Social science in action
SSHAP’s approach to mobilising social science for humanitarian action goes beyond biomedical and technical knowledge. It is centred on the value and importance of evidence of social, cultural and political-economic contexts and drivers of different vulnerabilities and of local knowledge and institutions.
In implementing this approach, SSHAP recognises the need to address and strengthen the capacity, knowledge and interactions between practitioners, policymakers and researchers to inform operational needs and navigate challenges.
This collection brings together resources from SSHAP and partners. It includes tools and trainings to aid the application of social science perspectives and approaches in humanitarian action, as well as insights and learnings from experiences of practice and capacity building at local, national and regional levels.
Photo credit: .Ginger Johnson
Focus group with mothers in a drought-affected area of Zambia.
Question Bank
Tools
Questions bank for healthcare workers during infectious disease outbreaks
This question bank is a menu of qualitative questions related to healthcare workers’ knowledge, perceptions and practices during infectious disease outbreaks.
Question Bank
Tools
Climate change question bank part 1
This resource is intended to help responders determine organisational priorities and needs to develop a localised preparedness and response strategy for the multi-hazard impacts of El Niño and other relevant climatic events (e.g., drought, flooding, cyclones).
Question Bank
Tools
Climate change question bank part 2
This resource is a menu of qualitative questions related to socio-behavioural factors and drought response.
Question Bank
Tools
Viral haemorrhagic fevers question bank
This Question Bank is relevant to outbreaks where person-to-person transmission has been identified as significant to an outbreak's spread and where patient experiences must be understood for a community-centred response.
blog
A key dimension of the Social Science in Humanitarian Action Platform’s approach to mobilising evidence on the social dimensions of emergency responses is helping to build capacity and regional networks of social scientists and practitioners. This blog shares insights from the experiences of participants.
Tools
Rapid qualitative assessment training – 10 modules in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese
This training aims to contribute to more effective and community-centred responses by strengthening systems for the utilisation of community data in emergency response by ministries of health, government and partners.
Question Bank
Tools
Mpox question bank: Qualitative questions for community-level data collection
A Question Bank for use by field teams and local research teams working in communities with mpox transmission and those at risk of transmission with the aim of supporting the collection and use of consistent and high-quality social and behavioural…
Question Bank
Tools
Cholera question bank
These resources are intended to support operational social science research to be used in cholera preparedness and response activities.
Factsheet
Why social science matters for humanitarian action?
A factsheet on the role of social science in Community Engagement and Accountability (CEA).
Briefing
Using social science in response to the 2022 Ebola outbreak in Uganda
This briefing draws on previous outbreaks to highlight how social science can make an effective contribution across the response to the outbreak of Ebola disease caused by the Sudan virus in Uganda.
Research paper
Whose voices matter? Using participatory, feminist and anthropological approaches to centre power and positionality in research on gender-based violence in emergencies
This article examines how applying participatory, feminist and anthropological methods in gender-based violence research can hold researchers accountable to both acknowledging and explicitly addressing power disparities.
Research paper
Sexual violence against men in conflict and post-conflict settings: A qualitative research methodology
This article describes the research design and the strategies employed in qualitative research with South Sudanese male refugee survivors of sexual violence who have resettled in two communities in Uganda since the onset of the 2013 South Sudan conflict.
Tools
Citizen ethnography in outbreak response: Guidance for establishing networks of researchers
This guidance outlines the steps for designing and implementing citizen-led ethnographic research, including those for recruitment, training and support of citizen researchers to collect and analyse ethnographic data, and how to transform the insights they gain to support preparedness and…
Briefing
Clinical and vaccine trials for COVID-19: Key Considerations from social science
This Key Considerations brief outlines how, and in what ways, social science can contribute to ongoing and future COVID-19 clinical and vaccine trials.
Briefing
Tools
Social science research for vaccine deployment in epidemic outbreaks
This Practical Approaches brief can be used to gain social science inputs in vaccine deployment efforts to provide practical solutions to recurring challenges, including vaccine refusal.
Briefing
Guidance for health care worker (HCW) surveys in humanitarian contexts in LMICs
This brief supports easy-to-access tools, best practice and practical examples for the use of HCW surveys in humanitarian contexts.
Briefing
What social sciences researchers working in humanitarian contexts (sub-Saharan Africa) should be asking in COVID-19 and why
A summary of suggested key social science research questions and their rationale to support and inform operational field research and response programming in sub-Saharan Africa.
Briefing
6 ways to incorporate social context and trust in infodemic management
This brief explains how social science can inform infodemiology by making it more attuned to different social, political and cultural contexts and to the relationships between people and formal institutions.
Comment
Novelty and uncertainty: Social science contributions to a response to COVID-19
This comment argues that political questions around discourses of preparedness and response need to enter the debate about current and future responses to uncertain and alarming scenarios of novel emergence.
Briefing
Tools
Taking a psychosocial approach to epidemic response
This Practical Approaches brief highlights key considerations for taking a psychosocial approach to working in the context of an epidemic.
Briefing
Tools
Rapid remote context analysis tool (RR-CAT) in epidemics
This SSHAP Practical Approaches brief underlines key considerations when appraising the context in which an outbreak occurs.
Background report
Evidence review
Social science in epidemics: Ebola virus disease lessons learned
Summary and background reports offering recommendations on local customs, health care systems and other topics.
Background report
Evidence review
Social science in epidemics: Influenza and SARS lessons learned
Summary and background reports exploring transmission, surveillance and other aspects of outbreaks.
Blog
What does a decade of social sciences research tell us about health?
This blog relates to the Evidence Synthesis Research Award report and summary across health related research, from 122 research grants.
