UNEP

NEAT+ Screening Environmental Risk in Humanitarian Settings

The Coordination of Assessments for Environment in Humanitarian Action (Joint Initiative) was set up to strengthen the coordination between environmental and humanitarian actors. The project brought together eight humanitarian and environmental organizations to improve the environmental sustainability of humanitarian actors. Following a request from initiative stakeholders, the Nexus Environmental Assessment Tool (NEAT+) was developed as a pragmatic project level tool that can be readily implemented in dynamic humanitarian contexts and provide information that aligns with and informs the humanitarian response. The Nexus Environmental Assessment Tool (NEAT+) is a rapid and simple project-level environmental screening tool for humanitarian actors. It addresses some of the barriers that currently inhibit the uptake of environmental assessment tools such as: technical complexity, time or resource intensiveness, requirement of environmental expertise, cumbersome usage, or incoherence with existing programming frameworks or donor requirements. The tool assesses the current sensitivity of the crisis-affected environment, highlighting and categorizing any underlying risks and vulnerabilities to the environment and affected communities. The tool also identifies potential activity related environmental risks posed by humanitarian relief and recovery projects. It is a first step screening process that identifies key environmental issues for follow up. The NEAT+ assessment process is designed deliberately light and agile and combines the strength of the Kobo Toolbox – an open source data collection tool developed by humanitarians for humanitarians with the analytical capabilities of Microsoft Excel. It takes an existing data collection tool familiar to humanitarians and combines it with the environmental science available within the nature conservation community. NEAT+ brings environmental assessments to humanitarians allowing them to identify and act on priority environmental risks, ensuring a more environmentally sustainable and accountable humanitarian response for the benefit of affected populations and future generations. The language in the tool has also been through a substantial in-house review process to simplify the wording for non-native English speakers and non-technical users. The NEAT+ has been successfully used in a refugee settlement in Zambia by UNHCR, UN Environment and OCHA, where it identified key environmental concerns that subsequently led to changes in planned procurement.

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February 17, 2022

Bike Ambulances to improve Emergency Obstetric Care in Rural Areas

Maternal mortality and morbidity rates remain high in Cote d’Ivoire. It is estimated that more than six women out of a thousand are dying while delivering birth, while 0.7% of the women of childbearing age have fistula in the country (MICS, 2016). While the strengthening of the health system is taking place, women in the country, especially in the rural area, stay vulnerable to the high risk of maternal death and morbidity. From behavioral perspectives, the barriers that leads to the three delays–(1) deciding to seek care; (2) identifying and reaching a medical facility; (3) receiving adequate and appropriate treatment may include the following (Cichowitz et al., 2018): Factors related to the first delay: social norms (community prefers to deliver at home), limited transportation and health care services at night, and negative experience in hospitals in the past (lack of trust). Factors related to the second delay of reaching a medical facility: a lack of available transportation, long travel times, and perception of high medical costs (walking 36.5%, car 34.6%, bus 13.5%, and motorcycle 13.5% in case of a study in Tanzania). In this context, this rapid prototyping initiative seeks to develop a new low-cost, safe transportation for women to prevent maternal mortality and morbidity in rural areas, by tackling the barriers that often lead to delay of emergency obstetric care (EmOC). It also aims to collect and utilize the GPS data/information of the bike ambulances to enable regional hospitals and the government to make better decisions in providing care, utilize hospital ambulances efficiently, and enhance communication between the care-seeker and care-provider.
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