The first CCHN Community Assembly took place in the birthplace of the Naivasha Grid. In 2014, the ICRC held an informal meeting of 24 seasoned front-line negotiators in Naivasha, Kenya. That gathering led to the first iteration of the Naivasha Grid, an analytical tool for planning and reviewing humanitarian negotiation processes.
The efficiency of humanitarian response following a disaster depends on how fast coordination structures are established, supply chains are enabled, and human and financial resources are mobilised.
Negotiating in disaster contexts becomes challenging because of the many parties involved. Often, survivors are turned into first responders until traditional humanitarian response mechanisms are set up. Then, when humanitarian actors step in, it’s necessary to negotiate and coordinate the response among the multiple actors.
In 2023, the CCHN launched its research on negotiating in the context of disasters. Since then, we have conducted a series of interviews to understand field practices, produced a report and developed a thematic session with the project to expand this topic in the future.