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Remote security audit in social sector responses

Apr 30, 2020
2 min

Remote security audit in social sector responses

by Ana Maria Oteanu - Senior Programme Manager, Safer Edge When you speak about remote working in security risk management you will hear plenty of strong opinions. Some organisations are vehemently opposed and others are open to the idea. However, the Covid-19 response has imposed remote service delivery on almost all types of security services for the next few years. This is only partly due to travel restrictions and potential health threats but due to the potential signifi

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Social Protection: new programming, new risks

Apr 30, 2020
4 min

Social Protection: new programming, new risks

COVID-19 is propelling humanitarian organisations responding in natural disaster and conflict environments into new types of programming with new risks. Social protection programming has always been an outlier in most humanitarian programmes. It doesn’t fit neatly into the cluster system but neither is it wholly a developmental approach. If discussed at all in humanitarian response, it tends to form part of protection or early recovery work. Sometimes it is part of resilience

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Error 404: Service Not Found – Safeguarding and Covid-19

Apr 30, 2020
5 min

Error 404: Service Not Found – Safeguarding and Covid-19

by Maria Wagner – intersectional feminist safeguarding consultant We had just entered the global lockdown when I heard the first account of a survivor being stuck in a field office with the person that had harmed them. The essential service of providing the survivor with a safe place away from the perpetrator was nowhere to be found. In response to the global outbreak of the coronavirus, NGOs rushed to keep staff and communities safe: banning non-essential travel, issuing w

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The Lockdown Lens: accounts from around the world

Apr 23, 2020
3 min

The Lockdown Lens: accounts from around the world

At the end of March, Anfal Saqib chose the domain name for her new blog, The Lockdown Lens, carefully. As she adjusted to lockdown herself, and connected to family and friends around the world to see how they were doing, she realised this was “a truly unique event from a sociological and historical point of view that is genuinely global and I wanted to capture people’s voices and experiences of this point in time on an inclusive platform.” The blog, contributed to by people a

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COVID-19 Overview for Northwestern Syria

Apr 23, 2020
1 min

COVID-19 Overview for Northwestern Syria

Over the past four months alone, nearly one million people have been displaced as a result of the Syrian government and Russia’s military campaign to re-take the northwest of Syria. There are currently large numbers of people living with limited access to water and healthcare in crowded conditions due to recent increases in population. In the northwest regions of Idlib and western Aleppo, local organisations report that living conditions make the population highly susceptible

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Managing misinformation during the coronavirus response

Apr 23, 2020
3 min

Managing misinformation during the coronavirus response

The term ‘fake news’ entered the popular lexicon around the U.S. elections of 2016. It is used to describe both misinformation (false or inaccurate information) and disinformation (malicious and purposeful spreading of false or inaccurate information). Broadly, it covers untrue, or partially true, information such as rumours, conspiracy theories, hoaxes and deliberate disinformation campaigns. While there has been increased focus on disinformation since 2016, it has been a ne

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A Tale of Two Epidemics

Apr 17, 2020
4 min

A Tale of Two Epidemics

by Fatma Eljack - Senior Programme Manager for Learning, Safer Edge “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the othe

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Coronavirus response: the next 5 things to consider

Apr 17, 2020
3 min

Coronavirus response: the next 5 things to consider

As the COVID-19 response becomes multi-month, global organisations are moving from the emergency response phase to planning for the longer term. While every organisation’s response will be different, we have seen some similarities in the organisations we work with. These include: 1. Proactive information management & sharing There is a lot of information, and misinformation, circulating about COVID-19. While the misinformation varies by country it tends to be shaped to play o

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Emerging COVID-19 implications for humanitarian operations in developing countries

Apr 17, 2020
4 min

Emerging COVID-19 implications for humanitarian operations in developing countries

Imperial College recently produced analysis on the potential global impact of Covid-19. The analysis includes predictions on how health measures could restrict Covid-19 contagion, serious illness and mortality rates across the world. Within this analysis some interesting findings emerged on the impact of Covid-19 on developing countries and how these countries are likely to have a very different experience of Covid-19. Current health measures on Covid-19 are largely focused

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Keeping 'first things first' during a crisis

Apr 6, 2020
3 min

Keeping 'first things first' during a crisis

In times of crisis an organisation is stripped to essentials. Its priorities and what it really believes are laid bare. Nice-to-haves give way to must-haves. Leadership language becomes militaristic, directive and an organisation’s leaders receive praise for their ability to take quick steps to ensure organisational survival. An organisation's stated values might not even come up during times of crisis. This means that things like diversity, equality, mental wellbeing or safe

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