Session on situation reporting which was part of the EU Information Management Course in Madrid October 2010

1. European
Civil Protection
Dissemination and
Reporting
Gisli Olafsson – Consultant

2. Overview
• Determination of various stakeholders’
reporting needs
• Coordination with others regarding
information to be included in reports.
• Prioritization of information in reports.
• Reporting

3. Know your role
• What is your role in the response?
• Who sent you there?
• What is your TOR?
• If you are not sure about your reporting
requirements, ask!

4. Stakeholders
• Who is providing you with information?
– Response organizations
– Government
– Media
• Who are you reporting to?
– Headquarters
– Donors
– Government
– Media
– Affected community?

5. Stakeholders - Input
• What do they want to report?
– What is their mandate?
• How do you get them to report to you?
• How do you priortize reports from multiple
stakeholders?
• Who are your contacts?

6. Stakeholders - Output
• Where will your report be distributed?
• What do they want to know?
• How do they want to be informed?
• How will they use this information?

7. Coordination
• How are you getting information for the
reports?
• When are you getting the information?
• How do you process the input?
• How do you transform the input into
actionable output?

8. Prioritization
• Time vs. Content
• What will the report influence?
• Who will the report influence?
• Narrative vs. Statistics
• Actionable Information

9. Group Exercise
• Use Westlandia Earthquake
• Determine your reporting needs
• Determine your stakeholders
• Define a reporting process
– Who to get input from
– How to get input
– When to get input
– When to send

10. Situation Report Life Cycle

11. Situation Reports

12. Writing Situation Reports
• Reports should be short and to the point
• Aim for balanced coverage
• Put numbers into context
• Explain specialist terminology
• Always explain uncommon acronyms

13. Short and to the point
• Generally no more than three pages.
• Avoid long narrative paragraphs.
• Use short statements, tables and bullet points.
• Examples:
– Heavy rains since 29 January have caused flooding in
a number of areas of the Solomon Islands. Four
provinces are reported to have been hardest hit:
Guadalcanal, Malaita, Makira and Central.
– Flow of aid and staff into Gaza remains insufficient.

14. Balanced coverage
• Report who is responding; do not overemphasize UN, EU agencies.
• Source all information clearly, especially numbers. Do not bulk-
source information at the beginning or end of the situation report.
Readers often cite numbers as official UN figures, so be sure you
can justify everything you include.
• Specify information sources (especially in case of reporting on
assessed needs) and the reliability/credibility of the information.
• Examples:
– The Government of Nepal estimates approximately 70,000 people were
affected by flooding in the Saptari and Sunsari Districts.
– ICRC reported that at least 100 people have been registered by their
families as missing since the fighting began.

15. Provide Context
• Ask your sources to explain their response in terms of
how many people they helped and for how long – not
just how many kits or tons of food were distributed.
• Example:
– From 10 to 23 December, 1700 families, or 54 percent of the
population living in temporary shelters and tent sites, received
reconstruction kits and cash to cover transportation costs for the
materials received.
• Indicate if information has not been verified, and provide
follow-up in future situation reports whenever possible.
• Example:
– Unconfirmed reports suggest that more than 20,000 IDPs have
returned.

16. Explain terminology
• Explain specialist terminology for non-specialists.
• Example:
– Fifty UNICEF emergency family water kits (enough for 500
families) were distributed on 9 January through the local Red
Crescent Society. Each kit contains buckets, collapsible water
containers, soap, and water purification tablets.
• Make every effort to complete the thread of reporting on
any given situation, even if considerable time has passed
since the initial reporting.
• Example:
– If you report that an assessment is taking place, make sure to
report on its outcome.

17. Acronyms
• Always explain uncommon acronyms.
• Use full name or description on first mention,
with acronym in round brackets, if needed;
thereafter, use the acronym where appropriate.
• Example:
– In response to the serious risk posed by Explosive
Remnants of War (ERW) and Unexploded Ordnance
(UXO), Mine Action is airing two new radio
announcements on mine risk education. The amount
of UXO in the country is estimated to be highest in
the border region.

18. Joint EU/HA Reports
• Daily reports shall be prepared by the DG
ECHO-HA and EUCP experts together (in
the period when both present) and, where
required, with the assistance of the
responsible Delegation (if appropriate with
some additional contextual information
provided by the EU Ambassador).

19. When to report?
• The report shall be submitted by 16.00 CET each
day, unless there is mutual agreement between
HQ and the experts stipulating otherwise.
• The first report shall be submitted as soon as
possible upon arrival at the disaster site.
• Send all information available. Do not delay
because information is lacking. If delays are
foreseen because of technical problems inform
HQ by phone.

20. EU/HA Template
• Follow the layout of the report template*:
all items mentioned below should be
included. If there is no information
available for an item, state this fact
explicitly (i.e. "no information available" or
"nothing new", etc.).

21. General Guidelines
• Be explicit, precise and double-check
figures.
• Specify phone numbers/e-mail addresses
of key interlocutors and partners.
• While writing, imagine yourself at the
receiving end.
• Do not repeat information that has already
been sent.

22. Template

23. Summary Header

24. 1. BACKGROUND / OVERALL
SITUATION (EU DELEGATION)
• Security situation
• Impact of disaster on local infrastructure
(roads, hospitals, telecommunications etc)
• Likely developments/secondary threats
• Incidents since last report

25. 2.0 AID AND ASSISTANCE
REQUIRED / NEEDS ASSESSMENT
2.1 Humanitarian Aid (DG ECHO-HA)
2.2 Civil Protection (EUCPT)
• Describe primary relief needs (give as
much detail as possible -
size/quantity/priority/targeted
beneficiaries/intended implementing
partners or teams)
2.3 Preliminary Recommendations

26. 3. Local Response
• Describe
– Response by national and local authorities of
affected country
– Response by national authorities of other
countries in the region

27. 4. INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN
RESPONSE (DG ECHO-HA)
• Describe
– Response by major humanitarian
organisations
– Response by major donors

28. 5. International civil protection
response (EUCPT)
• Describe
– Assistance delivered
– Activities of Participating States' teams

29. 6. ON-SITE COORDINATION
MECHANISMS
• Describe
– National coordination structures / LEMA
– International coordination structures / which
humanitarian clusters are operational?
– Civil-Military coordination

30. 7. DELIVERY OF ASSISTANCE
• Describe
– Reception Departure Centre (RDC)
– Relief entry point
– Logistical constraints
– Customs information
– Distribution System

31. Next sections
• 8. OTHER INFORMATION
• 9. MAPS (INCLUDING SCHEMATIC ONES,
WHEN RELEVANT)
• 10. OVERALL RECOMMENDATION /
ACTION
• 11. ISSUES WHERE FEEDBACK IS
REQUESTED FROM HQ

32. OCHA Situation Reports
• Split into 6 sections
– Highlights/Key Priorities
– Situation Overview
– Humanitarian Needs/Response
– Coordination
– Funding
– Contacts

33. Highlights/Key Priorities
• Bullet or number separate key updates,
keeping them brief and to the point.
• Situation overview is reserved for detailed
information.
• Example:

34. Situation Overview
• Recap of the general situation, key facts
and figures.
• Include important incidents since last
report.
• Include new information on access and
security and operational constraints.
• Report on interagency assessments.

35. Situation Overview - Sample

36. Humanitarian Needs and Response
• Omit sections not relevant to this
emergency or this reporting cycle
• For each cluster
– Needs
– Response, including local government
– Key gaps in the response

37. Humanitarian Needs and Response

38. Coordination
• Report on the overall coordination
mechanisms in place, both national and
international.
• Report on the outcome of meetings.
• Report on constraints in coordination.

39. Coordination - Sample

40. Funding
• In many cases this could simply be 2-3
bullet points with a link to FTS.
• Provide information about the total appeal
and how much has been committed so far
• Provide information about in-kind
donations arriving

41. Funding - Sample

42. Contacts
• Provide location, name, title, email address and
phone numbers of those that can give more
information about the information in the
situation report
• Provide a link to relevant websites
• Provide information about how to get to the
SitRep mailing list

43. Contacts - Sample

44. Group Exercise
• Use the information you have in the case
study for today
• Put together an initial situation report
using the joint EUCPT/HA format
• Skip sections you don‘t have

45. © European Commission
Thank you
gisli.olafsson@nethope.org
Gisli Olafsson
Skype: disasterexpert