The Time-Quality-Resources tool supports RCCE-IM practitioners in making transparent decisions under pressure. In emergencies, actions must often be taken quickly, based on incomplete evidence and limited resources. This tool helps users reflect on these constraints and make informed trade-offs.
Time refers to urgency and speed of delivery. Quality refers to the strength and relevance of available information, including scientific data and community insights. Resources include funding, staff, expertise and operational capacity.
The tool guides users to prioritise two of these dimensions while understanding the implications for the third. It highlights risks, suggests adjustments and promotes transparency about limitations.
Purpose: The Time-Quality-Resources tool supports RCCE-IM practitioners in making transparent and structured decisions under constraints. It helps users reflect on trade-offs between urgency, strength of evidence and available resources, and guides them towards realistic and ethically sound choices.
Step 1 – Define the task
Clearly define the RCCE-IM task. This may include developing guidance, responding to misinformation, conducting a rapid assessment or designing a campaign. Key question: What needs to be delivered?
Step 2 – Set minimum quality requirements
Identify what level of evidence is required to act responsibly. Consider ethical standards, risk of harm and the need for community input. Key question: What is the minimum evidence needed to act?
Step 3 – Assess time constraints
Indicate how much time is available, ranging from immediate response to longer-term planning. Key question: How urgent is the task?
Step 4 – Assess available resources
Assess what resources are available or can realistically be mobilised. Key question: What resources are available?
Step 5 – Select your priority combination
Choose which two dimensions must be prioritised and review the implications provided by the tool.
Safeguards across all options
- Ensure transparency about what is known and unknown
- Include community perspectives wherever possible
- Avoid harm and consider unintended consequences
- Document decisions and trade-offs
- Plan for iteration and adjustment
Ethical basis: All decisions supported by the tool should align with public health ethics and human rights principles. Evidence should be inclusive and reflect diverse populations. Outputs should be accessible, culturally appropriate and equitable.
Public health emergencies require decisions to be made under uncertainty, time pressure and public scrutiny. RCCE-IM aims to enable and empower people and stakeholders to make informed decisions that protect them from harm. Communication that is fast but poorly grounded may reduce trust. Communication that is methodologically robust but too slow may miss critical windows of opportunity.
Conceptual basis
The tool is based on the project-management triangle (iron triangle), which describes the relationship between time, cost and quality. For RCCE-IM, "cost" is replaced by "resources" — including funding, staff time, expertise, community networks, translation, monitoring capacity and operational logistics. "Quality" refers to the strength and appropriateness of the evidence base and effectiveness of RCCE-IM interventions.
Ethical and equity considerations
The tool should be applied in line with public health ethics and human rights principles. Quality includes equity, accessibility, cultural and linguistic appropriateness, participation and transparency. Outputs that are technically accurate but not accessible or inclusive should not be considered high quality.
Limitations
The tool is intentionally simple. It supports communication and reflection but does not replace evidence appraisal, professional judgement or context analysis. It does not capture all relevant dimensions such as trust, governance or power dynamics.
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