The
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
is very pleased to have the opportunity to speak on the important
issue of humanitarian coordination among International Agencies
at this influential conference.
The topic is one of great significance for the Federation and
one on which we have learnt much from our experience in the
tsunami affected countries and Pakistan. The presentation will
therefore make some general comments about coordination and
the new approach being used with clusters, provide background
information on the tsunami and Pakistan earthquake, look at
coordination mechanisms used in these disasters and highlight
some of the challenges for the international community.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
is the world's largest humanitarian organization, providing
assistance without discrimination as to nationality, race, religious
beliefs, class or political opinions. It is made up of a worldwide
network of member Red Cross and Red Crescent societies, a Secretariat
in Geneva and more than 60 delegations strategically located
to support activities around the world.
The Federation's mission is to improve the lives of vulnerable
people by mobilizing the power of humanity. The Federation,
together with National Societies and the International Committee
of the Red Cross, make up the International Red Cross and Red
Crescent Movement.
The National Societies act as auxiliaries to the public authorities
of their own countries in the humanitarian field and provide
a range of services including disaster relief, health and social
programmes, and assistance to people affected by war.
Together, the National Societies have 97 million members and
volunteers, and 300,000 employees, assisting some 233 million
beneficiaries each year.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is an impartial,
neutral and independent organization whose exclusively humanitarian
mission is to protect the lives and dignity of victims of war
and internal violence and to provide them with assistance.
It directs and coordinates the international relief activities
conducted by the Movement in situations of conflict. It also
endeavours to prevent suffering by promoting and strengthening
humanitarian law and universal humanitarian principles.
Coordination from the IFRC Perspective
The coordination of the Federation's work with others is an
essential part of any humanitarian response and must involve
beneficiaries, the national red cross/red crescent society and
its branches, the other Red Cross and Red Crescent societies
providing a response, the government, the UN system, donors,
and a range of local and international NGOs.
However, experience shows that instead of a properly integrated
approach to the programming, delivery and distribution of humanitarian
assistance, there is often a patchwork of decisions based on
considerations, which may have little to do with the needs of
vulnerable people.
At a global level one of our main focal points for cooperation
is the Inter Agency Standing Committee (IASC), in which the
IFRC is a standing invitee. The IASC addresses a range of humanitarian
issues and aims to improve both co-ordination and the collaborative
approach to humanitarian response.
This year, for example, the Federation expects to work with
the IASC in strengthening capacities for disaster response at
the local, national and regional levels.
The Federation will play a significant part in this exercise,
bringing to the table the experience it can draw from its global
network at both national and community level.
The diversity of our network, reflected by a significant role
women hold at all levels, and by equal access for people of
all backgrounds, makes it capable of supplying the very best
of advice and expertise in support of work at the international
level.
This must also be reflected at all levels of national and local
government and with local communities. Supporting national and
local authorities in developing appropriate disaster risk reduction
strategies, including preparedness and response plans, with
community participation is critical.
Disaster management is not a task to be undertaken only in the
aftermath of a disaster nor is it a task to be undertaken alone.
Adequate coordination and cooperation needs to be planned, must
be multi-dimensional and include all sectors - government, civil
society, the private sector and the international community.
Red Cross Red Crescent experience shows that well functioning
disaster management is carried out utilising a holistic approach
covering emergency relief, rehabilitation, recovery, reconstruction,
and prevention and preparedness.
Although managed within national coordination programmes, it
is delivered through partnerships at the community level spanning
a wide range of activities and efforts ranging from promoting
tolerance and anti-discrimination to reducing greenhouse gases,
to planning for evacuation and rescue etc.
Developing, strengthening and mobilising the Federation network
in cooperation and coordination with other stakeholders is one
of our most valuable contributions to improved humanitarian
action, and to the safety, security and dignity of individuals
around the world who are threatened by, or are victims of, disasters.
The Cluster Approach
In August last year the UN published the results of a major
review of humanitarian response - the Humanitarian Response
Review. This contained some 36 recommendations that focused
on:
• the need for a global mapping of humanitarian response
capacities;
• the development and application of performance benchmarks
and indicators;
• the strengthening of international response capacities,
with an emphasis on increasing predictability;
• improving the coordination of the international response
system;
• the assigning of clear responsibilities to lead organizations
at sector level, with a priority on the protection and care
of IDPs;
• the development of clusters to address response gaps;
and
• the adequacy of funding to ensure a timely response
particularly in neglected situations.
Many of the recommendations were directed at the IASC and consequently
over the summer of last year the IASC identified the critical
areas with gaps as protection, emergency shelter, camp coordination/management,
water and sanitation, nutrition, health, logistics, telecommunications
and early recovery.
Clusters of agencies were established for these areas: they
included clusters that are primarily concerned with service
provision (e.g. telecommunications and logistics), with the
provision of relief and assistance to beneficiaries (e.g. nutrition,
water and sanitation, camp coordination/management, emergency
shelter and health) and those that cover a broad range of cross
cutting issues (such as protection and early recovery).
Lead agencies were identified for each of the clusters and over
the last six months work has been undertaken by each cluster
in mapping global capacity, establishing better stockpiles where
necessary, building a surge capacity and identifying and where
necessary developing tools and resources to improve response.
The cluster process at the global level has enabled the international
community to move forward in addressing the identified gaps
although much remains to be done.
One intention of the cluster approach was to move from addressing
gaps at the global level to addressing gaps at the national
level.
Whilst recognising the importance of national and regional level
solutions to humanitarian gaps more discussion and clarifications
are required to effectively transfer the concept from a global
to national level.
The use of the cluster approach in Pakistan had clearly demonstrated
the need for more work in this area. The IASC and the individual
clusters are currently considering these problems.
Tsunami Response and Recovery
On 24th December 2004, a major earthquake followed by tsunami
struck the shores of the Indian Ocean and caused extensive death
and damage across many countries and communities in Asia and
Africa.
Since then the global response to this disaster has developed
into the largest and longest-term relief and recovery operation
in the history of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent
Movement.
Beyond those national societies directly affected through the
immediate and impressive actions of their own local volunteers
and staff, national societies across the world responded with
unprecedented levels of support and commitments from their own
governments and public for the rebuilding of the affected communities.
In December last year the Federation revised its long-term "Emergency
and Recovery Plan of Action 2005 - 2010". This provides a long-term
indication of required support and involvement for continuing
relief requirements and for the important recovery phase.
The priority areas for ongoing interventions in the affected
countries are the four core areas of the Federation: health
and care (including water and sanitation), disaster management,
organizational development and promotion of humanitarian values;
and recovery (particularly rebuilding of houses and infrastructure
and livelihoods rehabilitation).
This has necessitated close coordination with the communities,
with the authorities, with many other agencies and organizations,
as well as within the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement itself.
In most countries affected by the tsunami Red Cross and Red
Crescent Movement frameworks for the management of the tsunami
recovery operations have been established.
In-country coordination forums have also been held bringing
together the recipient national society, the Federation, partner
societies, the ICRC, and the government. Such forums provide
an overview of political, humanitarian and social issues affecting
the tsunami operation; review Movement activities; review the
effectiveness of technical working groups; examine coordination
mechanisms, and create action plans for programme implementation.
The Federation has also organized regular partner national society
coordination meetings to further coordinate tsunami response
and recovery support activities. The Federation continues to
work closely with governmental agencies, UN agencies and NGOs
working on tsunami recovery efforts in all tsunami affected
countries.
In addition to coordination mechanisms at a country level, the
Federation's regional delegations in Bangkok and Delhi play
key roles in coordinating and facilitating support to the national
societies.
At the international level the Federation participates in the
IASC-UNDG Tsunami Task Force and also plays a key role in the
Global Consortium, a sub-group of the UN Special Envoy for Tsunami
Recovery office set up to examine country-level coordination
mechanisms for recovery in tsunami-affected countries.
These coordination mechanisms not only provide an opportunity
to ensure that the Federation's activities are coordinated with
other international players and with the governments of the
affected countries but they also provide an opportunity to profile
the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement's and
Federation's mandate in the tsunami response and the guiding
principles and added value of the Movement.
The Federation will continue to actively share information with
the respective governments, UN and other agencies.
Pakistan Earthquake
On 8th October 2005 northern Pakistan and northern India were
devastated by a major earthquake. In Pakistan, 87,000 people
were killed and 70,000 injured, the largest numbers among them
being women, children and the elderly. More than 3.5 million
people were made homeless and the disaster was regarded as one
of the deadliest in the region in living memory.
Within hours the Pakistan Red Crescent Society (PRCS), the International
Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies ("the Federation")
and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) became
engaged in a major relief operation in conjunction with the
wider humanitarian community.
It is estimated that the collective response of the Red Cross/Red
Crescent Movement is the largest outside of the Government of
Pakistan itself, which responded on a massive scale. The mountainous
and heavily truncated terrain, the size of the affected area
(over 30,000 sq. km), the intensity of the damage to mountain
villages, on-going landslides causing road blockages and obliteration,
and the arrival of the winter snow and rains made this disaster
one of the most complicated and intense logistical relief operations
undertaken in the region.
The focus of the Federation's activities have been on the provision
of emergency shelter materials and other relief items, such
as medicine and potable water, to vulnerable communities over
the winter months (October-March). From late October to early
December, the Federation recognised the need to restore livelihoods
and homes as a means of avoiding aid dependency and further
death or suffering.
This was also prioritised by the Government of Pakistan in its
own planning. The last three months of the winter have seen
some major challenges to the Federation's ongoing response operation.
Although the winter weather in Pakistan has been in general
warm for the time of year, there have a number of landslides
and avalanches, which have blocked distributions.
In addition, recent religious celebrations and heightened security
awareness have limited delegates' movement and the level of
relief distributions. However, the ongoing relief operations
are reaching more and more vulnerable families and exceed the
Federation's appeal target of 81,000 families.
Since winter is far from over, plans to maintain a focus on
the most vulnerable are being developed. In anticipation of
future needs, some planning has gone into assisting families
who will be vacating camps to return to their former communities
to rebuild homes and plant crops.
Teams from the Pakistan Red Crescent Society (PRCS) are being
trained in monitoring and assessing beneficiaries, and will
maintain contact with these vulnerable groups to obtain early
indications of any unforeseen needs.
Beneficiary families are also continuing to rebuild their homes,
most of them in accordance with specifications for earthquake
resistant structures, and the Federation / PRCS are working
in cooperation with the Government of Pakistan and other agencies
to provide corrugated galvanised iron sheeting and shelter repair
kits to support them.
To enhance consultation and cooperation, the Federation delegation
in Islamabad recently engaged a liaison delegate for interagency
coordination.
This delegate will play a key role in representing the Federation
and PRCS at various meetings on behalf of the operations, the
recovery team, the movement coordinator and the head of delegation.
Staff in Mansehra, together with their PRCS counterparts, participate
in various cluster meetings and the joint recovery planning
group at field level.
Recent meetings have identified gaps and opportunities that
can be filled by improved cooperation between UN agencies, NGOs
and the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement.
Although it was agreed that the Cluster Approach would be applied
to new major emergencies beginning in 2006, the interagency
response to the South Asia Earthquake offered an important trial
opportunity for improving coordination and response in the spirit
of the cluster approach.
Shortly after the earthquake hit Pakistan, the Humanitarian
Coordinator and the UN Country Team, decided to apply the spirit
of the Cluster Approach as the framework for coordinating the
emergency response in Pakistan.
A cluster structure was established in Islamabad, an Appeal
was organized through the clusters, and field cluster sites
were later designated in each of the four local level "humanitarian
hubs." These field hubs have since become the focal points for
operational coordination between UN agencies and the Pakistan
Federal Relief Commission, Pakistan Military, institutional
donors, NGOs, and the Federation.
The introduction of the cluster approach in Pakistan was however
possibly premature since there was an inconsistent understanding
of what was meant by such an approach. Roles and responsibilities
were not clearly defined and there was a lack of guidance, Terms
of Reference, and documentation.
For many practitioners in the field, the distinction between
the Cluster Approach and the traditional sector-lead was not
clear. The approach presented the staff of a number of agencies,
including the Federation with a dilemma in terms of separating
cluster responsibilities from their agency mandates and some
clusters appeared to be driven as much by agency priorities
as by cluster responsibilities.
Although the early performance of the cluster methodology in
Pakistan was uneven and problematic, the approach successfully
provided a single and recognizable framework for coordination,
collaboration, decision-making, and practical solutions in a
chaotic operational environment.
However it has presented challenges for the participants in
terms of resource mobilisation and on the utilisation of limited
staff resources to support cluster activities.
Fortunately the Government of Pakistan readily adapted their
relief strategy into a cluster model. From a Federation perspective
it was recognised that the success of the relief effort in Pakistan
resulted from a competent and adept performance by the Government
of Pakistan.
Coordination challenges
Coordination requires a continuing effort and input if it is
to be effective and this is required at different levels - international.
Regional, national local, across sectors and clusters. It is
necessary to ensure that coordination is working within a sector
and between sectors.
All this requires considerable time and effort at a time when
there is a considerable pressure to get on and ensure that lives
are saved and that the needs of disaster victims are rapidly
responded to.
Getting the balance right is extremely important but frequently
very difficult. Disasters such as the tsunami and the Pakistan
Earthquake have received considerable media attention and as
a result the response is generous.
But a generous response frequently means a greater number of
responding organisations. wanting to provide a response. Coordination
with these organisations and their response can be very difficult
particularly if new agencies do not see the value of effective
coordination.
From an international humanitarian perspective we must however
keep reviewing and finding new ways of ensuring that both our
coordination and our response is as effective as it can be.
For us that is a significant challenge as more and more national
societies want to be seen to be responding to major disasters.
At the global and the national level it is essential that all
the humanitarian players are part of any coordination system
or process. That may include the Red Cross and Red Crescent
Movement, the UN system, NGOs, donors, financial institutions,
other international organisation, the Government and its departments,
civil society and, in an increasing number of situations, the
military from various countries.
It is important to ensure that all of these are part of the
coordination mechanism.
The cluster approach has been a new initiative for the international
humanitarian community and it has made some significant improvements
to the way that the humanitarian players work together.
However it has been problematic in transferring this process
from a global approach to a national and local approach. The
work of the IASC will need to continue to ensure that we quickly
get the systems right.
The Federation recognises the value of working jointly with
relevant humanitarian agencies and of undertaking activities
in a multi-agency setting following disasters.
The Federation wishes to improve cooperation and coordination
in post-disaster planning and implementation, to more efficiently
utilise resources, and to have a cluster approach that provides
the most appropriate response to the affected peoples.
However, the Federation also recognises that joint activities
and coordinated approaches may not be appropriate where there
is a need for a mandate-specific activity, where organisational
values and operating principles are not compatible, and where
collaboration jeopardises the principles of neutrality and impartiality.
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