VEHA
Guidance
Guidance
Virtual Environmental and Humanitarian Adviser Tool – (VEHA Tool) is a tool
to easily integrate environmental considerations in humanitarian response. Sector Planning guidances allow you to environmentally align your project strategy design.
Logistics are provided efficiently to humanitarian activities whilst minimising any negative impacts on the environment.
Provision of production inputs is limited to immediate emergency
Dependency on production inputs is reduced and measurable resilience strategies identified
Provision of inputs is adapted to projected climate change impacts (e.g. drought/flood/pest resilient seeds).
% of interventions whose procurement plans ensure all items are environmentally sustainably sourced where possible to do so.
% of people using items that were selected in order to prevent possible environmental damage.
# of positive changes made to procurement processes to minimise environmental impact.
% variation between the information provided in the budget and in the procurement plan
# of in-kind donations assessed for environmental impact prior to acceptance or rejection
# of single-use items avoided through promoting user acceptance and changing to reusable items.
Environmental criteria are included in data interpretation.
Programme design include environmental criteria based on findings of the market analysis
% of supplier selection processes where protection and environmental criteria are considered
Have you verified that CVA is a viable assistance mode (e.g. assessed market functionality, Information Management security and capability, financial service provider audit, etc)?
Have you described item requirements in donor proposals, communications, and briefs to support teams?
Have you assessed need against supplier capacities and ensured you're not over-ordering?
Have you verified whether in-kind donations are relevant, needed, in date, durable and whether there would be a lower environmental impact if they were sourced locally?
Have you planned for affected population needs assessment, sourcing of sustainable items, and promoting user acceptance?
Do data-use activities include environmental criteria?
Do local supplier selection processes address environmental and protection criteria?
Do supplier selection processes include an assessment of environmental sustainability of locally procured items?
Market mapping exercise; Financial service provider audit; Information management system review and integrity testing.
Contents of donor proposals, project/programme communications.
Monitoring and evaluation of waste / unused items.
Review needs assessments against market/supplier assessments - check availability, quality, and environmental impact with local suppliers.
Review project plan for a needs assessment. Review needs assessment design.
Review data use activities to ensure they include environmental criteria.
Review local selection processes to check if they include assessment of environmental sustainability of locally procured items.
Design and implement a market mapping exercise to determine which target population required items and which humanitarian agency required items can be sourced through local markets. Identify where markets can be strengthened.
Review capability and experience of financial service providers, including checks for potential fraud and data theft.
Review information management systems to ensure they are capable of handling and robustly tracking large numbers of transactions and beneficiary data without corruption, loss, or data breaches.
Aim to source items locally. This is effective only if local is good quality and sustainably sourced and not polluting. Check quality, sustainable sourcing, waste/returnable/reusable/recyclable products, packaging, and renewable energy use.
Use long-term framework agreements as leverage to push suppliers to ever reduce environmental impacts of supplied items. Use procurement policies to encourage the development of local green economy livelihoods.
Promote and support local waste management, sorting, and recycling livelihoods.
Promote repurposing of shipping packaging, for example using bags to grow plants and use disappearing ink if branding is an issue, to reduce waste.
Develop and provide products adapted to local needs and capacities that also include a lower environmental footprint.
Source products locally where they can be produced in an environmentally sustainable way.
Plan fundraising for environmental sustainability activities.
Implement a policy of rejecting all in-kind donations that are in any way not likely to be relevant, accepted, sustainably sourced, expired, poor quality, risk creating waste, or unnecessary transport emissions.
Train staff to portray activities and services provided as part of the response as sustainable investment strategies that enable investors, beyond the traditional UN umbrella and international organizations, to consider social and environmental factors alongside financial returns.
Population needs assessments.
Avoid procuring single-use items and source items locally if they can be sustainably sourced and produced.
Promote user acceptance of more sustainable alternative items.
Map and analyse local markets to understand what is needed, available, its quality, and include assessment of its environmental impact.
Ensure that procurement practices and organisational purchasing power do not negatively affect local businesses or else impact market prices or product availability.
Assess functioning and environmental sustainability of local market items.
Design procurement procedures and the documentation required for the different methods of supplier selection.
Ensure these are appropriate to the market, local customs, and good practices regarding employee welfare and environmental impacts.
Consider adapting the process and the documentation required to encourage and support applications from local women-led businesses. This will help increase supplier participation and collaboration.
Flexible procurement strategies incorporate mechanisms to allow flexible procurement strategies in situations of emergency, and define the rules and conditions for the application of these mechanisms.
Local sourcing should be prioritised where environmental impact is assessed and mitigated. Promote community acceptance of sustainably sourced, low polluting, re-usable items.
Assess supplier performance against agreed environmental criteria.