NOHA Advanced Training on Community-Based Safety and Security Analysis Held in Warsaw

Putting communities at the centre of protection

The training focused on a people-centred approach to protection, recognising that communities themselves are best placed to understand the threats they face, their existing coping strategies and the solutions that can improve their safety.

Participants were introduced to a four-stage methodology covering:

• Preparing the ground, including selecting focus areas and identifying relevant local and international actors;
• Engaging with communities to identify and prioritise threats, analyse their causes and consequences, and understand existing coping strategies;
• Shaping a Plan of Action by combining community perspectives with secondary data and professional analysis; and
• Co-designing and validating the Plan of Action with communities as equal partners.

Throughout the training, participants practised a range of participatory tools, including Pair-Wise Ranking, Threat Trees, the Protection Onion, Watermelon, Solutions Tables and Matrix Planning. Practical exercises, simulations, role-playing and case studies allowed participants to experience the methodology from both facilitator and community perspectives.

From analysis to action

A central focus of the training was how to move from understanding threats to developing concrete strategies to reduce exposure to risk and prevent or mitigate harm.

Participants explored how humanitarian, development and peacebuilding actors could coordinate around their comparative advantages, while ensuring that local actors and affected communities remained at the centre of decision-making. The training also examined how community-based approaches can contribute to localisation and strengthen collaboration across the humanitarian-development-peace nexus.

The training was facilitated by Marta Pawlak, a protection specialist who developed the Community-Based Safety and Security Analysis and Planning methodology through extensive field experience and engagement with communities affected by conflict and crisis.