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Contribute to intersectoral needs prioritization

Prioritize WASH needs through a WASH severity mapping

When facing a disaster, people has have different level severity of needs based on their location and type. Some communities and/or population groups 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:

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. Humanitarian response cannot reach all people in need of assistance: areas with the most severe needs should be identified and prioritized. This process is called needs severity mapping. Coordination platforms first undertake sectoral severity mapping, later consolidated by OCHA at the intersectoral level. There is no standard methodology to prioritize sectorial needs; two common approaches are however presented below:

• Use a severity scale based on several WASH indicators (ex: access to improve water sources) and non-WASH indicators (ex. prevalence of malnutrition, etc.). Create a composite index and rank each administrative level from 1 to 5 (or 7), from “No problem” to “Catastrophic problem”. Indicators can be weighted, if some are considered more important than others, depending on the context.
• Classify administrative level from the lowest to highest WASH PIN number, or by the % percentage 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.

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• Identify thresholds and rank each administrative level from 1 to 5 (or 7), from “No problem” to “Catastrophic problem” based on PIN figures, or the percentage of PIN as compared to the whole population.

When there is a large geographical area to be mapped with many administrative levels, it quickly becomes impossible to cross several indicators with a qualitative approach. In that this case, analytical tools to integrate several multiple 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 . Without the need to shape available data to fit pre-defined weights, is to use the software undertakes a 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” section above this page can be found the 2016 GWC 1000Minds Prioritisation 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.

A severity map can finally be designed, and used to show severity of needs per geographic location. 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.

Participate in intersectoral analysis & prioritization of humanitarian needs

OCHA uses the severity mapping of each sector to establish an inter-sector prioritization of humanitarian needs. In the same way as above, this can be done very simply by adding each sector PIN, or using more advanced method crossing several indicators. Have a look at the 2015 IASC Humanitarian Needs comparison tools for to ensure full replicability of the process.

Refer to the 2015 OCHA Humanitarian Needs Comparison Tool presentation and tool box for more details on integrated severity mapping

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