Ground Truth Solutions

Exciting leadership update! We are beyond thrilled to announce that Sophie Tholstrup has joined our leadership team as Director of Policy and Climate. Sophie's passion for people-centred systems that just *make sense* has been honed over many years of driving positive reform, having spent the last 15 years in policy leadership roles with donors, UN, the CALP network and the Tony Blair Institute. She's spent the last couple of years helping organisations navigate humanitarian response in the climate crisis, with clients including GiveDirectly, ODI, IFRC, the UN Climate Crisis Coordinator's Office, and the Ukraine Humanitarian Country Team.   Sophie will be working with a huge network of allies to give our policy and climate work a push as we enter our next phase. Don't be fooled by this very mindful, very demure image - we're ready to roll up our sleeves.

What do people in Gaza want you to know?      In July, we spoke with over 1,200 people in Gaza.      Many feel forgotten by the world, seeing the international community as a silent witness to their suffering. For them, relief and recovery is inseparable from justice and accountability.     Amid unimaginable grief and loss, they ask for one thing: to be seen — not as victims or heroes, but as human beings with rights.     Watch the video & read the full report. 🔗tinyurl.com/9k29e58u   In 🤝 with Arab World for Research & Development - AWRAD. 

Must read: New report from Gaza. “We do not want aid from the world. We want to stop the war.” In Gaza, the delivery of humanitarian assistance is still an uphill battle. With Arab World for Research & Development - AWRAD, we have been engaging with people in Gaza since last November to understand their priorities and allow them to simply share what they want to share while living through the war. This second report brings urgent insight from more than a thousand people in Gaza. It is a must-read for humanitarian responders, policymakers, advocates, and funders. Here’s what people told us: 🔴 People in Gaza want to remind us all that they are human. Not victims, not superheroes. Many feel dehumanised and abandoned by the international community. 🔴 10 months into the war, survival is a daily battle. People are exhausted, constantly on the move, and gripped with fear. Half of those we spoke with have now been forced to move four times or more. 🔴 People desperately need food and clean water. Every person we spoke to said these are top priorities, and many repeated the plea for food and water at the end of interviews. 🔴 Communities are banding together, but mutual aid is reaching its limits as resources dwindle. One in four people we spoke to said they had been forced to send children to work. 🔴 Almost everyone is now reliant on aid, but its distribution is considered unsafe and unfair. People say that corruption and favouritism are rampant. 🔴 Access to financial resources is crumbling as exorbitant market prices are draining people’s remaining savings.   Read the full report and help us spread the word by sharing it 🔗tinyurl.com/9k29e58u Thank you to the Center for Disaster Philanthropy for making this work possible.

Must read: New report from Gaza. “We do not want aid from the world. We want to stop the war.” In Gaza, the delivery of humanitarian assistance is still an uphill battle. With Arab World for Research & Development - AWRAD, we have been engaging with people in Gaza since last November to understand their priorities and allow them to simply share what they want to share while living through the war. This second report brings urgent insight from more than a thousand people in Gaza. It is a must-read for humanitarian responders, policymakers, advocates, and funders. Here’s what people told us: 🔴 People in Gaza want to remind us all that they are human. Not victims, not superheroes. Many feel dehumanised and abandoned by the international community. 🔴 10 months into the war, survival is a daily battle. People are exhausted, constantly on the move, and gripped with fear. Half of those we spoke with have now been forced to move four times or more. 🔴 People desperately need food and clean water. Every person we spoke to said these are top priorities, and many repeated the plea for food and water at the end of interviews. 🔴 Communities are banding together, but mutual aid is reaching its limits as resources dwindle. One in four people we spoke to said they had been forced to send children to work. 🔴 Almost everyone is now reliant on aid, but its distribution is considered unsafe and unfair. People say that corruption and favouritism are rampant. 🔴 Access to financial resources is crumbling as exorbitant market prices are draining people’s remaining savings.   Read the full report and help us spread the word by sharing it 🔗tinyurl.com/9k29e58u Thank you to the Center for Disaster Philanthropy for making this work possible.

Last week, the GTS team returned to the Central African Republic, supported by UNICEF, to facilitate workshops with partners from various clusters. We tackled the challenges for more meaningful community engagement in the design, implementation, and evaluation of humanitarian activities and identified priority actions. Workshop participants developed minimum accountability standards tailored to the #CAR context.   Curious to learn more about our work in CAR? 🔗 tinyurl.com/bde2z693

📢 The H2H Network is reactivating its fund to support the critical humanitarian work in #Sudan - stay tuned for free H2H services, resources, and expertise available to all actors working in response to the humanitarian crisis in Sudan. As the civil war in Sudan entered its second year, the conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) continues to escalate, worsening the already dire humanitarian situation. International humanitarian organizations face significant challenges accessing the affected areas, making the role of local civil society particularly critical in this response. However, these local actors need more financial, operational and technical support. For this reason, the H2H Network offers services and products to strengthen the humanitarian response through information management and analysis, capacity-building for local actors, and community engagement and accountability. Our seven funded member projects are: ❇️ Data Friendly Space (DFS): Real-time information and key analysis to aid humanitarian planning. ❇️CDAC Network: Enhanced participation and improved information flow. ❇️Ground Truth Solutions: Meeting information needs and understanding perceptions. ❇️IMPACT Initiatives: Emergency prioritization and rapid assessments. ❇️RedR UK and Humanitarian Academy for Development (HAD): Comprehensive capacity development for local actors. ❇️Internews: Real-time community feedback and improved Accountability to Affected Population (AAP). ❇️Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team: Improved spatial data and community collaboration in conflict-impacted areas. The results and resources coming out of the projects will continuously be updated on this page: https://lnkd.in/e6JVzW4C We are confident that these efforts will significantly enhance the effectiveness and coordination of the humanitarian response in Sudan. Together, we can support the urgent needs of the Sudanese people. 🤝 We look forward to working with all humanitarian actors to make a meaningful impact. This H2H Fund allocation is supported by Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office – from the British people. https://lnkd.in/eRbuDHKQ

🎉We are thrilled to introduce the H2H Anticipatory Action Accelerator!🏗️ The accelerator will enhance sector-wide collaboration and innovation in #anticipatory action (#AA) by developing new H2H approaches to AA. 🗨️ “We’re seeing in many, many different contexts around the world that H2H actors have unique offers and services which can improve the impact and the value of anticipatory action enormously.” - Hannah Reichardt, Director and Consultant at Innovation Ecosystem, facilitator of the Accelerator workshop.   Throughout 2024, the Accelerator will provide: ✅ Flexible research and development funding to selected H2H Members ✅ Strategy support and coaching for H2H solutions development ✅ Collaboration opportunities among H2H network actors ✅ Connections with external partners working on AA Our Accelerator engages five dynamic H2H Members, each bringing unique projects to the table: 🔹 CartONG: Bridging the gap between local actors and AA, focusing on grassroots needs and participatory methodologies. 🔹 CLEAR Global: Creating an open-source database for language use, aiding risk analysis and timely communication in community languages. 🔹 Ground Truth Solutions: Developing a survey tool to capture community perceptions, ensuring AA programs align with community priorities. 🔹 Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team: Enhancing geospatial data for AA, focusing on data readiness and partner needs in high-risk areas. 🔹 Insecurity Insight: Extending AA knowledge to conflict-driven food insecurity with predictive analysis on conflict impacts on food security. Join us on this journey to advance anticipatory action and improve the global humanitarian response! 🌍🤝✨ Learn more about the H2H Anticipatory Action Accelerator here: https://lnkd.in/etrG7p-W The Accelerator is made possible with the generous support of USAID - Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance #H2HNetwork #AnticipatoryAction #HumanitarianInnovation #CommunityEngagement #GlobalCollaboration Kim Scriven Yannick Creoff Martin Noblecourt Jessie Pechmann Christina Wille

📢 New report: ‘I can’t even imagine it’  Community perceptions of sexual exploitation and abuse.    In Ukraine, most people find it hard to believe that humanitarian workers could be involved in sexual exploitation and abuse. Identifying potential victims is a challenge, as many believe no one is vulnerable to such risks.    💡 Despite these perceptions, proper safeguarding measures must be in place to protect people. Community suggestions include more on-site supervision at distribution sites and having more women in field teams.     💡 People also believe that the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse starts from within organisations. They urge organisations to strengthen recruitment policies and foster a culture that prevents misconduct among humanitarian workers.    Want to learn more about people’s perceptions of sexual exploitation and abuse in #Ukraine? Read the full report in English🔗tinyurl.com/7ada25yv or Ukrainian🔗tinyurl.com/mupv4t7j   In 🤝 with International Rescue Committee, World Vision, NGO Girls and Fama - Custom Research Agency.

Don't miss out! Tomorrow, we will join our partner, Fact Foundation, discussing our latest report on community perceptions of cash assistance and resilience in northeast Nigeria. Thank you, CALP Network, for hosting us. 📝 Register now: tinyurl.com/5yyu9hwp

📢 What did we get up to in 2023?   🌍 We spoke to people affected by crises in #Afghanistan, #Bangladesh, #BurkinaFaso, #CentralAfricanRepublic, #Chad, #DemocraticRepublicofCongo, #Moldova, #Nigeria, #NorthwestSyria, #Palestine, #Poland, #Romania, #Somalia, #Türkiye and #Ukraine. The year was a whirlwind of inspiration for GTS! We built amazing partnerships that challenged our status quo. Our data echoed from Geneva rooftops and fueled advocacy for change behind closed doors in Bangladesh. But it also brought moments of frustration, self-criticism, and deep reflection. Our research remained critical, but dialogue occupied most of our time. We introduced work that spotlighted community decision-making, mutual aid, and self-reliance, trying to slowly turn the humanitarian hero narrative on its head. We seized chances to support local communities to define and shape their own accountability paths. In some ways, our work just keeps getting harder – so much more community influence and dialogue is needed, the system is becoming more and more tightly controlled, there’s less money and more pressure than ever from some corners for aid to ‘get back to basics’. But the challenges keep us fired up to do better.   Read more about our work last year in our 2023 annual report 🔗 tinyurl.com/5fn47c7x