The Emergencies Partnership was set up in 2018 to create space for better collaboration between the voluntary and community sector (VCS), emergency services, local councils and other important partners that need to work together during emergencies. 

Building resilience is an all-year-round job and most of our work happens outside emergencies, helping partners to prepare, connect and build trust with others, and learn from emergencies, when they happen. 

We also have an active role during emergencies. We focus on:

• Reminding partners of relevant lessons learned from past emergencies

• Reflecting the work of the sector during an emergency, by sharing useful information about what partners are doing  

• Connecting and convening where needed, especially if there are gaps in support

• Afterwards, we focus on supporting learning by providing space to debrief. 

How we communicate during emergencies 

During emergencies we have a range of ways to communicate with partners and we make decisions on how best to do this based on what’s appropriate to the type and size of the emergency and how many partners are involved. 

Our communication methods can include:

• Small email or WhatsApp groups

• Email bulletins to all partners or a smaller group of partners directly affected by an emergency

• Updates and resources shared on our social media channels and website  

• If there’s a need to get many partners together in one space, we can convene an extraordinary network call. 

If you’d like to get in touch to discuss our role in emergencies, please contact us and a member of the team will get back to you: info@vcsep.org.uk