Terms of Reference: Inter-Agency AAP Coordinator, Haiyan response

Duty station: Manila, Philippines with travel to the field as required / Duration: 1 month (to be followed by longer term position)

Background

On November 8, 2013, a super typhoon (category 5) “Haiyan” (local name “Yolanda”) made landfall in the Philippines with devastating effect and left in its wake destruction of unimaginable proportion to both public and private infrastructure. Roads, bridges, buildings, communication facilities, power, water supply, etc, have been partially destroyed thereby limiting access and hindering humanitarian response. The airport at Tacloban is currently operating only for the transport of relief goods and evacuation of the injured. Commercial flights are yet to resume. On the basis of a report dated November 11, 2013 from DSWD, a total of 9.84 million people (2.1 million families) have been affected by the impact of the super typhoon Haiyan.
The CDAC Network and OCHA have been swift and inclusive in their response on communication with communities (CWC) thus far, making good use of OCHA’s dedicated capacity on CwC both at HQ and in their regional office. A few specialists on accountability to affected populations (AAP)who are also a part of the IASC Task Forceon AAP,from both UN agencies and the NGO sector, are active participants in this network.
While the crossover and complementarity between CwC and AAP is being highlighted and worked with through this means, the quality and accountability coordination of the response should be taken further by ensuring that dedicated AAP expertise and technical support is available to the sector both locally and globally, in relation to the response. This could be achieved in part through the deployment of a staff member focusing specifically on AAP, who liaises with the CwC group closely.
The IASC has made high level commitments on accountability through the Transformative Agenda, which should be acted upon visibly in this situation for a transparent and accountable response, with increased reputational risks if it is not taken seriously.WFP has offered to support the initial interagency response with a staff member who has a strong interagency AAP profile, and proposes to deploy that person to support the HC, the HCT and ICCG groups, and other relevant agencies and fora.

Key Objective:

Provide technical leadership and support on AAP Programming and Approach to the Humanitarian and Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator, cluster leads and HCT members to fulfil their commitments as articulated in the IASC CAAPthrough close collaboration with humanitarian actors and building on existing resources.

Broad plan of approach:

  • establish liaison and information access between relevant networks,
  • make an assessment of the highest priority accountability issues of the response and the most effective and strategic means to address those,
  • begin offering immediate consultation and support,
  • propose the scope of further capacity, and,provide a handover.

Proposed / potential activities for a first wave AAP response:

  1. Liaise with the HC, DHC, HCT, ICCG, and responding agencies on their AAP and communications efforts to pool resources, create relevant networks and identify support needs
  2. Supportthe collection and analysis of needs assessment data through participatory approaches, as well as streamlining the needs assessment, collection and analysis process so that it can be more reflective of the priorities of the affected population and more effective in meeting beneficiary needs
  3. Assist the different clusters to analyse the effectiveness of existing and planned AAP approaches and programming to identify gaps and challenges; and use this information to develop, in cooperation with partners, strategies for each cluster to address the gaps
  4. Facilitate and support the integration of AAP perspectives in the overall strategic response planning, including in the Flash Appeal Revision and other appeal processes and documents
  5. Facilitate the inclusion of AAP dimensions into needs assessment frameworks, including rapid and coordinated inter-agency assessments.
  6. Provide advice and ad hoc sensitisation at all levels of the response on AAP and how to realistically integrate increased accountability and to apply the IASC Operational Framework and associated tools on AAP
  7. Link existing CwC efforts with a broader AAP approach
  8. Seek opportunities for individual agency AAP efforts to be scaled up between agencies as a means to rationalise resources and to improve impact
  9. Encourage linkages between input on gender issues, protection, disability support and other relevant cross cutting issues
  10. Ensure a profile for the prevention of SEA
  11. Support early affected community consultation efforts to establish a continuous cycle of feedback
  12. Gather and disseminate information and advocacy on AAP and the response widely across the sector
  13. Resource and support OCHA and the cluster lead agencies to build their role in leading on AAP
  14. Liaise with and sensitise donors as to the broader efforts and their role to support it
  15. Produce recommendations for broader AAP strategies for this response and as applicable to future responses
  16. Develop a proposal and ToRs for longer term capacity