When facing a disaster, people has different level of needs based on their location and type. Some communities are more affected than others, some are more resilient than others, and they also face variable risks for human life (for example, acutely malnourished children are more at risk of dying from diarrhea than adults displaced by flood). As response can usually not reach all affected population, WASH coordination platform must prioritize the WASH needs, to know which areas should targeted in priority for response analysis. There are no consolidated ways of implementing a WASH severity mapping. It depends on the level of information and time available. Three simple examples are given below: - You have established WASH PIN in each of the regions of a country affected by a crisis. To make a WASH severity map, you can either classify regions from the lowest to highest PIN number, or by the % of PIN as compared to the whole population.
- You have established WASH PIN in each of the regions of a country affected by a crisis. But you also have access to information on what type of needs and associated risks are predominant in each region. Some regions may be at risk of disease outbreak, and others more at risk of food insecurity. You can classify the regions by crossing PIN numbers with estimated risks for human life (people at risk of outbreak are prioritized, as they may quickly die without intervention)
- You have established PIN numbers and estimated risks in each region. But you have also access to information on local capacities (example: in that region, there is a well-equipped hospital where people affected by cholera can be treated correctly). Establish your mapping by crossing these three level of indicators.
When there are a lot of geographical areas to be mapped, it is impossible to cross several indicators with a qualitative approach. In that case, analytical tools to integrate several indicators must be used. Two examples are presented below: - INFORM software (http://www.inform-index.org/About-us)
- 1000Minds software: a simple and transparent method to identify vulnerable populations, without the need to shape available data to fit pre-defined weights, is to use multi-criteria analysis on the data that is available at the time of the emergency. 1000minds software has been identified as a valuable tool to identify vulnerable populations in an easy, flexible and transparent way. There are many advantages to using this method to develop a model of vulnerability which are outlined in the Support Pack 1000Minds Manual. Nonetheless, a similar approach might be used without the software if needed. In the Key Guidance and Tools below, you can find the “WASH Prioritization Tool”, which contains a WASH-specific step-by-step manual to use 1000Minds to calculate the needs/priorities of the affected population, as well as example datasets and results from Somalia.
Regardless of the approach taken, the process and results of the exercise should be documented and available to other Clusters and WASH partners. The best available datasets at the time should be used; the model can be re-run when better data becomes available and should be repeated periodically in an ongoing response. |