Humanitarian Civil-Military Coordination Update
Event description
We'd love you to join this online session to hear about recent developments in the humanitarian civil-military coordination space. Moderated by Markus Werne, the head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, the session will explore how practitioners are approaching the current humanitarian situation in the region, research into civil-military coordination models from an Australian perspective, and key findings from an ongoing Army Research Scheme project on enhancing civil-military coordination.
Part of this event will involve hearing about initial findings from an ongoing research project - by registering for this event you are indicating you have read the following information:
Title: How the Australian Army can enhance humanitarian civil-military coordination Short title: Enhancing humanitarian civil-military coordination
Protocol number: 117-19
Project Sponsor: Army Research Scheme
Principal Investigator(s): Beth Eggleston beggleston@hag.org.au 0438 677 585
This Participant Information Sheet tells you about the research project. It explains the processes involved with taking part. Knowing what is involved will help you decide if you want to take part in the research. Please read this information carefully. Please ask questions about anything that you don’t understand or want to know more about.
Participation in this research is entirely voluntary; there is no obligation to take part in the study. If you choose not to participate there will be no detriment to your career or future health care (for Defence members).
Your answers will be completely confidential and any personal details, which may identify you in any way, will not be passed to the Department of Veterans’ Affairs. Your answers will not in any way affect any pension, benefits or health services which you are entitled to from DVA or to which to may become entitled in the future.
If you decide you want to take part in the research project, you will be asked to sign the consent section.
Brief description of the study
Militaries are increasingly requested to be involved in disaster response with the Australian Defence Force being deployed overseas 22 times since 2000 and 14 times in support of domestic disaster response here at home.
During these disaster response and humanitarian assistance (HA/DR) operations, Australian Defence Force members are required to work alongside civilian disaster response agencies (governments, United Nations (UN), national and international Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement).
With large scale operations such as the response to Tropical Cyclone Winston in Fiji and the recent Bushfire crisis and response to COVID19 here in Australia, the ways in which members of the
Australian Army and these civilian agencies interact and coordinate is increasing important. The aim of this research is to identify ways this interaction and coordination is currently occurring and ways it can be enhanced in future operations.
What does participation in this research involve?
Australian Army members will be eligible to participate in the research if they have been involved in a response to a disaster either internationally or in Australia.
There are three ways in which Australian Army members can participate:
- 1) A formal phone interview of approximately 1 hour in length which may be recorded.
- 2) Completing an online survey of no more than 10 mins
- 3) Attending a short online session
Participants can be involved in any or all of these three aspects.
Benefits
The objective of the research is to better understand how the Australian Army coordinates with civilian disaster response agencies and how this can be enhanced in the future. There is a hope that through this enhanced coordination will lead to greater operational effectiveness.
Risks of participating
Withdrawal from the research
You may withdraw at any time with no detriment to your career or future health care.
Participation in the research is completely voluntary and participants may, without any penalty, decline to take part or withdraw at any time without providing an explanation, or refuse to answer a question. Participants may choose to participate in some or all of the data collection events.
Your decision whether to take part or not to take part, or to take part and then withdraw, will not affect your relationship with Humanitarian Advisory Group, Australian Government Department of Defence or any other donor organisations. You will also have the option to withdraw your data from the research project if you wish to do so. If you do choose to withdraw your data will be destroyed.
Before you make your decision, a member of the research team will be available to answer any questions you have about the research project. You can ask for any information you want.
Privacy and confidentiality
• Any information obtained in connection with this research and that can identify you will remain confidential. The report will not mention your name or job title/function. Privacy and confidentiality will be fully assured at all times. All information will be deidentified.
It is possible that when we ask the participants questions about their experience about working alongside humanitarian organisations in HA/DR operations that there may be reactions or feeling associated with those recollections that could be upsetting. If needed participants can access
support through the Defence Health Portal http://www.defence.gov.au/heal... or Mandala Staff Support http://www.mandalastaffsupport... Advisory Group is committed to respecting and meeting ethical standards when conducting research and evaluations, particularly when our work involves human participants.
- Respect for Human Beings – We recognise the intrinsic value of each human being, and are committed to participant welfare first and foremost.
- Beneficence – Our actions are done to benefit others; the expected benefit of our research is weighed against potential discomfort to participants and we strive to minimise risk at every stage of the research, embracing the ‘Do no Harm’ principle.
- Research Merit and Integrity – Our research is well-justified, high-quality, and committed to a genuine search for knowledge.
- Justice – Our research is equitable and non-discriminatory, with unbiased recruitment of participants and equal opportunity to participate.
The information collected
Names, locations and professions of participants will be collected to ensure that this information is available to researchers for the purpose of data analysis. Once collected, transcripts will be de-identified and information about participants not made available to anyone outside of the research team. Data will be securely stored and password protected. Information will be stored in a secure third-party cloud- based system (G Suite). Only members of the Humanitarian Advisory Group team will have access to the information. Two-step verification is required to access files.
Humanitarian Advisory Group is bound by domestic legislation concerning the collection, use, storage and disclosure of personal information. Humanitarian Advisory Group adheres to privacy obligations under the Australia Privacy Act 1988 and the Victorian Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014. These pieces of legislation outline the privacy standards that organisations based in Victoria must adhere to in the handling of personal information and the procedure for notifying the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) in the event of a data breach. If this project requires the handling of personal data of residents of the European Union, Humanitarian Advisory Group will consult with a relevant EU data protection specialist to ensure that our systems and the tools that we develop are compliant with our obligations under the EU General Data Protection Regulation, implemented in May 2018. These Golden Standards will guide our processes for mitigating and, if necessary, responding to privacy and data breaches. We will seek to ensure that our policies and procedures relating to data processing are adequate, especially in relation to obtaining consent for data processing, data breach notifications, data processing transparency, Data Erasure, and the appointment of a Data Protection Officer. With specialist guidance, any tools developed will seek to incorporate the concept of privacy by design so that data protection is integrated into the tools when created.
Other relevant human research ethics considerations
The ethical aspects of this research project have been approved by the DDVA HREC review pathways.
This project will be carried out according to the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research (2007). This statement has been developed to protect the interests of people who agree to participate in human research studies.
Guidelines for Volunteers
I have been given a copy of the DDVA HREC Guidelines for Volunteers, which is also available at http://www.defence.gov.au/heal... of research findings
It is anticipated that the results of this research project will be published in an article such as the Australian Army Journal. In any publication and/or presentation, information will be provided in such a way that you cannot be identified.
You will be provided a copy of the research findings by the Principal Investigator upon your request.
Concerns or complaints
Should you have any complaints or concerns about the manner in which this project is conducted, please do not hesitate to contact the researchers Ms. Kate Sutton, ksutton@hag.org.au +61 420 204 176
or you may prefer to contact the DDVA HREC at the following address: Executive Officer DDVA HREC
Telephone: (02) 6266 3807
Email: ddva.hrec@defence.gov.au
Who is organising and funding the research?
This research is being conducted by Humanitarian Advisory Group. This research has been funded by the Army Research Scheme.
No member of the research team will receive a personal financial benefit from your involvement in this research project (other than their ordinary wages).
Title How the Australian Army can enhance humanitarian civil-military coordination Short title Enhancing humanitarian civil-military coordination
Protocol number 117-19
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