A call for action from CDAC Network Governing Board
A call for action from CDAC Network Governing Board:
The future of humanitarian collaboration and engagement with local communities requires action and risk-taking in the void between ‘us’ and ‘them’.
Investing in practical and agile local solutions is essential to systems change.
Members of the CDAC Network met on 8–10 November 2022 to discuss how to futureproof communication and engagement with local communities. This meeting was joined by humanitarian and development leaders and technical experts from our membership, bringing together media, technology, accountability, anthropology, education, cash, climate and sexual and reproductive health and rights. Our ambition: to identify implementation strategies for CDAC’s 2022–2027 vision that communities will have the information and resources they need to determine their own solutions and be central stakeholders in humanitarian and development decision-making.
The world has changed in the three years since many CDAC members met in person, reinforcing the priority to embed effective communication and engagement with local communities at all times. Although opportunities develop and gain traction, the humanitarian system has shown a stubborn unwillingness to changing its approach. In the face of this resistance, CDAC members discussed how to change the system from within; working collaboratively with local and national structures and organisations; more intentionally and directly addressing power imbalances that are still ironically pervasive in a sector that prides itself on working with communities; and what is needed to enable context-specific communication as aid.
The messages from CDAC members were clear:
The humanitarian sector needs to change its largely self-serving communication and engagement strategies.
Humanitarians are not the principal architects of the communication landscape in crises, nor the principal users. Communication as aid must go further in order to facilitate more agile and timely responses.
Limit humanitarian terminology as it excludes others.
Call out disincentives to change.
Engagement with communities goes beyond the accountability to affected people agenda. It is a vital component of successful and effective cross-sector programming and demands our priority institutional commitment.
The future of the humanitarian sector in the communication ecosystem depends on its ability to recognise local community capacity and capabilities; and to prioritise and resource collaboration and engagement. The humanitarian sector is still not acting on or supporting dialogue and this is not good enough.
All humanitarian and development action must prioritise engagement with local communities. Collaboration of this nature presents challenges and invites us to be imaginative and innovate to be able to say that local communities share in the decision-making.
Understanding how individuals and communities affected by a crisis want to engage and participate in humanitarian action is key to the effectiveness of any response. A robust, system-wide analysis of trusted platforms, mechanisms and channels for communication that reach all people in the community should be the foundation of every response.
The intentional inclusion of all humanitarian and community stakeholders in communication and engagement requires understanding and responding to the means and practices by which certain people or groups are excluded. Prioritising inclusion means making intentional changes to systems, budgets and planning to allow for collaboration.
People affected in a crisis represent a full cross section of society and this is commonly ignored. By failing to incorporate capabilities of community actors, the sector cannot be effective or efficient.
Disaster responses are now data-driven, but the humanitarian sector has failed to fully understand and learn from this data revolution.
Systematically, communication and engagement rely increasingly on a wide range of both analogue and digital platforms. Humanitarian learning on what is needed to collaborate with private digital technology actors must be a priority.
Despite discussion on the need to invest in technology and data, tangible results are negligible. The search for the ‘perfect’ tools means workable products that can leverage real results are not being used or developed.
Data security, data protection and data access require a more intensive focus to generate opportunities and manage the inherent risks appropriately. Failing to invest in capacity building that integrates all actors threatens safe and inclusive growth.
In his closing remarks, the Chair of the Board, Geoff Loane – pointing to the specific added value of CDAC Network – called for greater exploration of practical action that can expand collaboration opportunities and synergies and overcome the systemic barriers to better inclusion in communication and engagement. The Network is committed to continuing and acting on this conversation. He called on members, local partners and wider stakeholders to participate in an upcoming review of CDAC’s membership policy so that it better reflects the 2022–2027 strategic vision. The review is an opportunity to look at the way CDAC is structured, the way it works and the changing nature of its local and global positioning in light of the locally led and decolonising agenda.
About CDAC Network
The Communicating with Disaster-Affected Communities (CDAC) Network is the global alliance of many of the world’s biggest humanitarian and media development organisations prioritising communication, community engagement and accountability to people affected by crisis. Our members include media development, UN agencies, the Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement, NGOs and specialist communications entities.
CDAC Secretariat communications contact: Hannah.Bass@cdacnetwork.org