How the toolkit was developed

A participatory action-research approach was adopted in the research and design of the Toolkit, based on consultations with civil society leaders, emphasising the active contributions of all participants in reporting on actions, sharing critical reflection on them and jointly creating knowledge from experience. The project used a qualitative approach, using questionnaires and consultations to develop the results that formed the basis of the Toolkit. Questionnaires sent to 35 targeted civil society organisations provided initial findings that were further developed in consultations with a group of 18 organisations (see table below) through Skype conversations and questionnaires.

Selected country contexts were used as a basis for drawing on conversations with participants in those countries and complementary research data to produce five case studies depicting CSO Platform experiences in relation to intensive and everyday disasters. The detailed findings from this work formed the basis of developing the eight principal sections of the Toolkit. It is therefore deeply rooted in practitioner expertise and experience.