Guidance note: Measuring humanitarian access severity
Analysing access to hard-to-reach (H2R) areas is a challenge for both the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and the wider humanitarian community. Measuring levels across diverse settings is difficult because the local realities that determine access must be abstracted enough to comparable. Such an exercise, however, allows any organisation that relies on access to understand its reach and what limits it, and to target and prioritise with a standardised birdseye view that would otherwise be impossible. The value of access severity snapshots lies not only in organisational knowledge, but also informed decision-making in the humanitarian programme cycle, which does not currently do enough to integrate access into its planning steps.
This guidance note describes the methodology NRC uses to measure the severity of the access impediments it faces in its areas of operation. It also provides advice on data collection and associated topics for organisations that want to replicate it or develop their own access indicators.
This document has been produced with the financial assistance of the Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA). The contents of this document, under no circumstances, should be regarded as reflecting the position of BHA.