I do not think there is anything like you describe. There were some ideas floating around when "benchmarking" was a common jargon phrase (2006/7). I don't know what came of them. [url=http://www.brixtonhealth.com/BenchmarksPreliminaryOverview.pdf]Here[/url] is a (sort of) proposal that gropes towards what you describe. If nothing comes from your post perhaps ENN would take this on as a project. For SQUEAC ... get some SQUEACy stuff done early so you can avoid barriers building from the start. This is often little more than just doing proper M&E and talking with carers. A full SQUEC is probably not needed in the first three months. I hope this is of some help.

Derich, Just to reiterate what Mark stated, there are not currently any set guidelines. In general, MIRA is done after an emergency and includes secondary data as well as qualitative information. A SMART survey could take place at least a month after an emergency. A separate SQUEAC survey could also take place at least a month after an emergency but only if programs were in place before it occurred. If programs were not in place a SQUEAC survey would not be considered.

Thanks Mark for the Material. I will try to go over it. Thanks also Scott. Maybe my question is not clear. Just to contextualize my query, as part of preparedness measure for future emergencies, we are planning to have a country-level decision tree/algorithm/guidelines/criteria which can guide us on what minimum circumstance we should conduct nutrition assessments in emergencies (e.g. If there are >50% affected population in village--> conduct assessment ; If >50% affected population in a village--> No assessment --These are just a basic hypothetical examples). I hope I'm getting across what I'm trying to explain. Need some materials/references that are available Thank you very much for all your help! -Derich

The linked document (above) calls this "detection" and proposes the use of quite easy to collect economic, agricultural, meteorological, ecological, security, and public health data. A decision tree would trigger a confirmation action. This would include a survey like SMART (I'd propose RAM as it is quicker and cheaper than RAM, collects more indicators, and does not require prior population data - useful when displacement has occurred). I rather like the algorithmic approach. The linked document proposes a heuristic production rule approach since the number of rules required might make for a big decision tree. If we find nothing from other people then I think this is a project that ENN would be well suited to manage.

Hi Mark, Thank you very much for your reply. And also for taking this as a challenge, as I believe that this would be beneficial to many... Would be interesting to see the process that will be conducted in developing this algorithm : ) ... please keep me posted. Sincerely, -Derich

It is not my decision to have ENN pursue this. If you (and others) think this would be useful than you should register your "vote" here.

I vote yes!

Dear Mark and Frederich, Thanks very much for the suggestion and the votes of confidence. I will bring this suggestion to the ENN team for consideration. Best regards, Marie