Challenges in Coordination - DiMaND D5.2 report

The analyses detailed in this report aim to provide a better understanding of the challenges and good practices of the involvement of volunteer organizations in national response systems. We base our findings on structured literature analysis, focus group activities and expert opinion of the authors.

The main challenges in coordination with volunteer and humanitarian organizations are coming from a large number of actors, their diversity in background and culture, as well as their differences in capacities and competencies. In some cases, this causes inter-organizational mistrust. While roles and competencies remain unclear, actors fail to share information and coordinate their efforts, leading to mismatched responses and duplication of efforts.

To overcome these obstacles, we recommend including volunteer organizations in the planning and preparedness activities to establish pre-agreed procedures. As the number of volunteer organizations is often numerous, we recommend developing a sectoral coordination structure to mitigate the burden of the negotiations needed.

Trust suggested being built during the preparedness phase with regular meetings between volunteer and humanitarian organizations to establish a common understanding of each other’s culture, competencies and capacities. This could be strengthened with joint training and exercise activities to gain first-hand experiences. Personal training for volunteers and staff involved in coordination tasks should entail skill development activities covering communication and negotiations as well as cultural awareness. Information management is another focus area to strengthen.

All of these recommendations above highlight the need for the development of regional (and macro-regional) networks, as well as experience and knowledge sharing networks within the disaster management sector.