Early Warning and Early Response Best Practices

Search for Common Ground recently concluded the implementation of a pilot Early Warning and Early Response system in Aden, Yemen. Before launching the project, Search had conducted primary research into best practices for these types of interventions which are compiled in this report, and which we hope may be useful to others managing similar initiatives.

Within the framework of a Human Rights Support Mechanism (HRSM) project on atrocity prevention against religious and ethnic minority (REM) groups in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, Search for Common Ground (Search) has conducted research on Early Warning and Early Response (EWER) systems. In order to establish best practices in designing and implementing EWER systems, Search consulted secondary sources, and organized 22 key informant interviews (KIIs) and six focus group discussions (FGDs) with international practitioners and local stakeholders in Yemen and Libya.

KEY FINDINGS

• Community-led and community-owned EWER systems are most effective in producing sustainable impact
• Communities’ capacities and resources to respond to particular identified threats should be an important factor in determining systems’ location and objectives
• Accessibility and favorable social and political dynamics are critical in determining systems’ success in any particular community
• Systems obtain more buy-in and are more sustainable if they operate through pre-existing security and social structures, as opposed to parallel institutions
• Potential spoilers in the community who may aim to undermine the system must be anticipated and considered
• EWER system warnings must take care to avoid creating panic, leading to preemptive attacks, or causing a “crying wolf” syndrome
• Identifying local “champions” to act as focal points is critical to establish open and transparent two-way communication between any external organization and local management teams
• The system should be as inexpensive as possible to maintain and members should participate on a voluntary basis to promote sustainability and community-ownership

RECOMMENDATIONS

• Determine simple, specific, and flexible objectives •Select a location based on need and potential for impact
• Design a whole-of-society system that depends on a coalition of local supporters
• Organize inclusive evaluative committees with local communities to better understand local contexts and advocate for local ownership
• Operate within local social norms and gender dynamics, and use contextually-relevant tools
• Conduct regular evaluations to identify lessons learned and improve the system over time
• Encourage women’s participation in all phases of the system, and particularly in positions of leadership