GWC WASH COORDINATION TRAINING PATHWAY

This course is part of the GWC training pathway, created for both WASH Cluster partners and UNICEF staff involved in coordination to ensure the efficient WASH coordination in humanitarian action. This training pathway includes the following courses, most of them available in AGORA's catalogue:

  1. Partners' briefing on Humanitarian WASH coordination: Three succesive face to face briefing modules providing essential information on partner’s roles to actively participate in humanitarian WASH Coordination. For all WASH partners involved in humanitarian response
  2. Humanitarian WASH Coordination Induction: 2 days online training providing essential information and tools to coordinate WASH Cluster. For WASH partners or new UNICEF WASH staff fulfilling a WASH coordination role. Some sections are specific to IMO
  3. WASH Operational coordination (WOC): 5 days residential training providing operational tools and skills for WASH coordination. For Humanitarian WASH cluster / sector coordinators
  4. WASH Leadership & coordination (L&C). 5 days residential training to strengthen the skills for leading humanitarian WASH coordination platform. For Humanitarian WASH cluster / sector coordinators
  5. Government Led coordination of WASH in Emergency (GoLWIE, not yet on Agora). Several days workshop aiming at strengthening the role of national and regional government in leading and coordinating the humanitarian WASH response. Under pilot phase. Contact GWC if you are interested to pilot a GoLWIE in your country
  6. Market-based programming for WASH in Emergency (MBPWIE): 5 days residential training to strengthen the skills of WASH practitioners on Market and Cash related tools used for WASH programming
  7. GWC Information Management Training: 5 days residential training to provide Information Management Officers with advanced skills to support information management for WASH coordination platforms during emergencies 
  8. Coordinated assessment process: Planned for 2020
  9. GWC training of trainers: ToT are specifically designed to train high level UNICEF staff and partners to deliver GWC training in autonomy

Course background

The Global WASH Cluster (GWC) has the primary mandate of strengthening system-wide preparedness and coordination of technical capacity so as to respond predictably to humanitarian emergencies and provide clear leadership and accountability in the main areas of humanitarian response.

To perform adequately their mandate, information management officers need to have a both theory and practical knowledge of the Core Coordination Functions and the standard information management tools to guide better strategic decision making. Through key informant interviews, global surveys, and monitoring visits the Global WASH Cluster (GWC) has identified common gaps and training needs among national and sub-national information managers revolving around the humanitarian programme cycle and related to information management. 

The WASH Information Management Training is part of the training packages that the GWC proposes to all Humanitarian WASH Coordination and IM Platforms. It is a generic 5-day course aimed at national and sub-national information managers that expands on the role, responsibilities, and tools of information management around the 5 stages of the humanitarian programme cycle. preferably provided at national and sub-national level,.

Course goal

The course aims at providing current or future Humanitarian WASH information managers with operational tools and competencies to perform all tasks related to information management to support the coordination functions at national or sub-national level in protracted and/or sudden emergency settings, building on an in-depth understanding of the relationship between Information Management, assessment, cluster coordination, cross cutting issues like GBV, and inter-cluster coordination..   

Course objectives

  1. Improve participants’ knowledge and skills along the different stages of the humanitarian programme cycle emphasizing on the role and responsibilities of information management across each stage 
  2. Train participants on the use of relevant information management tools and standards related to the 6+1 core coordination functions and for each step of the Humanitarian Program Cycle, in both protracted or sudden onset emergency setting through practical exercises and simulations
  3. Explore the practical relationship between coordination and information management through each of the core functions of clusters/sectors in order to improve coordination system efficiency and outputs. 
  4. Improve participants’ technical competencies required for effective information management

Audience

Primary targets of this course are staff and partners involved in WASH information management at national and subnational level, mostly composed by the following: 

  • Current or future WASH cluster information managers (assessment specialists being a secondary target) 
  • WASH partners information management staff supporting coordination at national or sub-national level

This course is designed for General/Expert level staff, so participants are required to already have basic knowledge in their respective specific area of work (IM, assessment) before participating. 

Length

The residential training duration is 5 days (typically starting at 9:00 on day 1 and finishing at 17:00 on day 5). It is preceded by a pre-course induction module on AGORA.

Methodology and content

This course is fully interactive with a combination of methods ensuring time to process information and apply it practically. All sessions include practical group works, on the wall using cards or at table using participants’ own computer. A course simulation will be used throughout the training modules to establish the link with the HPC information management requirements and clarify the relevant information workflow across each stage of the HPC. The simulation will be inspired from recent emergency scenarios but would remain generic enough to be adapted to most contexts.     

Topics are structured around the WASH Coordination Tool Kit and are divided in the following sections

  1. Day 1 is an introduction to the humanitarian landscape and sets the context for information management requirements and approaches. The programme cycle, key principles and standards specific to the WASH frame of reference will provide participants initially with a holistic mindset, to be complemented by ensuring familiarity with available resources, information services and functional bodies within the humanitarian ecosystem.
  2. Day 2 focuses on the first segment of the HPC, applying a WASH-specific lens to methods and practice in the assessment of humanitarian needs. Both traditional and modern methods for needs assessment will be explored, including an exercise and discussion on the effectiveness of mobile data collection tools. In addition to inspecting the overall assessment and analysis process participants will be walked through the purpose and practical steps of maintaining an inventory of secondary data sources to support their humanitarian data analysis plan, ultimately linking WASH concepts with a multi-sectoral analysis agenda.
  3. Day 3 covers in detail the vertebrae within the strategic backbone of WASH programming by observing the objectives, activities and desired outcomes in planning the WASH agenda, as well as the essential elements encapsulated within an effective monitoring scheme. A thorough and exhaustive tutorial on Excel, used as a powerful tool to support the demonstration of analysis results into valuable findings, will equip participants with the necessary apparatus to transform simple data intopractical and reliable information.
  4. Day 4 will provide participants with a powerful reporting advantage through its focus on the many perspectives and methods of information communication through visualisation. Humanitarian standards, best practice and available resources for the preparation, dynamic visualisation and online publication are all within the scope of this day’s agenda.
  5. Day 5 will examine the power of maps in the communication of geographic information for all intents and purposes. It will also act as a day for reflection on the information gathered during the training, with consideration given for the importance of soft skills in addition to technical expertise. Participants will be invited to share their experience and provide feedback on the training.

Primary targets of this course are staff and partners involved in WASH information management at national and subnational level, mostly composed by the following:

·       Current or future WASH cluster information managers (assessment specialists being a secondary target)

·       WASH partners information management staff supporting coordination at national or sub-national level

 

This course is designed for General/Expert level staff, so participants are required to already have basic knowledge in their respective specific area of work (IM, assessment) before participating.