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Guinea

Community Consultations on Humanitarian Aid: Findings From Guinea

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1. Introduction

In preparation for the World Humanitarian Summit (WHS), the WHS secretariat commissioned Ipsos to conduct community consultations with crisis-affected communities in multiple focus countries. The countries chosen for the consultations were Afghanistan, Guinea, South Sudan,
Syria, and Ukraine, representing a diverse range of geographic regions, humanitarian contexts, and actors.

Semi-structured interviews and community workshops were conducted in each country, to gain in-depth information on how affected communities respond to crises, the role they see for international humanitarian responders, issues related to service delivery, and ways to improve identified shortcomings within the humanitarian system.

This complements the consultations with crisis-affected communities and stakeholder groups which took place in previous years and which were synthesized in the report, “Restoring Humanity: Global Voices Calling for Action.” This report highlighted the importance of involving marginalized populations in the planning of humanitarian responses, such as women, children, the elderly, the disabled, and displaced persons, and maintained a focus on security, dignity, and economic opportunity, emphasizing that:

People’s safety and dignity must be considered the primary aim of humanitarian activity, regardless of the context or actor.

The “Restoring Humanity” report draws on several priority themes that are critical in ensuring that people’s safety and dignity remain the primary aim of the global humanitarian aid system: 2 Put People First: Adapt to Context; Build Diverse Partnerships; and Guarantee Reliable Finance.

In this report these are reflected in the following chapters:

  1. Key needs and priorities;

  2. Livelihoods and employment;

  3. Social Cohesion;

  4. Social cohesion;

  5. Gender;

  6. The challenges of accessing assistance;

  7. The role of organizations; and,

  8. Information needs and communication channels.

The community consultations conducted by Ipsos seek to create a greater understanding of these priority themes through amplifying the voices of those who have most at stake in maximizing the effectiveness of humanitarian programs.

This report summarizes the findings of the crisis-affected community consultations from Guinea. The community consultation for Guinea consisted of quantitative and qualitative research with 576 community members affected by the Ebola outbreak.