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OPTIMISING HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE |
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Valid’s Social Research Unit is a team of experienced technical advisors, who specialise in the social dimension of humanitarian programming. Valid’s social development researchers have worked with a variety of partners including UNICEF, Concern Worldwide, Tearfund, Save the Children (US), Save the Children (UK), World Vision, CARE International, International Medical Corps (IMC) and GOAL. We have also worked alongside the Food and Nutrition Technical Assistance (FANTA) project and the Academy for Educational Development (AED). In addition our advisors have worked directly with Health Ministries in a number of projects in Ethiopia, Zambia and Malawi.
Our work involves linking operational research with the development of simple but effective systems for improving programme performance, particularly programme coverage and attendance. We already have a strong reputation as pioneers in introducing social investigation and community mobilisation into humanitarian programming and we foresee considerable potential to expand the applications of our distinctive approach beyond the nutrition and food security fields. In particular, we see social research as an important tool to provide information on:
- Barriers to access in public health programmes
- Health-seeking behaviour
- Traditional birthing, weaning and child rearing practices
- Social networks and support structures
- Stigma and socio-cultural responses to HIV/AIDS
- Socio-political mapping – including key community figures and structures
- Participatory, beneficiary-focused assessments of humanitarian interventions
- Local perceptions of illnesses and traditional paths to treatment
We also see potential for our approach wherever a service is offered and there is a need to explore issues of access, coverage and/or community involvement. Obvious applications of these techniques exist in the education, water and sanitation and governance sectors.
Through the work of experienced social researchers, Valid International has consistently offered implementing partners a window into the socio-cultural context in which they operate, allowing for more culturally appropriate responses and interventions and helping them to better mobilise local resources.
Valid can help assess, design, plan and implement community mobilisation strategies tailored to individual contexts, helping agencies to make good use of the opportunities and strengths offered in each setting. We specialise in socio-cultural context analysis, health attitudes and health-seeking behaviour, local perceptions of malnutrition and traditional health practices but are also actively extending the approaches we are skilled in to new and different contexts.
Valid operational research and technical support in these fields can be provided through individual contracts or as blocks of time that agencies can draw on as they need them. To find out more about extending these approaches into new and different contexts, please contact Valid at office@validinternational.org. |
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