This paper charts the story of the CDAC Network from the now infamous ‘pub meeting’ in New York in 2009 to the Network’s first Members’ Council in May 2014. It tells the story of the Network’s formative years: a time of forming and storming as the diverse membership set about building a movement for fundamental change in the way the humanitarian sector operates.

This first working paper from CDAC Network explores what is understood by ‘communicating with communities’ (CwC) as an approach, and considers its relationship with accountability. It highlights the synergies and differences between the two concepts and proposes next steps for how the two concepts can coexist to benefit and strengthen humanitarian action.

What are the minimum deliverables in a humanitarian response to meet a community's information and communication needs? This practice brief has been developed to describe the essential elements required to meet a community's information and communication needs during the first six weeks of a response.

A comprehensive suite of common tools to assess the information and communication needs of communities affected by disasters, developed by CDAC Network members.

This checklist contains a list of questions to help you be better prepared both before and after an emergency breaks

Key learning from expert seminars on humanitarian broadcasting; humanitarian financing; social media in emergencies; using SMS in humanitarian response; and mobile and humanitarian response.

This checklist helps you to decide whether television is an appropriate channel of communication to use with crisis-affected populations.

This checklist helps you to decide whether radio is an appropriate channel of communication to use with crisis-affected populations.

In the aftermath of an emergency, a rapid information needs and access assessment can cross check the community profile and provide a more accurate picture of the emerging needs on the ground. The questions can be inserted into an inter-agency needs assessment or done as a separate exercise.

Community profiles give you a good understanding of the community you are working with. They illustrate the community's socioeconomic characteristics, lifestyle and media consumption habits and can help inform your communication strategy.

In October 2012, over 40 agencies across the humanitarian and media development sectors gathered to take part in the first CDAC Network simulation. The two-day crisis simulation aimed to build the capacity of staff within CDAC Network Member agencies and partners, to be prepared for and plan a coordinated, collaborative, multi-agency response to an emergency.

This framework allows you to assess the impact of communications interventions. Indicators cover key components of a communication project including: information provision, dialogue, analysis and verification of feedback and response.