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NEAT+ tool Piloting in Zambia

The Nexus Environmental Assessment Tool (NEAT+) is a tool developed by the UN Environment/OCHA Joint Unit which allows humanitarian practitioners implementing projects in crisis settings to quickly gain an overview of the environmental risks associated with their activities.

NEAT+ combines information on available environmental sensitivities with site-specific data, allowing project managers to understand environmental sensitivities and implement mitigation measures. NEAT+ is based on the commonly used data collection software KoBo Toolbox and provides an automatically generated report in Excel. The tool was developed in response to an identified need for a simple and pragmatic project level environmental screening tool that can be used without initial environmental expertise. NEAT+ supports the mainstreaming of environment in humanitarian response, thereby improving the quality and accountability of humanitarian programming.

Download the tool here.

Pilot Testing in Zambia

In December 2018, NEAT+ was pilot tested with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in the Mantapala refugee settlement, Zambia, on the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. It identified and synthesized multiple risks facing the settlement – both overall environmental sensitivities and those relating to specific food security, shelter and WASH activities. The NEAT+ team then worked with UNHCR to build on this analysis and propose mitigation measures.

The test identified opportunities for improvement of the content and functionality. It concluded that  NEAT+ is straightforward to use, provides accurate and nuanced results, condenses heavy environmental guidance documents efficiently and strengthens linkages to planning cycles. NEAT+ can also act as an awareness raising tool, enables remote assistance and prioritization of technical support. It can be the first step towards bringing in non-traditional humanitarian actors to work collectively to address the risks highlighted.

Consult how the NEAT+ piloting process unfolded in Zambia here. The UN Environment news article on the testing can also be consulted here.

Further Reading/Download

Download the NEAT+ tool here.

To learn more about NEAT+ please visit https://ehaconnect.org/neat

To find out how it can support your organization’s planning, contact the UN Environment/Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Joint Unit (ochaunep@un.org).

NEAT Piloting test session in Zambia

NEAT Piloting test session in Zambia

Zambia

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