Stage 2
Reference Sheet Y
EVCA tools for social cohesion, inclusion and connectedness
Social cohesion, inclusion and connectedness are three of the 11 resilience dimensions. They are addressed as a package here because they support resilience regardless of the hazard or threat. While the other 8 dimensions of resilience are technical or sectoral and may vary according to the hazard or threat, these three social dimensions are largely shared by the community and widely helpful for facing any hazard.
Tool: Venn diagram
Purpose: Assess social cohesion, inclusion and connectedness:
- Analyse internal relationships in the community (social cohesion and inclusion).
- Explore external relationship with stakeholders, and services outside the community (connectedness).
- Can be conducted for the whole community rather than as a hazard‑specific analysis.
Venn Diagram 1 explores social cohesion and inclusion in the community. How do community members interact and support each other in normal times and in times of crisis? How much are different groups of people included and engaged in community activities and decision‑making? How are people in the community organised and working together to solve problems. How well would this function in times of crisis? Is the decision‑making and management of community affairs inclusive of gender, people with disabilities, ethnicity etc.?
| Migrants are often excluded from community response teams, and response teams need refresher training to effectively respond. This point would go on the outer radials of the Venn, far from ‘the community’ (at the centre). |
| A community group represents a minority refugee group, and advocates for their food security and shelter issues. This would be placed on an inner radial of the Venn – close to ‘the community’ at the centre. |
Venn Diagram 2 explores the connectedness of the community. Connectedness refers to the external relationships between the community and other stakeholders, and access to services and information (during normal times and in times of crisis). Start by placing the community in the middle of the diagram and map out the key stakeholders and external organizations that support the community especially in times of crisis, the access to services (health centers, safe houses, food banks), information providers (internet access, radio, weather forecasts, health messaging: are they all accessible and in an appropriate language?).
| Police have little presence in the community: This would be placed on the outer radials of the Venn |
| Only 50% of the community has reliable internet access to get government preparedness information: This would be placed on the middle radials of the Venn. |
| In the event of a hazard, what kinds of support would the community be able to access from these stakeholders/organisations/services? |
Rate social cohesion, inclusion and connectedness
Tool: Venn diagrams, summary table in report template
Purpose: Use the two Venn diagrams to assign a ranking for the three resilience dimensions
Rate HIGH, MEDIUM, LOW or NO.
| The more elements that are close to the community in the centre, the lower the risk level.When determining the ranking, it is important to also provide detail and a justification. Include this in the ‘information’ section of the table. This will go into the EVCA report. | If there are more elements on the outer radials of the Venn diagram, far from the community, this would indicate less access to services and information for vulnerable groups, and so risk would be MEDIUM or HIGH. See example in the table below. |
| RATE | ||
|---|---|---|
| Social cohesion | HIGH | Community members do not visibly cooperate across group boundaries: they sit in very isolated sections of the room, and communication between groups is not productive. |
| Inclusion | HIGH | Only men decide on items that should be stocked in evacuation shelters without considering the specific needs of women (or young children). There is some local-level support for vulnerable groups. Migrants, and people with disabilities have access to very few programmes and cannot be part of community response teams. There are few programmes in place to support victims of violence. Incidents of looting have occurred after disasters. |
| Connectedness | MEDIUM | Migrants are not included in government service provision and cannot advocate for this. There is little police presence in the community. The community leader has a seat on the government planning committee and there is some involvement of disability groups in the committee. There are government communications for people with hearing impairments, but not in other languages. The community has good access to radio and mobile phone networks, but the most vulnerable groups cannot afford internet data. |
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