13. Activate, revise, and resubmit your s/EAP

Summary

Once your s/EAP has been approved by the IFRC-DREF, it is time to procure and preposition the stock and conduct readiness activities, while monitoring the trigger. The National Society focal point, with support from the IFRC Project Manager should develop a workplan, in order to monitor implementation of readiness activities leading up to the hazard season,

This chapter briefly outlines the process for activating your s/EAP when the trigger is reached and eventually revising and resubmitting it for revalidation.

Step 1: Activate your s/EAP

If at any stage the preapproved trigger is reached, then the National Society can start implementing their early action activities. The activation needs to be confirmed by the global IFRC-DREF team, and this is done via the Activation template. The Activation template can be prepared in advance (since the early action and budget have been preapproved) and can be updated based on the specific details of the activation when the trigger is reached.

Activating without the pre-agreed trigger being met

The EAP and the sEAP are pre-agreed funding modalities, funding is guaranteed based on a preapproved trigger, a preapproved set of early action activities, and a preapproved budget. This means that whenever the preapproved trigger is reached, the National Society can immediately start doing the early action activities. But what happens if the preapproved forecast doesn’t predict the hazard, but other forecasts sources are indicating the likelihood of the impending hazard? Or if the trigger threshold hasn’t been reached, but severe impacts are being experienced by at risk communities? Or what happens if….

There might be many reasons why a National Society wants to activate their s/EAP. There is flexibility to activate if the pre-agreed trigger has not been reached, however this requires exceptional approval by the DREF Appeal manager in advance of activating the s/EAP. You should reach out to the regional DREF focal point and send as much information to justify the activation as possible to DREF.anticipatorypillar@ifrc.org. The DREF team aims to ensure as much flexibility as possible in order to protect vulnerable communities in advance of a hazard.

To access the early action budget, the National Society should submit the signed ‘request for payment’ along with the filled activation template to the IFRC Project Manager. The activation template is published on the IFRC website by the IFRC Regional PMER Focal Point.

If you want more information on the activation process, please read chapter five of the IFRC interactive guidance package.

Step 2: Post activation reporting

Under a full EAP, National Societies can plan for two activations. Following the first activation, the National Society does the post distribution monitoring, the lessons learned workshop (you will find more information on evaluations and lessons learned in chapter 9), produces an Activation Report. At this stage (or indeed at any stage) a National Society can make changes to the EAP and budget, based on the recommends emerging from the first activation. If everything went as planned, then the National Society does not need to make any changes to the EAP and budget. Once the report is published, the National Society can then request the second allocation for stock and continue with the readiness activities, while monitoring the forecast in case of a second activation.

Following the second activation of an EAP or the first activation of a sEAP, the s/EAP will end after the operational timeframe, normally three months after the activation. The IFRC Project Manager will revise the end of the s/EAP on IFRC’s Ready and will create an Activation Report (all future pending reports will be cancelled). National Society follows the same process, conducting post distribution monitoring and facilitate a lessons learned workshop. These activities need to be done within the operational timeframe in order to eligible to be funded by the IFRC-DREF.

If it is not possible to do the post distribution monitoring or lessons learned workshop within the operational timeframe, a National Society should consider requesting a no cost extension via an operations update. This request should come before the end of the current operational timeframe. Please discuss this request with the IFRC Project Manager, who can contact the regional DREF focal point, or reach out to the Global DREF team via DREF.anticipatorypillar@ifrc.org.

The National Society also needs to complete the activation report and submit it to the IFRC according to the revised timeframe mentioned above. If you have any questions about the reporting deadline, please consult the IFRC Project Manager or your Regional IFRC-DREF Focal Point. Delays in submitting the activation report may affect the National Society’s ability to access IFRC-DREF funding, so a National Society is recommended to complete the narrative and financial report as soon as possible.

What happens if I don’t activate my s/EAP?

If during the s/EAP lifespan there is no activation (five years for the full EAP or two for the sEAP), the National Society should prepare a Final Report (narrative and financial) and submit it to the IFRC Delegation as per the project funding agreement. The IFRC Project Manager can support the approval of the report and will liaise with the IFRC PMER focal point to publish the report on the IFRC website.

Step 3: Revise and resubmit

Once you have completed any post-distribution monitoring, lessons learned workshops, or other evaluations (see chapter 9 for MEAL guidance), or if your s/EAP finishes without activating, you should review and revise your s/EAP and budget. Any changes should be made in tracked changes in the original approved s/EAP narrative (no need to rewrite the s/EAP), this will help the Validation Committee to quickly spot any changes made. If the activation went as planned, then no changes need to be made to the s/EAP or budget.

Lessons learned workshops

A lessons learned workshop normally runs for 1.5 to 2 days, however we recommend that you add on an extra day or two in the plan and budget to the lessons learned workshop to update the s/EAP directly. If this is not possible, and additional time is required to update the s/EAP with the recommendations, or if other stakeholders need to be consulted, then the National Society can use the additional day or two to develop a plan and timeframe for when the changes will be made.

A National Society doesn’t need to make a lot of changes, if the activation went largely according to plan. Remember to take the latest templates from the AA Manual, or the DREF Guidelines, and make any changes to the narrative in tracked changes – this should help to speed up the revalidation process.

The Validation Committee will have access to lessons learned report shared with IFRC and expect to see how the lessons and recommendations have been incorporated. Be sure to adjust the budget as well based on any changes. Once you have revised your s/EAP and budget, resubmit the s/EAP following the process that begins at step 1 of chapter 12. The process will be the same as it was for the initial submission.

If you want more information on the post activation process, please read chapter six of the IFRC interactive guidance package.

Quiz

Chapter 13

1 / 3

What is the first step when the preapproved trigger for an EAP is reached?

2 / 3

Which activities must the National Society complete after activating an EAP? (Select all that apply)

3 / 3

Which of the following statements are true?

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