InterAction’s Framework for Protection Risk Analysis

Earlier this year, InterAction’s Protection team began a process of redesigning its reference handouts and how it presents material to the public. In collaboration with a design team, they were able to produce an updated visual representation of the Framework for Protection Risk Analysis. The first two pages of the new handout highlight Protection’s risk equation and identify types of risk that people are exposed to. It also provides a set of questions to consider when conducting protection risk analysis at each state of the risk question (threats, vulnerabilities, capacity, risk). The handout provides all the necessary information, and its enhanced design and explicative graphics make it easy to follow.

The last two pages of the framework provide a case study of how to apply the framework to a protection setting. The study looks at coercion and the forced recruitment of children into armed groups in Northern Uganda. Readers can see a breakdown of the framework and how each of the questions from page 2 can be answered in this context. The “Core Principles” section further explains how and when protection analysis should be utilized. Lastly, a detailed graphic clearly demonstrates how decreases in vulnerabilities and threats, combined with an increase in capacity, can lead to a decrease in risk. The non-linear display of the process exemplified through the graphic emphasizes the iterative nature of protection analysis.