Piloting the E2E Toolkit to empower frontline staff and enable community participation: a case study from the DRC and Iraq – Democratic Republic of the Congo

Written by Leah Brown

Executive Summary

This case study examines how the Empower to Enable (E2E) Toolkit supports the frontline staff of humanitarian organizations to enable the participation of affected people in humanitarian operations. The case study documents the piloting of seven tools in Iraq and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and includes the outcomes achieved and good practices for future use of the tools.

During the five-month pilot program, the E2E Toolkit proved its ability to implement the strategic changes identified in the E2E Learning Report. The three strategic changes necessary for humanitarian organizations to empower their frontline staff to enable the participation of affected people are:

1. Systematically engage frontline staff in decision-making.

2. Strengthen the understanding of participation and how to put it into practice.

3. Integrate participation within organizational culture and strategy.

The organizations and country programs that participated in the pilot program reported a number of benefits from using the E2E Toolkit.

A summary is listed below, along with the relevant tool:

• Improved program relevancy and effectiveness: including the ability to identify areas of potential overlap and duplication (Engaging Frontline Staff in Proposal Design tool).

• Enhanced leadership understanding of community needs through increased interactions between leadership and frontline staff (Senior Management Team Field Visit Form tool).

• Increased leadership support for and prioritization of participation (Country Program Leadership Self-Assessment tool).

• Increase the quality of FGDs conducted by frontline staff and increase the confidence of frontline staff in facilitating FGDs (Focus Group Discussion Guidance for Frontline Staff tool).

• More effective allocation of staff time and resources and increased frontline staff demand for skills-development (Community Engagement Responsibilities and Skills Self-Assessment for Frontline Staff).

E2E Toolkit Pilot Program also revealed several other steps that the humanitarian sector must take to support frontline staff’s vital role in community engagement:

1. Prioritize translating tools into local languages for frontline staff accessibility and inclusivity.

2. Offer more professional development opportunities for frontline staff to enhance their ability to lead community engagement activities.

3. Ensure internet access for frontline staff to overcome connectivity barriers.

4. Facilitate frontline staff access to the internet to increase their connectivity and improve their ability to contribute effectively to humanitarian efforts

5. Adequately resource community engagement and capacity-building for both frontline staff and organizational leadership to ensure the uptake of participatory practices.

6. Inter-agency knowledge sharing around best practices.