What came out of the various interventions during the Global Study team workshop, and the methods developed by the teams, lead us to propose a general framework which can serve as a basis for bringing together the different case studies and for arriving at comparable conclusions.

"(…) The operational perspective derives from the hypothesis that the injection of the views, hopes, expressed needs, responsibilities, capacities, strategies of beneficiaries and affected populations throughout the crisis response management cycle would go a long way to improving humanitarian response."

• To identify existing experiences
• To record "good" and "bad" practices
• To understand their area of application taking into account the social systems and disaster patterns of the situations where they have been used
• To promote practices identified as positives

1. Who.
1. Target populations: Directly affected populations (displaced people, refugees, …), communities, local leaders, PBOs, …)
2. Organizations: humanitarian actors (Local NGOs, International NGOs, UN Agencies, Red Cross Movement), local actors (local governments, National governments, PBOs, …)
3. Programs: food-aid programs, camp management issues, housing/reconstruction programs, participation and health management, protection/human rights issues, gender and child programs.

A list of criteria for the choice of zones was elaborated, taking into consideration the elements mentioned above: (Note: the content of the right-hand column should be adapted to each case study).

Type of « target » population	Individual / collective displacements
	Displaced / refugees / residents / returnees
	Rural-rural, rural-urban or urban-urban displacements
	Settled displaced/temporary displaced
	Socio-cultural
	Others
Type of programs	Emergency humanitarian aid (food and non-food)
	Medium-term aid
	Return assistance
	Protection
	Others
Type of actors	Government
	International Red Cross Movement
	International NGOs
	Local NGOs
	United Nations Agencies (WFP, HCR,..)
	Church organizations
	PBOs
	Others

1.  
2. Where / When.
1. Crisis Context:
1. Natural Disasters / Complex crisis
2. Displacement contexts
2. Socio - cultural context
1. Gender issues
2. Cultural minorities issues
3. Political issues
3. What.

The following are key questions that the study addresses. Potential ways of providing some answers are presented in the following section.

1. What is the perception of each actor about participation and consultation? What do people mean by participation / consultation? Can we identify a definition of participation / consultation?
2. Why do affected populations and humanitarian actors use consultation / participation approaches and techniques? Is it just to make NGO's work easier? (needs assessment, targeting, cost reduction, …) or safer? (to decrease the level of insecurity) or to pay "lip service" to a paragraph requested by donors? How do they link with the structures emanating from the actors of violence?
3. How do affected populations and humanitarian actors participate at each stage of the project cycle? How the local structures interfaces with the international community? How the international structures profit and know local culture?
4. Which are the limits of participation? Which are the limiting factors of participation?
5. Can we have some evidence about performance improvement? (appropriateness, quality, time, cost, sustainability)
6. Which are the priorities of affected populations? Which are the priorities of humanitarian actors?
4. How.

The proposed methodology for the case studies has two parts

1. Preparatory mission
1. To identify the national situation, know local actors and present the project
2. Theoretical research
3. To recruit local staff
4. To choose the sites for the case study and arrange logistical requirements
2. Main mission
1. Look at humanitarian actors - Individual perceptions of consultation and participation

Techniques:

Interviews,

Theoretical research

1. Participation / consultation definition
2. Types and degrees of participation
3. Participation mechanisms and techniques
4. Participation problems
5. Limits of participation
6. External and internal constraints

The aim is to map the actors and their participation styles and techniques in a matrix:

Observation of programs, to identify the communication relations established between the actors

Individual non-structured interviews

Small focus groups, if possible

1. Analysis of problems common to aid actors and affected population
2. Common comprehension of needs
3. Participation and comprehension of adopted solutions
4. Resources used to establish a participatory environment
5. Degree of power sharing of responsibilities, decision making and execution
6. Results of using participation in humanitarian programs

The following table can be used as a guide for the data collection (but does not need to be filled entirely!).

Observation

Data analysis

Internal workshops

1. Does participation / consultation have any impact on the quality of the programme?
2. In which contexts is it possible to do participatory programs?

Data analysis

Internal workshops / Inter actors workshops

Beneficiary meetings

1. External reasons (political context, security constraints, national laws, historical aspects, donors constraints, …)
2. Internal reasons (NGO culture, mandate, type of activity, human resources policies, …)
3. Program related reasons (type of program, professional team)

For each individual study monograph (see TOR):

1. Analysis of the historical and social context
2. Analysis of the crisis and of the role of aid
3. Identification and analysis of participatory experiences with their impact and constraints
4. A reflection of the relation between this practices and the context, to help determine "domains of validity" of the various experiences