PHAP Certification

Stages of crisis

Crises may be defined with reference to stages, such as post-conflict, transitional, etc.

Humanitarian principles

Criticism that these labels do not necessarily correspond to the needs of crisis- affected populations

Scope of mandates

Single vs Multi mandates

_____ leads the Early Recovery Cluster.

UNDP

Key developments following World War II

- Aid work - major resettlement of refugees and the large-scale Marshall Plan (U.S. government relief to Western Europe). - Establishment of the United Nations. - Codification of the main human rights instruments (e.g., Universal Declaration of Human Rights). - Founding of Unicef, WHO, UNHCR and other specialized UN agencies.

3 basic types of crisis

- Armed conflict situations (man-made crisis) - Natural hazard and natural disaster, including geophysical events - Complex emergency, defined by the IASC as a humanitarian crisis which occurs in a country, region, or society where there is a total or considerable breakdown of authority resulting from civil conflict and/or foreign aggression, requiring an international response beyond the mandate or capacity of any single agency and intensive and extensive political and management coordination.

Key developments in the early 20th century

- Building of international institutions (e.g., League of Nations). - World War I, World War II, and the founding of key aid/humanitarian agencies (The League of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (later IFRC), Save the Children, Oxfam, CRS, CARE, IRC, etc.).

All clusters (sectors) of the humanitarian ecosystem (11)

- Camp Coordination and Camp Management - Early Recovery - Education - Emergency Telecommunications - Food Security - Health - Logistics - Nutrition - Protection - Shelter - Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene

DPKO

- Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) - Part of the UN Secretariat

The key similarity/differences in objectives between humanitarian action and the following:

- Development - Rehabilitation/transition - Relief and protection by armed actors, particularly peacekeeping interventions - Peacebuilding, reconciliation - Human rights - Assistance delivered by the State to its affected communities; or delivered directly by teams from other States, or by the private sector, etc.

The main contours of the 2005 IASC-led UN Humanitarian Reform

- Establishment of the Cluster System. - Aimed to simplify processes and mechanisms in order to improve interagency communication and collaboration, from the immediate response to longer-term planning

FAO

- Food and Agriculture Organization - Established to eradicate hunger and food insecurity. - Along with WFP, it is the lead agency for the food security cluster.

Geographic scopes of NGOs

- International (Global and Regional) - National - Local or community-based

IOM

- International Organization for Migration - Governed by a Council composed of delegates from its member States. - Lead agency for the camp management cluster (with UNHCR).

OCHA

- Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs - Part of the UN Secretariat, led by the Emergency Relief Coordinator (ERC) - OCHA appoints the Humanitarian Coordinator (HC) for a country or crisis response and is responsible for the implementation of the cluster system

Localization

- The Grand Bargain and other efforts aim to increase the leadership and operational role played by local and national responders - The vast majority of NGOs in the humanitarian sector work within their home country. - The "big five" NGOs (MSF, Save the Children, Oxfam, World Vision, and IRC) have been estimated to account for more than 75% of expenditure by NGOs in humanitarian work. - National and local NGOs receive a minuscule proportion of direct international humanitarian funding.

Localization (NGOs)

- The Grand Bargain and other efforts aim to increase the leadership and operational role played by local and national responders - The vast majority of NGOs in the humanitarian sector work within their home country. - The "big five" NGOs (MSF, Save the Children, Oxfam, World Vision, and IRC) have been estimated to account for more than 75% of expenditure by NGOs in humanitarian work. - National and local NGOs receive a minuscule proportion of direct international humanitarian funding.

Outcomes of the WHS

- The World Humanitarian Summit's "Grand Bargain". - The findings of the World Humanitarian Summit's high-level panel on humanitarian financing. - Goals and commitments related to the "localization" of humanitarian response. - Goals and commitments of governmental actors in terms of respect for international humanitarian law (IHL).

The founding of MSF (1971)

- The development of a more outspoken and political approach to humanitarian action. - Médecins Sans Frontières - Doctors without borders

The founding of MSF (1971)

- The development of a more outspoken and political approach to humanitarian action. - Médecins Sans Frontières - International, independent, medical humanitarian organisation that delivers emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, pandemics, natural disasters and exclusion from healthcare.

UNICEF

- United Nations Children's Fund - Mandated by the UN General Assembly - In the cluster system UNICEF is the lead agency of the nutrition, education (with Save the Children), and water & sanitation clusters.

UNDP

- United Nations Development - Manages the Resident Coordinator System which leads the UN Country Team - UNDP is the lead agency of the early recovery cluster

UNHCR

- United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees - Mandated by the UN General Assembly - Led by the High Commissioner and governed by the UN General Assembly and its Economic and Social Council - Lead agency of three clusters: protection, shelter (with IFRC), and camp management (with IOM). Though not covered in its original mandate, UNHCR has become increasingly involved in providing assistance and protection to IDPs.

UNHCR

- United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees - Mandated by the UN General Assembly - Led by the High Commissioner and governed by the UN General Assembly and its Economic and Social Council - lead agency of three clusters: protection, shelter (with IFRC), and camp management (with IOM). Though not covered in its original mandate, UNHCR has become increasingly involved in providing assistance and protection to IDPs.

WFP

- World Food Programme - Lead UN agency fighting hunger worldwide, providing emergency food aid as well as working to improve nutrition and community resilience. - Jointly established by the Economic and Social Council - Lead agency of two clusters - food security (with FAO) and emergency telecommunications

Indian Ocean tsunami (2004)

2004 Indian Ocean tsunami response reveals shortcomings in humanitarian sector, particularly with coordination, responsiveness and effectiveness.

The main contours of the 2011 IASC-led UN Transformative Agenda

Aimed to ensure accountability to crisis-affected populations through improvements in the predictability, planning, and decision-making of humanitarian response: - Empowered leadership - System-wide Activation of Level 3 Response - Humanitarian Program Cycle (HPC) - Further strengthening of the Cluster coordination

The main contours of the 2011 IASC-led UN Transformative Agenda

Aimed to ensure accountability to crisis-affected populations through improvements in the predictability, planning, and decision-making of humanitarian response: - Empowered leadership - System-wide Activation of Level 3 Response - Humanitarian Program Cycle (HPC) - Further strengthening of the Cluster coordination

New Way of Working

Aims to bridge the humanitarian-development divide (or more recently the humanitarian-development-peace divide)

Countries with violent and often internal conflicts (rather than between States) in the first half of the 1990s with high levels of displacement, destruction, and civilian casualties.

Angola, Sudan, Somalia, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Eastern Congo, Chechnya.

Classifications in IHL

Classification in international humanitarian law (IHL) is important for determining the applicable law, i.e., whether or not the crisis is recognized as one of armed conflict, and how that conflict is defined - international vs non-international armed conflict.

Triggers of crisis

Crises may be defined in reference to certain 'triggers' or thresholds, such as the CMR - crude mortality rate.

Humanitarian principles (criticism)

Criticism that these labels do not necessarily correspond to the needs of crisis- affected populations - political and economic power relations

Non-linearity of crises

Current thinking that rejects the idea that crises evolve in a linear fashion, along a continuum, or that contexts can be defined by one single status, in favor of an understanding that crisis situations require a mix rather than a sequence of approaches to address the needs of people.

The purpose and main contours of the UN's Human Rights up Front initiative (2013).

Designed to ensure that the UN prevents and responds to large-scale human rights violations.

DRR and resilience

Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and the more recent advent of the concept of "resilience," and how these fit (or not) into current humanitarian strategies.

The "rights-based approach"

Embrace issues related to social justice, human rights, and inequality.

"Non-traditional" humanitarian actors

Emergence and/or growing awareness of humanitarian work and funding by non-Western nations or organizations (late 2000s-early 2010s).

UN General Assembly Resolution 46/182 (1991), created the:

Emergency Response Coordinator, Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC), Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), and other key components of the UN-led architecture of the humanitarian ecosystem.

PHAP

Establishment of the International Association of Professionals in Humanitarian Assistance and Protection (PHAP) (2010)

World Humanitarian Summit

First ever World Humanitarian Summit takes place in May 2016 and leads to major commitments that have the potential to become milestones in the history of humanitarian action.

Adoption of the key Hague Conventions (1899 and 1907)

Focus on regulating the methods of warfare.

Adoption of the original Geneva Convention (1864)

Focus on wounded and sick soldiers.

The main findings of the independent whole of system review of the role of protection in the context of humanitarian action

Found among other shortcomings a poor understanding among UN personnel of their role in terms of protection.

Humanitarian Accountability Partnership (HAP) in the early 2000s

Further approaches to self-regulation and accountability.

Ethiopia famine and Band-Aid (1984)

Global fundraising and a new level of mediatization of humanitarian crisis.

Distinction of funding

Government funding for humanitarian work is often maintained separately from development aid, and governed by rules designed to shield it from political motivations.

The "Dunantist" or "classical" approach

Holds a stricter interpretation of the core principles and places a greater emphasis upon independence from political agendas.

Humanitarian Reform

Humanitarian Reform and birth of the Cluster System (2005).

Humanitarian Reform (2005)

Humanitarian Reform and birth of the Cluster System (2005).

The "Wilsonian" approach

Humanitarian actors have a more pragmatic relationship with (predominantly) Western government donors and military forces, accepting a level of coherence of action with their foreign policy aims.

Transformative Agenda

IASC launches Transformative Agenda to strengthen humanitarian responsiveness and performance (2011).

_____ leads the Shelter Cluster.

IFRC and UNHCR

_____ leads the Camp Coordination and Camp Management Cluster.

IOM and UNHCR

New Way of Working

In an effort to bridge the humanitarian-development divide and create a greater "nexus" between the two modes of working, various agencies have begun elaborating and putting into practice a "New Way of Working," in particular aiming to ensure that long-term (development) needs are addressed from the very beginning of a crisis. Increasingly, peace-building activities are included in these policy discussions, in what is sometimes referred to as the "triple nexus."

Core humanitarian standards

Increasing the involvement and/or participation of people has been the subject of sectoral standard setting

1859 Battle of Solferino

Led to Henry Dunant's formation of the Red Cross.

Haiti earthquake (2010)

Major earthquake in Haiti (2010) again reveals shortcomings in humanitarian sector, particularly regarding coordination, responsiveness, and effectiveness; earthquake response also includes responses from a large number of actors outside of the formal "system."

Cold War and decolonization period

Marks the emergence of many previously marginalized countries and the growth of international aid that targets the problem of "underdevelopment." In the US, approval to create government aid agencies aimed at development and Western political liberties.

Types of humanitarian crisis

Natural disasters Conflict situations of varying Intensity "Complex emergencies" Suffering/mortality linked to chronic situations or structural poverty

Types of humanitarian crisis

Natural disasters Conflict situations of varying intensity "Complex emergencies" Suffering/mortality linked to chronic situations or structural poverty

L3 emergencies

OCHA's and the UN system's designation of the crisis plays a key role in determining the shape of the international intervention, with an "L3" ("Level 3") emergency mandating a special response.

Cultural origins of the humanitarian ecosystem

Origins in historical practices across cultures, such as Christian traditions of charity, Islamic duty of zakat, etc.

The UN General Assembly Resolution 46/182 (1991)

States that it "is of cardinal importance for the victims of natural disasters and other emergencies" and "must be provided in accordance with the principles of humanity, neutrality and impartiality". At the same time, it highlights the sovereignty of states and that the "affected State has the primary role in the initiation, organization, coordination, and implementation of humanitarian assistance."

Perspectives of national and local responders

Tend to view the needs of people in a less sectoral fashion, versus a focus on immediate needs (subsistence).

Mounting criticism of the lack of accountability in the humanitarian sector (1990s) leads to formation of

The Sphere Project, ALNAP, People in Aid

Mounting criticism of the lack of accountability in the humanitarian sector (1990s) leads to formation of

The Sphere Project, ALNAP, People in Aid

Founding of OCHA (1998)

The UN Department for Humanitarian Affairs reorganized (1998) into the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA), with a greater set of responsibilities.

Cash transfer programming

The advent and increased use, where appropriate conditions exist, of cash transfers/cash-based programming, to replace distribution of goods and services and to provide people with the dignity of making their own choices.

The founding of MSF (1971)

The development of a more outspoken and political approach to humanitarian action.

Bahr el Ghazal Famine in Sudan (1998)

The implementation of Operation Lifeline Sudan, a massive emergency food relief program at a time of civil war.

Comprehensive approach

The main arguments for and against the "integrated framework" or "comprehensive approach" to achieve peace and stability, and its emphasis on whole-of-mission coherence and coordination.

Gender-based violence

The main contours of the UN's efforts to mainstream gender-based violence responses.

HIPPO

The main findings of the UN's high-level independent panel on peace operations (HIPPO), which identified a gap between what is being asked of UN peacekeepers and realistically what they can deliver.

The Nigeria - Biafra civil war

The massive ICRC- and NGO-led response, seen by many as the birthplace of modern humanitarian action.

The Nigeria - Biafra civil war (1967 to 1970)

The massive ICRC- and NGO-led response, seen by many as the birthplace of modern humanitarian action.

Adoption of the Additional Protocols I and II (1979)

The second additional protocol covers non-international armed conflict, thus filling a gap in the Geneva Conventions of 1949, which focus mainly on international armed conflict.

Crisis onset

There is sometimes a distinction between slow-onset (e.g., famine) and rapid-onset emergencies (e.g., earthquake).

Mandates

UN member States have given a specific mandate to (most), UN agencies sets out the objectives of the agency.

_____ leads the Protection Cluster.

UNHCR

West Africa SEA report (2001)

UNHCR and Save the Children report on sexual exploitation and abuse by aid workers and peacekeepers in West Africa.

_____ leads the Nutrition Cluster.

UNICEF

_____ leads the Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Cluster.

UNICEF

_____ leads the Education Cluster.

UNICEF and Save the Children

_____ leads the Emergency Telecommunications Cluster.

WFP

_____ leads the Logistics Cluster.

WFP

_____ leads the Food Security Cluster.

WFP and FAO

_____ leads the Health Cluster.

WHO

Kosovo (1999)

War in Kosovo, NATO military intervention explicitly justified on humanitarian grounds.

Humanitarian action should maintain:

a more limited focus on symptoms and immediate needs.

Humanitarian action should aim to:

protect/defend the rights of people affected by crisis.

Humanitarian action should increase:

resilience to shocks and disaster preparedness.

Humanitarian action should address:

underlying vulnerabilities and their causes.