Difference between revisions of "A Global Plan of Action - Background Paper: Planning and Coordination – Emergency and Protracted Crises"
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| − | Coordination is vital in humanitarian aid. It results in fewer gaps and and duplication in humanitarian aid. “Good coordination,” notes the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA), “strives for a needs-based, rather than capacity-driven, response. It aims to ensure a coherent and complementary approach, identifying ways to work together for better collective results.”<ref name="UN OCHA, “Cluster Coordination.” Accessed December 17, 2017. Available: https://www.unocha.org/legacy/what-we-do/coordination-tools/cluster-coordination ">UN OCHA, “Cluster Coordination.” Accessed December 17, 2017. Available: https://www.unocha.org/legacy/what-we-do/coordination-tools/cluster-coordination </ref> The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) states: | + | Coordination is vital in humanitarian aid. It results in fewer gaps and and duplication in humanitarian aid. “Good coordination,” notes the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA), “strives for a needs-based, rather than capacity-driven, response. It aims to ensure a coherent and complementary approach, identifying ways to work together for better collective results.”<ref name="UN OCHA, “Cluster Coordination.” Accessed December 17, 2017. Available: https://www.unocha.org/legacy/what-we-do/coordination-tools/cluster-coordination">UN OCHA, “Cluster Coordination.” Accessed December 17, 2017. Available: https://www.unocha.org/legacy/what-we-do/coordination-tools/cluster-coordination </ref> The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) states: |
| − | ''At its best, coordination can eliminate gaps and duplication in service, determine an appropriate division of responsibility and establish a framework for information sharing, policy agreements, program collaboration and joint planning. Perhaps the greatest challenge to coordination is the inherent difficulty of identifying a common purpose and approach among agencies whose mandates, methods, resources and systems are diverse.<ref name="IFRC, 2000, Disaster Preparedness Training Programme, p. 5. ">IFRC, 2000, Disaster Preparedness Training Programme, p. 5. </ref>'' | + | ''At its best, coordination can eliminate gaps and duplication in service, determine an appropriate division of responsibility and establish a framework for information sharing, policy agreements, program collaboration and joint planning. Perhaps the greatest challenge to coordination is the inherent difficulty of identifying a common purpose and approach among agencies whose mandates, methods, resources and systems are diverse.<ref name="IFRC, 2000, Disaster Preparedness Training Programme, p. 5.">IFRC, 2000, Disaster Preparedness Training Programme, p. 5. </ref>'' |
In the context of energy access in humanitarian settings, coordination is all the more important for two reasons. First, no formal mechanisms exist among UN or other international agencies to coordinate energy-related humanitarian interventions. Second, the issue of safe access to fuel and energy (SAFE) cuts across numerous sectors – health, food security, nutrition, protection, education, water and sanitation, telecommunications, and more. Moreover, it involves a broad set of actors, including humanitarian agencies, government representatives, the private sector, development professionals, technical experts, researchers, donors, investors, and others. | In the context of energy access in humanitarian settings, coordination is all the more important for two reasons. First, no formal mechanisms exist among UN or other international agencies to coordinate energy-related humanitarian interventions. Second, the issue of safe access to fuel and energy (SAFE) cuts across numerous sectors – health, food security, nutrition, protection, education, water and sanitation, telecommunications, and more. Moreover, it involves a broad set of actors, including humanitarian agencies, government representatives, the private sector, development professionals, technical experts, researchers, donors, investors, and others. | ||
| − | At present, energy-related assistance in humanitarian settings is still largely disparate – funded and implemented by individual agencies without reference to each other, to common strategies and principles, or to lessons learned in previous interventions. In recent years, however, the community of actors engaged in the nexus of energy and humanitarian aid has grown and cohered. The advent of SDG 7, combined with record levels of global displacement, presents an opportunity for this community to expand and improve energy programming in humanitarian settings by finding better ways to coordinate, collaborate, and share knowledge. | + | At present, energy-related assistance in humanitarian settings is still largely disparate – funded and implemented by individual agencies without reference to each other, to common strategies and principles, or to lessons learned in previous interventions. In recent years, however, the community of actors engaged in the nexus of energy and humanitarian aid has grown and cohered. The advent of SDG 7, combined with record levels of global displacement, presents an opportunity for this community to expand and improve energy programming in humanitarian settings by finding better ways to coordinate, collaborate, and share knowledge.<br/> |
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| + | = Problem Analysis = | ||
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| + | The challenges facing practitioners seeking to better coordinate energy interventions in humanitarian settings include (but are not limited to) the following: | ||
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| + | Lack of a formal role | ||
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| + | Although the need for energy impacts nearly every other sector in humanitarian aid (food security, health, etc.), and references to its importance date back over two decades,<ref name="See Bellanca, Raffaella, 2014, “Sustainable Energy Provision Among Displaced Populations Policy and Practice,” Chatham House. p7.">See Bellanca, Raffaella, 2014, “Sustainable Energy Provision Among Displaced Populations Policy and Practice,” Chatham House. p7.</ref> energy currently holds no formal role in the humanitarian system. It is not included in the Cluster Approach that is used for coordinating in non-refugee humanitarian emergencies.<ref name="Note: Protection and assistance to refugees is coordinated and delivered through the Refugee Coordination Model (RCM). The presence or lack thereof of energy in this model has not been assessed.">Note: Protection and assistance to refugees is coordinated and delivered through the Refugee Coordination Model (RCM). The presence or lack thereof of energy in this model has not been assessed.</ref> It is not a standard line item in the budgets of most major relief organizations, and it is frequently left out of strategic planning. It is neglected in key policy discourse, such as Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon’s report to the General Assembly on strengthening of the coordination of UN humanitarian and disaster relief assistance following the 2016 World Humanitarian Summit. | ||
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| + | In essence, there is simply no mandate to coordinate energy-related assistance. Consequently, it is up to individual agencies to coordinate their own activities. The Safe Access to Fuel and Energy (SAFE) Humanitarian Working Group<ref name="In March 2007, the United Nations Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Task Force on Safe Access to Firewood and Alternative Energy (IASC Task Force on SAFE) was established “to reduce exposure to violence, contribute to the protection of and ease the burden on those populations collecting wood in humanitarian settings worldwide, through solutions which will promote safe access to appropriate energy and reduce environmental impacts while ensuring accountability.” The Task Force’s mandate ended in 2009. Its work is has been independently and informally continued in the current SAFE Humanitarian Working Group.">In March 2007, the United Nations Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Task Force on Safe Access to Firewood and Alternative Energy (IASC Task Force on SAFE) was established “to reduce exposure to violence, contribute to the protection of and ease the burden on those populations collecting wood in humanitarian settings worldwide, through solutions which will promote safe access to appropriate energy and reduce environmental impacts while ensuring accountability.” The Task Force’s mandate ended in 2009. Its work is has been independently and informally continued in the current SAFE Humanitarian Working Group.</ref> – a consortium of agencies working to facilitate a more coordinated, predictable, timely, and effective response to the fuel and energy needs of crisis-affected populations – acts as an informal central coordination mechanism for energy interventions in humanitarian emergencies, but its efforts are hampered by a lack of funding and trained, full time staff dedicated for this purpose. | ||
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| + | = References = | ||
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| + | [[Category:Global_Plan_of_Action]] | ||
[[Category:Humanitarian_Settings]] | [[Category:Humanitarian_Settings]] | ||
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Revision as of 13:24, 21 March 2018
Description
Coordination is vital in humanitarian aid. It results in fewer gaps and and duplication in humanitarian aid. “Good coordination,” notes the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA), “strives for a needs-based, rather than capacity-driven, response. It aims to ensure a coherent and complementary approach, identifying ways to work together for better collective results.”[1] The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) states:
At its best, coordination can eliminate gaps and duplication in service, determine an appropriate division of responsibility and establish a framework for information sharing, policy agreements, program collaboration and joint planning. Perhaps the greatest challenge to coordination is the inherent difficulty of identifying a common purpose and approach among agencies whose mandates, methods, resources and systems are diverse.[2]
In the context of energy access in humanitarian settings, coordination is all the more important for two reasons. First, no formal mechanisms exist among UN or other international agencies to coordinate energy-related humanitarian interventions. Second, the issue of safe access to fuel and energy (SAFE) cuts across numerous sectors – health, food security, nutrition, protection, education, water and sanitation, telecommunications, and more. Moreover, it involves a broad set of actors, including humanitarian agencies, government representatives, the private sector, development professionals, technical experts, researchers, donors, investors, and others.
At present, energy-related assistance in humanitarian settings is still largely disparate – funded and implemented by individual agencies without reference to each other, to common strategies and principles, or to lessons learned in previous interventions. In recent years, however, the community of actors engaged in the nexus of energy and humanitarian aid has grown and cohered. The advent of SDG 7, combined with record levels of global displacement, presents an opportunity for this community to expand and improve energy programming in humanitarian settings by finding better ways to coordinate, collaborate, and share knowledge.
Problem Analysis
The challenges facing practitioners seeking to better coordinate energy interventions in humanitarian settings include (but are not limited to) the following:
Lack of a formal role
Although the need for energy impacts nearly every other sector in humanitarian aid (food security, health, etc.), and references to its importance date back over two decades,[3] energy currently holds no formal role in the humanitarian system. It is not included in the Cluster Approach that is used for coordinating in non-refugee humanitarian emergencies.[4] It is not a standard line item in the budgets of most major relief organizations, and it is frequently left out of strategic planning. It is neglected in key policy discourse, such as Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon’s report to the General Assembly on strengthening of the coordination of UN humanitarian and disaster relief assistance following the 2016 World Humanitarian Summit.
In essence, there is simply no mandate to coordinate energy-related assistance. Consequently, it is up to individual agencies to coordinate their own activities. The Safe Access to Fuel and Energy (SAFE) Humanitarian Working Group[5] – a consortium of agencies working to facilitate a more coordinated, predictable, timely, and effective response to the fuel and energy needs of crisis-affected populations – acts as an informal central coordination mechanism for energy interventions in humanitarian emergencies, but its efforts are hampered by a lack of funding and trained, full time staff dedicated for this purpose.
References
- ↑ UN OCHA, “Cluster Coordination.” Accessed December 17, 2017. Available: https://www.unocha.org/legacy/what-we-do/coordination-tools/cluster-coordination
- ↑ IFRC, 2000, Disaster Preparedness Training Programme, p. 5.
- ↑ See Bellanca, Raffaella, 2014, “Sustainable Energy Provision Among Displaced Populations Policy and Practice,” Chatham House. p7.
- ↑ Note: Protection and assistance to refugees is coordinated and delivered through the Refugee Coordination Model (RCM). The presence or lack thereof of energy in this model has not been assessed.
- ↑ In March 2007, the United Nations Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Task Force on Safe Access to Firewood and Alternative Energy (IASC Task Force on SAFE) was established “to reduce exposure to violence, contribute to the protection of and ease the burden on those populations collecting wood in humanitarian settings worldwide, through solutions which will promote safe access to appropriate energy and reduce environmental impacts while ensuring accountability.” The Task Force’s mandate ended in 2009. Its work is has been independently and informally continued in the current SAFE Humanitarian Working Group.
