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CHAPTER 1: UNDERSTAND THE FIELD

A grounding in the humanitarian sector, the Connecting Business initiative, and the value of collective private sector action around DRM are all important to ensure private sector networks and other actors are building toward a common vision. This chapter will provide an overview of these topics, as well as available external resources.

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The resources in this chapter help answer the following questions:

  1. What constitutes a humanitarian or natural disaster?

  2. What are the 'humanitarian principles' and why are they important?

  3. What is the basic humanitarian architecture and who are the key actors?

  4. What are the vision, mission and objectives of CBi?

  5. What is the value proposition of a private sector network for DRM as a platform for collective action and what are the roles and activities of these networks?

  6. What are the requirements and types of support provided to networks by CBi?

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3. What is the basic humanitarian architecture and who are the key actors?

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<<OVERVIEW>>

 

Countries are ultimately responsible for response efforts to disasters within their territories. External support, such as from the UN, is only triggered if:[4]

  • A Country's national capacity is exceeded and,

  • The Country requests and/or accepts international assistance

 

Many actors are involved in disaster risk management[5]:


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<<THE UN SYSTEM>>

 

The United Nations response to a humanitarian disaster is coordinated by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

 

The most senior UN official dealing with humanitarian affairs is the Emergency Relief Coordinator (ERC), an OCHA official mandated to coordinate international assistance during an emergency response. The ERC Chairs the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) which is a forum for coordination, policy development and decision making involving key humanitarian actors. The ERC reports directly to the UN Secretary General, and their responsibilities include

  • Processing Members States' requests

  • Coordinating humanitarian assistance

  • Ensuring information management and sharing to support early warning and response

  • Facilitating access to emergency areas

  • Organizing needs assessments, preparing joint appeals, and mobilizing resources

  • Supporting a smooth transition from relief to recovery operations

 

At the country level, a Humanitarian Coordinator (HC) is typically appointed by the ERC when large scale and/or sustained international humanitarian assistance is required in a country. The decision to assign an HC is typically made at the beginning of a crisis in consultation with the relevant government. In some cases the Resident Coordinator (RC), the UN Secretary General's designated representative in the country, is appointed HC. In other cases the ERC may appoint the Head of Agency (UN or INGO) or a standalone HC from a pre-selected pool. In the absence of an HC being appointed, the RC is responsible for the coordination of response efforts by the UN's country team and other key actors.

 

The cluster system was introduced in 2005. The clusters are groups of humanitarian organizations working in the main sectors of humanitarian action. Clusters are accountable for providing adequate and appropriate assistance, and creating partnerships with international, national and local actors.  Each cluster will have one or two lead agencies.  Note: It can often make sense for private sector networks to organize their members into industry groups linked to specific clusters, to provide a clear channel for coordination.  We will cover this further in Chapter 3: Establish the Network Model.

  • At the global level, the clusters are responsible for strengthening system wide preparedness and coordinating technical capacity to respond to emergencies in their sector

  • At the country level, clusters ensure humanitarian organizations activities are coordinated and serve as first point of call for the government, the UN RC and HC

 

Global leads are accountable to the IASC, while country leads are accountable to the HC and RC. The cluster lead agencies at the country level do not necessarily need to be the same agencies as the global leads, as the country level leads should reflect the local context and capacities. In additional, not all clusters will always be activated at the country level in an emergency.

 

When connecting with the local government, UN individuals and clusters often coordinate and interface at different levels.

  • The Humanitarian Coordinator interfaces with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or its equivalent

  • The OCHA humanitarian country team, which reports to the HC, typically interfaces with the National Disaster Management Organization, or its equivalent

  • Each cluster commonly coordinates and interfaces with the relevant government agency or ministry

 

The Cluster System:

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Image: humanitarianresponse.info

 

<<ADDITIONAL EXTERNAL RESOURCES>>

 

For further information on the humanitarian architecture we suggest

 

For further information on the UN cluster system we suggest

 

For further information on key humanitarian terms and definitions we suggest

 

To gain greater understanding of the private sector's role in disaster risk management we suggest

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For further information on the potential role of civil-military coordination during emergencies, we suggest

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[4] http://www.unocha.org/publications/asiadisasterresponse/InternationalHumanitarianArchitecture.html

[5] http://www.globalhumanitarianassistance.org/tools/guides/humanitarian-aid-network/

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