Activity reporting tools (5W)

Prepare the activity reporting tool (5W matrix or similar)

One of the GWC Minimum Requirements for WASH coordination is the establishment of an activity reporting tool such as 5W matrix. A 5W (who, what, where, when and for whom) is a tool to collect information on emergency response activities by partners. Depending on the emergency phase, more basic variants of the 5W can be used: 3W (who, what, where) and 4W (who, what, where, when). A basic activity reporting tool such as 3W can be set up in the early stage of the response, and modified and enriched later once the WASH operational response plan’s monitoring plan has been finalized. The process for setting up a W matrix can be as follows:

• The WASH sector coordinator defines to which queries the W matrix should provide answers. Queries are usually based on the indicators from the response monitoring framework.  
• The Information Management Officer designs the W matrix template following the queries.
• Once designed, the W template is sent to partners on a regular basis: weekly at early stage of a sudden onset response, monthly in more stabilized context.  
• The coordination team must encourage and follow up the timely filling of the W matrix by partners.
• Partners send back the filled W matrix with their activity data (activity location, type of activities, Nb of beneficiaries reached etc.) to the IMO.
• The IMO analyses data and produce infographics to illustrate results of analysis and feed the various response monitoring report.  

GWC has developed 3W and 4W templates, that can to be customised for each context. See more about adapting and rolling out the 5W in "activity reporting tool" section in the Monitoring and Evaluation chapter

Other tools exist that have been agreed as Activity tracking systems in some countries, such as Activity Info (Irak), ReportHub (Afghanistan, Syria). See links below.