Managing External Relations - Disaster Management Center ...

Chapter 1
Assume that the people who are most visible are always the most credible or
trustworthy. Attempt to find the people who are less visible and also trustworthy.
Take more help than you give.
Neglect to take time to thank someone who helps you (even in emergencies).
Fail to respond to requests for help or information or fail to follow through
on requests.
Forget to do some research to find out what others have to give before you
ask for their help.
Fail to help someone who is in an unfortunate position. Your help will
usually be remembered.
Practical Steps for Improving your Network
While much progress has been made in networking within UNHCR and with
partner organisations, taking the following practical steps can help you improve
your emergency preparedness network:
1. Make records of your contacts. These should be more comprehensive than
just business cards, and for emergency management purposes should include
emergency-specific information. Include the person’s name, title, agency, phone/
fax, E-mail, and other relevant information, such as where the person has lived or
worked. For example, ‘worked in Goma refugee camp for three years,’ ‘worked
on water supply in Sarajevo,’ ‘instrumental in forming inter-agency task force,’ etc.
You may also want to record some information about your contacts’ networks.
Remember, however, that the idea is to compile a list of people you can count on,
not to collect a vast number of contacts.
2. Periodically review these records, add to them, and renew your contacts.
If you use a business card file or create cards for a Rolodex, for example, it pays
to photocopy these periodically and take them to the field or carry them in your
briefcase, leaving the originals in a safe place. The humanitarian response field
has a very high rate of attrition, people who worked in the last major emergency
may have quit humanitarian work, or changed their affiliation. While you should
remove old or unused contacts from your records periodically, sometimes even
someone who leaves the system may be a useful contact in a related field.
3. Learn something about people and their agencies. Before you meet new
people or someone you have not seen for a while, learn something about their
background or their agency’s needs and interests so that you have common
ground and can make a firm connection.
4. Create mailing lists from your list of contacts. Send UNHCR publications to
the people on your list who may not have good background information on
UNHCR activities.
5. Encourage networking skills in your team or division. The networks of
the people you work with will also pay off for you.
6. Know the information or support you have to share with others and the
information and support you need to get.
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