COBACORE’S Evaluation Process

25th March 2014

As suggested in the project title, Community Based Comprehensive Recovery (COBACORE ) is focused on just that- communities. COBACORE sees three main communities involved in disaster response and recovery:

the affected community (those directly affected by the disaster);
the responding community (those non-professionals, such as volunteers, assisting affected individuals);
and the responding professionals (such as professional civil organisations, first responders, policymakers etc.).

COBACORE is developing a support system for communities dealing with disaster. However, without the input and experiences of the communities COBACORE seeks to assist, the system would most likely be irrelevant to these communities needs and requirements. Therefore, COBACORE takes an iterative approach, which involves the evaluation of specific parts or features of the system at varying stages of development, using various applications. As COBACORE is a system for use by the specific communities of disaster response listed above, all evaluations will be conducted with the participation of actual end-users. Representative end-users will be drawn from multiple European Member States, to account for differing work practices and varying typical scenarios and from all three communities mentioned above, to duly consider diverse needs and requirements.

COBACORE will feature:

Interview and feedback sessions in a workshop setting
During these sessions, the COBACORE team will elicit information from affected communities, responding communities and responding professionals on their own experiences in disaster response and on whether COBACOREs scope, functionality and features will address their specific needs.
Evaluation sessions in controlled environments
In evaluation sessions in controlled environments, end-users participate in activities such as table-top exercises and potentially virtual gaming to evaluate the operation of the system and provide feedback for further refinement of the tool.
Evaluation sessions in an operational setting
These sessions are designed to be conducted in as close to actual operational conditions as possible, to facilitate the testing of the integrated system in a real world environment. This evaluation will cover a representatively large geographic area with a cross-border dimension, multiple inaterrelating actors and address the entire life-cycle of a crisis.