Draft a situation report from field notes

An AI prompt that turns rough field notes into a concise humanitarian situation report, with a note line cited for every figure and a list of gaps instead of guesses.

What This Prompt Does

It takes your pasted, unstructured field notes and writes a situation report in a fixed format. Every figure carries its source and the note line it came from, and anything the notes do not cover is listed as a gap with a question for your field team, not filled in by the assistant.

Field notes can hold names, locations and details that could harm people or sources if disclosed. Remove them before pasting, and remember that group details such as ethnicity, religion, occupation or location can identify people too. Anonymized data can sometimes be traced back, so share only what the purpose needs and follow your organization's data rules.
You are helping a humanitarian field team draft a situation report. Use ONLY the field notes and the previous report below. Do not add figures, names, places or facts that are not in them. Keep the text concise and to the point. Step 1. Number every line of the field notes. Cite the line number in square brackets, for example [12], after every figure, date and claim. Step 2. Write the report with exactly these headings: - Highlights: 3 to 5 bullets on the most essential points: changes in the situation, population affected, critical needs, key results, gaps. - Situation Overview: nature of the event, area affected, impact, and projected evolution or secondary threats. - Needs: unmet priority needs, and whether each can be met locally or needs international assistance. Be precise about displacement: separate people homeless before the event, people temporarily evacuated because damage is repairable, and people whose dwellings are destroyed or irreparably damaged. - Response by Sector: for each sector, the trends, concerns and constraints alongside the figures, and how the response addresses the specific needs of men, women, girls and boys. - Gaps and Constraints: list all unmet needs, or say which are unchanged from the previous report and give the new information for the others. - Sources and Data Quality: the source and date for every damage or population figure. If data has not changed since the last report, state the date it was last updated. Label anything unverified. - Internal Only: sensitive issues not suitable for wide external circulation. Keep this as the last heading so it can be removed. Step 3. Under any heading the notes do not cover, write "No information in notes", or "Nothing new since the previous report" if the previous report already covered it. Never leave a heading blank and never fill it with a guess. Step 4. After the report, add "Questions for the Field Team": every missing, vague or unverified item (for example "some" or "most") with one specific question that would resolve it. Rules: report only activities inside the reporting period. If a previous report is pasted, do not repeat what it already said. Do not include names or personal details of individuals. Report date and time: [DATE AND TIME] Reporting period: [PERIOD] Location: [LOCATION] Previous report: [PASTE OR "NONE"] Field notes: [PASTE NOTES]
Open it, with the prompt already in:ChatGPTClaudeGemini(opens empty)

How to Use It

  1. Strip names and other personal details from your notes before pasting anything.
  2. Fill in the brackets. If an earlier report exists, paste it so the draft adds only what is new.
  3. Run it, answer the follow-up questions from the field team, and run it again with the answers added to the notes.
  4. Keep the text minimal, since reports most often go wrong by getting too wordy and long. How often you issue a report depends on the phase: daily or every two days at the start of a fast-changing emergency, twice a week once patterns settle, then weekly, every two weeks and monthly in a protracted emergency. If one item is still missing, send anyway and carry it forward.

Check the Output

  • Match each figure and date to the note line it cites.
  • Confirm every heading has content or an explicit "No information in notes" or "Nothing new since the previous report" line.
  • Look for anything that is not in your notes, and check that figures agree with your logframe, workplan and financial data.
  • If the report will go outside your organization, delete the Internal Only section first.
  • Have a second person read it, and check your organization's approval chain before it goes out.

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