Prioritise needs
Prioritise those who will benefit most from emergency buying and base buying requirements on their needs
Why it’s important
As soon as an emergency hits, knowing what and who to prioritise allows government buyers to focus scarce resources to source the most critical items and get them to the communities most at risk.
To enable this, buyers need to establish valid user needs to help inform their buying strategy. Doing this during an emergency can be difficult, but is essential to avoid buying the wrong product or service at a crucial time.
As soon as an emergency hits, knowing what and who to prioritise allows government buyers to focus scarce resources to source the most critical items and get them to the communities most at risk.
To enable this, buyers need to establish valid user needs to help inform their buying strategy. Doing this during an emergency can be difficult, but is essential to avoid buying the wrong product or service at a crucial time.
What it means
To identify user needs during an emergency you should:
- listen to the most impacted communities - they’ve already been dealing with the problems of insecurity (food, health, shelter, sanitation etc) for longer than many others will have been and will have valuable experience to learn from
- speak to medical professionals, NGOs and key workers involved in an emergency response
- use data - for example, health information systems to identify at-risk groups and procurement records to check stock levels of critical supplies
To prioritise what products or services you need to buy you should:
- base buying requirements on the needs you discovered by speaking to users and experts
- quickly test any assumptions you have about products or services you are intending to buy - for example check if users have access to the internet if you are proposing an online solution
- follow international guidance on priority emergency supplies to buy (for example lists supplied by the World Health Organisation)
To identify user needs during an emergency you should:
- listen to the most impacted communities - they’ve already been dealing with the problems of insecurity (food, health, shelter, sanitation etc) for longer than many others will have been and will have valuable experience to learn from
- speak to medical professionals, NGOs and key workers involved in an emergency response
- use data - for example, health information systems to identify at-risk groups and procurement records to check stock levels of critical supplies
To prioritise what products or services you need to buy you should:
- base buying requirements on the needs you discovered by speaking to users and experts
- quickly test any assumptions you have about products or services you are intending to buy - for example check if users have access to the internet if you are proposing an online solution
- follow international guidance on priority emergency supplies to buy (for example lists supplied by the World Health Organisation)
Do’s and don’ts
Do
-
base requirements on valid user needs, discovered through speaking to impacted communities
-
follow international guidance on priority emergency supplies to buy
-
test any assumptions you have about products or services you are intending to buy
Don't
-
do not assume that you know the challenges your users might face, or that you will be able to recognise if someone is more vulnerable than others
Do
- base requirements on valid user needs, discovered through speaking to impacted communities
- follow international guidance on priority emergency supplies to buy
- test any assumptions you have about products or services you are intending to buy
Don't
- do not assume that you know the challenges your users might face, or that you will be able to recognise if someone is more vulnerable than others