Managing a crisis: crisis management team, hibernation, relocation, evacuation, kidnapping

1What is a crisis?

A crisis is a situation that seriously threatens people, the organisation's ability to function or its reputation, and that goes beyond ordinary procedures: kidnapping, violent death, attack on a base, evacuation from a country, a disaster affecting staff, a serious scandal.

Crisis management relies on a structure prepared in advance:

• Crisis management team (at headquarters or regional level): decides the strategy, mobilises resources, manages relations with families, authorities, donors and the media.
• Incident management team (at country level): manages the situation on the ground and implements decisions.

This separation allows the field to concentrate on action while the crisis management team manages the environment and strategic decisions. Both must have written terms of reference, designated members and alternates, and have carried out at least one simulation exercise.

2The first hours

The first hours often determine the outcome of a crisis. Typical action list:

• Activate the team according to the agreed criteria; appoint a lead and a secretary who keeps the crisis log (time, information, source, decision, person responsible).
• Establish the facts: distinguish what is confirmed, probable, rumour.
• Protect people: move the rest of the staff to safety, medical assistance, regrouping.
• Inform families (through a designated person), staff and senior management; control external communication (no public comment without a decision by the crisis management team).
• Take urgent decisions: security level, suspension of activities, movements.
• Plan the next hours and the handovers: a crisis can last for weeks, and fatigue is a risk.

The crisis log is not a formality: it keeps a record of decisions, protects the organisation legally and avoids repeating the same discussions at every handover.

3Hibernation, relocation, evacuation

Three options when the situation deteriorates, described in the security plan:

• Hibernation: staying in place, gathered in a safe location, until the immediate danger passes (fighting in the town, riots). It requires stocks (water, food, fuel, medicines), communications and a decision on the maximum duration.
• Relocation: moving some of the staff to a safer area within the same country (capital, another region), generally the most exposed or non-essential staff.
• Evacuation: getting staff out of the country. For international staff, this often means returning to their home country; for national staff, evacuation out of the country is legally and practically complex, and rarely possible.

The point of no return: beyond a certain moment (airport closed, roads cut), evacuation is no longer possible. You must therefore decide early, on the basis of indicators, rather than waiting for certainty.

Evacuation calculation. 46 people to relocate by a 12-seat aircraft; 2 seats reserved for airline staff and communications equipment: 10 usable seats per rotation. 5 rotations are needed. If each rotation takes 3 hours and the airstrip closes at nightfall, only 3 rotations can be made per day: 2 days at least. The priority list (most exposed people, sick people, non-essential staff) is drawn up in advance.

4National staff in crises

National staff are often the most exposed and the least protected during crises. Good practice:

• Discuss in advance with each staff member their own risks (profile, place of origin, family) and the realistic options.
• Provide internal relocation options for those who are threatened because of their employment.
• Guarantee continuity of salaries in the event of suspension (salary advances before an evacuation, remote payment methods).
• Maintain contact and support after international staff have left.
• Do not transfer responsibility for programmes to national staff or partners without resources or agreement, thereby exposing those who remain.

Example. Before an evacuation, an organisation pays a three-month salary advance to its 60 national staff, sets up a daily call tree, and agrees a simple protocol with them: no activity is maintained without an assessment and the agreement of each person, and no staff member keeps organisational assets that would put them in danger.

5Kidnapping and detention

Kidnapping is one of the most serious and longest-lasting crises. Generally accepted principles (to be adapted to each organisation's policy and the applicable law):

• Prevention: analysis of exposed profiles, low profile, varied routes and timings, control of published information (including staff social media).
• Preparation: a written policy (including the organisation's position on ransoms, which varies between organisations and laws), confidential "proof of life" forms completed in advance by exposed staff (questions to which only the person knows the answer), specialist insurance where appropriate, specialist consultants identified.
• Management: a dedicated crisis management team, strictly controlled communication, coordination with the family and, depending on the case, with the authorities and governments concerned, support from specialists.
• Afterwards: long-term medical and psychological support for the released person and their family, as well as for colleagues.

Arbitrary detention by authorities or armed groups requires a rapid reaction: locate the person, contact the authorities, legal support, visits if possible, inform the family.

6Practising and learning lessons

A crisis management team that has never practised loses precious hours. Exercises range from a discussion around a scenario (a 2- to 3-hour tabletop exercise) to a full simulation with real-time information injects.

A good exercise tests: activation (who calls whom, and how quickly), allocation of roles, flow of information, keeping of the log, difficult decisions (for example: whether or not to inform the media, evacuate or hibernate), and handover.

A simple indicator. Time to activate the crisis management team: target under 2 hours. During an exercise, the alert is given at 22:00; the first member is reached at 22:20, and the full team meets at 00:45: 2 hours 45 minutes, beyond the target. Cause: the contact list was out of date and two alternates had not been designated. Action: quarterly update of the list, alternates appointed, monthly call test.

After any real crisis, a review (after at least a few weeks) examines what worked and what needs to change, with the same learning culture as for incidents.