How to do VCA? - International Federation of Red Cross and Red ...

How to do a VCA 7The review identified a number of important issues which havebeen addressed in the first publication of this series ‘What isVCA?– an introduction to vulnerability and capacity assessment’. Akey concern was that the VCA guide in its original format was toocomplex and hard to follow – resulting in difficulties in implementation,even after the ‘training of trainers’ had been undertakenby National Society staff and volunteers.This revised guide and related publications seek to address theissues and questions highlighted by the evaluation and make theVCA process more ‘user-friendly’. National Societies are thereforeencouraged to seek support from those who already have experienceof and training in VCA.Such VCA ‘resource persons’ can help guide the process, so as toavoid potential problems and provide insight into lessons learnedby others. They can provide on-site support at key times and alsoremain in contact through telephone, as needed. Resource personsdo not need to be present during the entire process; theirmain contribution is in giving guidance and assistance at criticaltimes (e.g. during data analysis).How to use this guideThis ‘HowtodoaVCA’ second publication is intended as a practical,how to guide the National Society staff and volunteers toundertake VCA. This is a part of a series of publications on VCA:What is VCA?, VCA toolbox the third publication and VCA trainingguide the fourth publication (see Figure 1, p. 8). Together,these documents explain what is VCA, how to undertake a VCA,how to apply a variety of information-gathering techniques andhow to train Red Cross Red Crescent volunteers to use these VCAtools.