If you encountered the previous POST entitled “Spin Up Time” – consider this the second verse of that song – just with some additional detail you can use in setting your own expectations.

Setting Expectations

Everyone has expectations – whether they realize it or not. After hearing our vision, you may not need any additional information to sign up and join us. But at some point, most people want more detail as to “What’s the plan?!” It’s a question that everyone should ask, even if they don’t.

These 4 Phases are a starting point. We expect to adapt and evolve our plans as the network grows and learns. Benchmarks, goals, and numbers are all subject to change.

Our priority is to be transparent with our First Responders – those who are joining us in building this global enterprise from the ground up. We want to set realistic expectations so you’re not disappointed by the initial pace. Realizing our full vision takes time, and these phases are a roadmap to get there together.

For many, signing up will be something simple that only takes a little bit of time and thought. That will be followed up by inviting a handful of other people to join. After that, there may not be much IDRN activity beyond that for a while. As long as that’s the expectation, our members will be pleased to learn when there is more being defined and built in the coming months and years.

IDRN will hopefully overdeliver as we are careful regarding our promises. We do promise there will be some amount of uncertainty, changes, and hopefully not too much chaos from time to time as we figure out the best approaches to:

• building our registries,
• maximizing awareness,
• highlighting best practices, and
• enhancing collaborative efforts.

If you have questions, please email me or use the general contact form on this website.

– J Matt Wallace, IDRN Global, Executive Director

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International Disaster Response Network Developmental Phases

Phase 1: Respond – “First Responders”

• Initial launch: Limited network visibility
• Focus: Recruiting individual members
• Key goals before next Phase:
  • 65+ countries represented
  • 30+ champions
  • Initial Financial Pledge goals reached
• Next steps: Streamline network entry, improve invitation tools

Phase 2: Build – “Community Builders”

• Controlled access: Primarily manual group management
• Focus: Building out group participation
• Key goals before next Phase:
  • 100+ countries represented
  • 300+ active groups
  • 60+ champions
  • All service sectors managed
  • Mobile app access to registries

Phase 3: Impact – “Force Multipliers”

• Active collaboration: Network members working together
• Growth: Expansion of both people/group and resource registries
• Public impact: Curated Event Activation Reports for public awareness
• Key goals before next Phase:
  • 2000+ curated resource registry entries
  • Fully functional online tools (mobile & web)
  • Sustainable funding for ongoing systems
  • Active response reports used on 6 continents

Phase 4: Realize – “Potential Liberators”

• Self-sustaining culture: Network operates independently
• Global recognition:
  • Membership and Resource Registries recognized as key resources
  • Event Registries known as the highest quality
  • Network known as one of the most trustworthy sources of unbiased response information
• Key goals:
  • 1 in 10 people globally aware of the network (IDRN)
  • IDRN trusted as the best place for initial connection and learning