Strengthening the Humanitarian Coordination System

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Strengthening the Humanitarian Coordination System
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Main tenets

• Humanitarian Coordination strengthening is one of
  the three pillars of Humanitarian Reform.
  
• The objective is to strengthen the humanitarian
  coordination function, whether it is performed by
  HCs or RCs.
  
• Humanitarian Coordination strengthening is the
  collective responsibility of all humanitarian
  actors. This includes not only the UN family, but
  the entire humanitarian community (UN, NGOs, Red
  Cross Movement).
• The project does not seek to create a parallel HC
  system, but rather to mainstream as much as
  possible within the RC system.

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The IASC HC Group

• The governance mechanism for HC strengthening is
  the IASC HC Group, a sub-group of the IASC.
  
• The IASC is the principal forum of the
  humanitarian community, representing its three
  main families (UN, Red Cross, NGOs).
  
• The Group steers the work of the small OCHA
  secretariat working on HC strengthening.
  
• In September 2007 the IASC HC Group adopted a
  Workplan, which is now being implemented.
  
• The workplan has 5 components Policy
  Development, HC Pool Development, Leadership
  Development, Knowledge Management, and Support.

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Policy Development

• The objective of this component is to reach
  consensus among humanitarian stakeholders on key
  normative issues relating to humanitarian
  coordination.
• This year we will revise the HC Terms of
  Reference.
  
• We will align them as much as possible with the
  revised RC TOR.

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HC Pool Development

• The objective of this component is to expand the
  pool of potential HCs.
  
• An HC Pool was first established in 2006. Five of
  its members have been deployed to RC/HC positions
  in Afghanistan, the Central African Republic,
  Iraq, Tajikistan and Uganda (later withdrawn).
• New pool members will be drawn from among current
  HCs, current RCs, and from the humanitarian
  community at large.
  
• They will be selected by an inter-agency, IASC
  panel according to stringent, transparent and
  agreed criteria.
  
• All the selected individuals will be required to
  pass the Resident Coordinator Assessment Centre.
  
• Individualised professional development programs
  will be developed for them.

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Leadership Development

• The objective of this component is to enhance the
  knowledge and skills on humanitarian coordination
  of serving RCs and HCs.
  
• We are conducting regional workshops for RCs on
  humanitarian coordination.
  
• We are developing a pilot workshop for RCs and
  HCs on using international and national legal
  frameworks with respect to human rights and
  humanitarian law when working with governments.
• We are developing a mentoring system for
  newly-appointed HCs.
  
• We are working with DGO on the induction of new
  RCs.

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Knowledge Management

• The objective of this component is to ensure that
  information and knowledge on humanitarian
  coordination seamlessly circulate among RCs and
  HCs.
• We are working on a Handbook for RCs on
  humanitarian coordination.

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Support to HCs and to RCson humanitarian
coordination

• The objective of this component is to ensure that
  RCs and HCs receive the support they require to
  perform their humanitarian coordination
  functions.
• This includes ensuring that OCHA Headquarters and
  Field Offices provide RCs and HCs with
  appropriate guidance and support with regard to
  policy, advocacy and coordination.