LEvel one. INTERNAL PREPARATION 

Once that you understand the origins, development and participatory approach and have decided to conduct an EVCA you can explore Level 1.

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This level outlines the first steps a National Society should undertake to prepare itself to do EVCAs. It will help you understand the different roles of the National Society, community and other stakeholders in the EVCA and guide you through the sensitisation process. Then it will guide you through the steps of creating the national EVCA team.

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Engaging and sensitising the different stakeholders from the start is very important. The better you do this, the better the results and potential support for the community risk reduction action plans will be.

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Step 1. Get prepared within your National Society

1.1 Understand the roles of different stakeholders in the EVCA

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The EVCA should not be a stand-alone process carried out solely by the National Society. Inclusive participation of the community is fundamental for the process to be truly empowering and have a sustainable impact, while engaging a range of other stakeholders can help ensure the community's action plan is implemented. It is crucial for stakeholders in an EVCA to understand each other’s roles. These roles can, of course, evolve during the EVCA process based on interest and capacity. Read more in PDF>

A facilitator of community participation and empowerment

The driver of the process

Contributor and/or enabler 

1.2 Ensure commitment by your National Society 

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Over the last decade, the VCA has become quite well known in many National Societies. This does not necessarily mean that everyone in the National Society fully understands what is involved in carrying out a VCA, nor the extent of the obligations and responsibilities which will fall to branches and communities.

Doing EVCAs requires a strong commitment by the National Society to support communities. Therefore, it is very important that those who are proposing the exercise ensure all relevant people within the National Society are committed to engage in and support the process - including board members, management, technical staff from different teams and volunteers. For the key sensitisation questions and tips, read more in the PDF >

1.3 Create the national EVCA team 

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If the National Society already has a VCA team, you may need to reactivate the team and update them about the new developments within the EVCA process and Roadmap to Community Resilience.

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Your EVCA team will consist originally of people from your National Society headquarters and other interested stakeholders at the national level. Once the regions and communities where the EVCA will be done are selected (see Step 2.1), the EVCA team will expand to incorporate the facilitating team at the sub-national level. The facilitating team will include staff and volunteers from the branches, community members and other interested local stakeholders.

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For tips and tasks to create the national EVCA team, click here >

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Once you have engaged and sensitised stakeholders and created a national EVCA team, it is time to define where to do the EVCA and start preparing for the assessment >>