major social programmes and livelihoods; • Lingering insecurity, uncertainty and mutual suspicion • Problems of governance, ineffective central and local administrations, existence of factions, etc. • Dysfunction of the national statistical system, depletion of the national institutional memory (datasets/databases, material and structures, staff, etc.) • Transition from humanitarian assistance to development programmes – diminished funding, closure of some vital services, resistance from some agencies, etc. • A poor, indebted economy confronted with several competing needs • Huge demands for more up-to-date and reliable data for planning, monitoring and evaluation – potential users require information on too many variables (some unconventional), early availability of results • In the absence of proper analyses and dissemination - risk of erroneous interpretations of partial results, risk of political/factional interferences, etc. • Most post-crisis censuses are relatively more expensive

11. Post-crisis Population Censuses (Cont’d) • Conditions for successful implementation – meticulous planning: • Proper scanning of the environment to evaluate potential chances of its success • Detailed project design including data analyses and dissemination • Meticulous advocacy for both resource mobilization and buy-in by all stakeholders • Ample sensitization of the population to dispel any suspicions and misconceptions and ensure massive participation • Detailed census mapping using modern technologies (GPS, GIS, Satellite imagery) to collect information on community level variables, enumeration area and recent administrative boundaries and other relevant spatial details • Census questionnaires designed to collect specific information needed to capture vulnerabilities and the impact of the crisis • Enumeration of special populations (IDPs, refugees, homeless persons, street children, other collective households, etc.) • Proper institutional and human capacity strengthening of the national statistical system • Availability of external expertise to complement gaps in national competencies while ensuring transfer of knowledge to enhance sustainability • In-depth data analyses covering as many themes as possible, including regional monographs • Wide dissemination of the results and easy access to data for use in planning at all levels

12. Post-crisis Population Censuses (Cont’d) • Specific uses of data and related information • Groundwork for the restoration of democratization processes • Groundwork for the strengthening of the national statistical systems • Availability of data for development - for the monitoring of efforts towards compliance with international development frameworks • Basis for the design of focused policy, programmes and projects to redress the ravages of the crisis by targeting vulnerable segments of the population.

13. DISCUSSIONS Sharing of Experiences