Hello, I'm Cyrus Shahpar, Deputy Team Leader for the Global Rapid Response Team at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. My primary job is responding to global health emergencies, including infectious disease outbreaks, natural disasters, and humanitarian crises all over the world. Today I'm going to discuss the major actors or who's who, in humanitarian emergencies, and the cluster system that has been implemented to coordinate them. To start, we will review the main actors among UN agencies, US government agencies, and international NGOs. Next, we will describe the Inter-Agency Standing Committee and it's cluster system and discuss some of it's strengths and challenges. When a sudden onset emergency occurs, such as an earthquake or tsunami, first responders act to reduce the health consequences, and minimize their social and economic impact. The host country government has the primary responsibility for directing and coordinating the response, but it is important to remember that they to may be affected by the emergency. And systems and staff may not be fully operational in the acute post emergency period. So who are the first responders? Think about what would happen if an emergency happened as you listened to this session. Who would be the first groups of people providing assistance? Who would come later? First responders typically include the local and national government, specifically any emergency management or response personnel. Other local groups already in the area also get involved, including local Red Cross or Red Crescent Societies, local non-governmental organization or NGOs and local citizens. International groups including NGOs may already be present in the country and provide assistance. And the World Health Organization or WHO, often maintains a country office that collaborates closely with national health Departments or ministries of health. The United Nations or UN has several agencies that may become involved in humanitarian response. The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs or OCHA, works to mobilize and coordinate humanitarian action, in partnership with national and international actors. Depending on the type of emergency, other UN agencies who may respond include, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees or UNHCR, the United Nations Children's Fund or UNICEF, the World Food Program or WFP. And the World Health Organization or WHO, and others. Each of these agencies has a specific mandate in area of technical expertise. For example, WHO works closely with ministries of health specifically in issues related to the health sector. UN agencies often maintain a presence around the world and each agency has multiple levels of coordination. OCHA for example has two headquarters offices in New York, in the United States and Geneva, Switzerland. They also maintain 9 regional offices and 28 field offices. This allows them to be close to populations frequently affected by emergencies. Governments around the world also may have agencies or organizations that are involved in international emergency response. In the United States, for example, this includes the Department of Health and Human Services and CDC. The Department of State, the US agency for International Development or USAID and the Department of Defence. There are many other agencies which also participate in international emergencies. Two of the largest international organisations working in emergencies, are the International Committee of the Red Cross or ICRC. And the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies or IFRC. ICRC is an impartial, neutral, and independent organization that focuses on victims of armed conflict and other situations of violence. IFRC is the world's largest humanitarian organization and carries out relief operations to assist victims of disasters. International non-governmental organizations typically provide a large portion of the operational response. There is tremendous diversity within the international NGO community and each organization has a specific mission, target population, and scope of work. Some of the largest NGOs include MSF, Save the Children, the International Rescue Committee and World Vision. Donors are another important actor in humanitarian emergencies. This includes both national and multinational donors, foundations and private donors. A critical international partner in public health response is the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network or GOARN. Which is a collaboration of more than 120 public health institutions and networks, who are constantly ready to respond to emergencies. This network pools human and technical resources for rapid identification, confirmation, and response to outbreaks of international importance. They are many other responders that are often present in humanitarian emergencies. These includes small civilian groups and individuals, remote responders such as crisis mappers and military groups. Civilian military coordination is especially important in large natural disasters, where the militaries typically have logistical capacities that often exceed those of their civilian counterparts. As you have heard, there are hundreds of organizations that are typically present in a large humanitarian emergency. With so many organizations present, coordination is a frequent and ongoing challenge. The Interagency Standing Committee, or IASC, was formed in 1992 to improve the delivery of humanitarian assistance. IASC has several objectives in complex and major emergencies, including developing humanitarian policies, allocating responsibilities among agencies, developing an ethical framework for humanitarian activities, identifying and addressing areas where gaps in mandates or lack of operational capacity exist. IASC is chaired by the emergency relief coordinator, currently Stephen O'Brien. The members of the IASC are the heads or their designated representatives of the UN operational agencies relevant to those sectors. In addition, there is a standing invitation to other groups such as ICRC, IFRC, and the World Bank. NGO Consortia are also invited on a permanent basis. IASC classifies emergencies based on five criteria, including scale or the size of the affected area, number of persons or countries affected. Urgency is also considered. And this can be represented by the size of the population displaced, the intensity of armed conflict or crude mortality rates. Complexity including how many layers exist in the response, are there multiple countries effected or multiple actors that need to be coordinated. Capacity, is there a low national response capacity, is it a weak or fragile state. And do the needs outweigh the capacity of the country in regional offices to respond. And reputational risk, is there a media and public attention invisibility and are there donor expectations of the humanitarian system. In this classification, level three is the most severe emergency according to the IASC. This means that the emergency requires a system wide mobilization to ensure an effective response. In 2005, after identifying coordination gaps in the Indonesian tsunami response, IASC developed a cluster lead approach for humanitarian emergencies. This approach was developed to address identified gaps in response, enhance quality of humanitarian action, ensure greater predictability and accountability. And strengthen partnerships between NGOs, international organizations, IFRC, and UN agencies. The goals of the cluster approach were to strengthen overall humanitarian system preparedness and capacity at the global level, and strengthen response in all sectors of the country level. In the cluster approach, specific sectors or clusters were identified, along with agencies who would be responsible for coordinating work in these areas. Examples of cluster leads, and the clusters they are responsible for include the World Food Program for logistics. UNICEF for nutrition, water sanitation and hygiene, and with Save the Children for education. The World Health Organization for health and UNHCR for protection. Cluster lead agencies have many responsibilities once activated. Including coordination with local authorities, since they have the primary responsibility for directing the response. Conducting a needs assessment, periodically done to understand what resources are required, whether they be human, material, logistical or financial. Monitoring periodically done to understand if the activities or resources available are sufficient, and whether they are making a positive impact. And providing assistance, only when needs outstrip the capacity of local resources. Perhaps the most significant is that the cluster leads are the provider of last resort. For example, when there is a health problem in an emergency, then WHO is the ultimate group responsible for the health cluster response. The cluster system is not perfect, but provides a necessary framework for coordination in a complex setting. Since first implemented, stakeholders have continuously worked to improve the system and it's execution in humanitarian emergencies. Thank you.
