Communications Preparedness and Accountability for Disaster Response in Fiji and Vanuatu

The Joint CDAC and Ground Truth Solutions (GTS) project on Operationalising Localisation and the Participation Revolution: Communications Preparedness and Accountability for Disaster Response in Fiji and Vanuatu aims to assist local and regional organisations to bring the benefits of the Participation Revolution to the programmes they manage by ensuring effective communication and community engagement.

The project seeks to achieve two key outcomes:

Outcome 1: Building on existing structures, two platforms for communication and community engagement are pre-positioned and lead to better preparedness and response. It will involve the pre-positioning of a communication and community engagement platforms in Fiji, which will have the potential for regional influence, and one in Vanuatu with a national and local focus.

Outcome 2: National and local responders are better prepared to systematically listen and respond to the perceptions of people impacted by crises and to adapt programming accordingly. It involves capacity development on systematic collection, analysis and sense-making of feedback from affected communities on key dimensions of humanitarian performance, aimed at national and local organisations in both Fiji and Vanuatu. 

The Scoping Mission for Vanuatu was undertaken by CARE Vanuatu on behalf of CDAC Network.

Regularly affected by cyclones, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes, Vanuatu is consistently ranked the world’s most vulnerable country to disaster. Particularly since Category 5 Tropical Cyclone Pam devastated the country in 2015, efforts to strengthen disaster preparedness and response have been a key focus of the Vanuatu Government, donors, and humanitarian actors. As a result, disaster preparedness and emergency response systems and resources are in place, and a network of national and international stakeholders are committed to their development.

While many systems and networks are in place to support communication with communities affected by disaster, all of the stakeholders, including the NDMO, agree that the systems do not currently work effectively.

This report provides key insights into the status of communication and engagement with communities in Vanuatu and seven recommendations on how it can be improved. 

This Project is supported by the Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

The full report can be downloaded below.