A hub with huge potential — and room to grow

It’s a general rule of writing to hook people in with a dramatic opening line highlighting something new, surprising, or controversial. We’re starting here with a statement so well established and blindingly obvious that it is practically indisputable: the Community Engagement Hub is a fantastic resource.This isn’t just an opinion, the numbers speak for themselves.

A recent review showed that in just six months the platform attracted more than 15,000 visits and 47,000 page views from 7,000 users across 196 countries and territories. Ninety per cent of users reported being satisfied, with one in four using hub resources to directly design and implement CEA activities. There was clear consensus that the hub plays a key role in mainstreaming CEA across the Movement.

As a follow up, the team recently carried out an audit of all the resources on the hub – nearly 1,000 in total across more than 30 languages and multiple technical sectors. The volume and breadth of these materials is testament to the work already done to build the platform, but as the fundamentals of CEA teach us, we need to keep reviewing, listening, learning, and adapting.

Topics around health, migration and Cash and Voucher Assistance were found to be well covered, other areas less so. Over a quarter of resources on the hub relate to COVID-19, and while this content remains valuable — and much of it is transferable to other contexts — it’s probably not the primary interest of today’s visitors. Key issues like Restoring Family Links (RFL), Climate Change, Food Insecurity, and Water and Sanitation are under-represented. These are all areas where we know examples and learning already exist with National Societies who engage communities on these issues every day.

Geographically too, there are imbalances: Africa, Asia-Pacific, and Europe and Central Asia regions account for the majority of materials while resources from the Middle-East and North Africa region are more limited. This disparity is mirrored in the languages resources are available in, with a comparative lack of materials translated into Arabic, for example.

Format matters too. Two-thirds of the hub’s content are the practical, hands-on materials like guides and tools that users have told us they like, but a significant proportion are in formats that may be less immediately useful.

And finally, while the hub is designed as a shared space for the entire sector, currently only about one-in-six resources come from outside the Movement. It’s a good start, but there’s definitely room to grow.

The good news of course it that all of these issues can be addressed, and the ways forward pretty clear.    There’s a great opportunity to bring in more resources from external partners, particularly in under-represented thematic and geographic areas. This could help quickly fill gaps, avoid duplication, and help bring a broader audience and fresh perspectives to the hub.

Having tapped into what already exists externally, we can concentrate our efforts on the areas where the Movement adds most value, working closely with National Societies to develop practical tools, examples, and guidance tailored to real experiences, needs and priorities on the ground.

In generating new resources, we have to make sure they are as useful and relevant as possible, not just showcasing success, but providing practical ‘how-to’ guidance and tools others can adopt and adapt. This may be an area where responsible use of AI could help, automatically converting reports and case studies into step-by-step guides, generating podcast style audio, or even videos.

The popularity of existing training content — Klaudia’s fantastic Excel, Canva and Power BI masterclasses for managing, analysing and presenting community data, for example — recorded live and made available to watch back at any time, shows there’s a strong appetite for these kinds of focused practical learning resources too.

Finally, we must ensure the sister assets of the Engagement Hub and the CEA Community on the IFRC Communities Platform are well integrated and coordinated to multiply their impact.   

All of this is entirely achievable of course, but will not happen by magic. We know the humanitarian sector as a whole has been hit by the extent of recent cuts, and CEA is under no less pressure than anyone else to do more with ever fewer resources.

Arguably, CEA has never been more essential as organisations seek to understand communities’ priorities, ensure scarce funding is channelled to most-needed programmes, and find new ways to make activities even more relevant, effective and efficient. Not to mention the increased scale, impact, and value for money partnering more closely with communities can offer.   

For the hub, doing more with less means leveraging our network, reaching out to users, partner organisations and National Societies who have the expertise and knowledge the platform is missing, and supporting them to share their experiences and learning.

There will be regular updates here on how things are going, the new resources coming in, the gaps which need filling, and crucially, how you can help too.

For now, that means:

• If there are existing resources you know exist which are relevant to CEA but not on the hub – please let us know.
• If you have any examples, case studies, tools or guidance, particularly on any underserved topics – please let us know.
• And if there are any resources you feel need to be translated as a priority, particularly if you have some capacity to assist even if it is just proof-reading drafts – please let us know.

You can reach out to the hub team any time by …… or through the CEA group on the Communities Platform.            

It’s not rocket science, the hub is already a fantastic platform with huge potential to reach even more people with even more useful resources. The unparalleled global network of the Movement coupled with the countless partners and organisations around the world with expertise in Community Engagement and Accountability, means the sky really is the limit.

Written by Mark South, CEA Consultant