Risk Analysis
Overview
New research and awareness about humanitarian response support recent calls for a fundamental shift in the way that humanitarian organizations operate. OCHA is leading policy efforts to move away from a reflexive response posture and adopt a more anticipatory approach to humanitarian response and preparedness. Global trends like climate change, population growth and urbanization and water scarcity pose increasing challenges to the humanitarian system.
To meet these emerging challenges, the humanitarian community must integrate risk management into planning and response cycles, and work with other developers and governmental actors to develop programming to address these risks. Risk management an essential building block in developing resilience approach.
Process
Current tools for integrating risk management into your programming are two-fold:
INFORM is a partnership of UN, civil society organisations, donors and technical organisations that develops methodologies for analysing crises and disasters. The INFORM Global Risk Index (GRI) measures and compares structural risks across all countries and helps identify those where a crisis requiring international assistance could occur. The INFORM risk assessment methodology can be applied at Subnational level to provide a detailed picture of risk across a country or region. Consider using this approach down the district level of your operating environment as a preparedness and risk assessment exercise.
District Profiling – A more direct and related version of risk mapping involves assembling profiles down to admin level 2 or lower or baseline information across the operational area. Analysts can use this type of information for hazard and risk mapping, preparedness, and dialogue with host government authorities. While no single tool for district profiling exists, the examples included will help guide the development of your context-specific tool. These risk and profile systems become powerful when overlaid with new data from emergencies and ongoing response to create sophisticated analytical pieces.
Resources
District Profile Examples