Inter-Agency Emergency Preparedness and Response Network

for the Middle East and North Africa

Meeting Report

18 – 19 June 2012 Amman, Jordan

  1. Introduction
  • The “Inter-Agency Coordination Network on Emergency Preparedness and Response in the Middle East and North Africa” (hereafter the inter-agency network) held its twelve biyearly meeting in Amman on 18 – 19 June 2012.
  • Thirty-eight representatives from 11 UN agencies, 2 donor organizations (ECHO and USAID), 5 NGO regional offices and 2 technical cooperation agencies attended the meeting (see annex 1 for a full list of participants).
  • The meeting was hosted by the IFRC and UNICEF, and chaired by OCHA. Ms. Maria Calivis,Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa (UNICEF) and Mohammed Babiker, IFRC Regional Representative for the Gulf, made opening remarks.
  • Mr. PanosMoumtzis, UNHCR Regional Refugee Coordinator,provided a brief on the regional response plan for Syrian refugees and efforts to update contingency plans in countries neighboring Syria.
  1. Review of the Humanitarian Situation in Priority Countries
  • The session focused on the humanitarian situation in Syria and the regional impacts of the conflict inneighboring countries, particularly Jordan and Lebanon. The situation in Yemen was also discussed. The aim of the session was to share information on needs and ongoing response and preparedness activities.

2.1 Syria

  • The Government of Syria (GoS) agreed on the Humanitarian Response Plan,which was distributed at the Geneva Syria Humanitarian Forum on 5 June, acknowledging the presence of significant humanitarian needs within the country. Permission was granted to establish UN field offices in Idleb, Homs, Dara’a and DayrezZor as well as allowing some INGOs to scale up their activities. Since the Forum, however, there has been a marked deterioration in the security situation that has led to the suspension of UNSMIS activities and hindered the ability of the humanitarian community to scale up its capacity.
  • OCHA has been engaging withthe Syria Arab Red Crescent (SARC)to facilitate the scaling up of the humanitarian response. SARC has subsequently engaged with the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) requesting the approval for eight INGOs to increase their activities beyond working with Iraqi refugees and to grant permission to a few national-level local NGOs.
  • Funding is currently a challenge in Syria. The Syria Humanitarian Response Plan has received $33 million, which is 19% of the total need ($180 million). There is an expectation that funding will increase once humanitarian organizations demonstrate their ability to deliver.

2.2Jordan and Lebanon

  • A significant number of Syrian refugees continue to cross into Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. Over 90,000 people have been assisted during the past six months with 75% of those registered being women and children. There have been significant movements to Jordan, mainly from Homs, with refugees crossing the border through illegal and risky entry points.
  • The implementation of projects for Syrian refugees in Jordan has been hamperedbylack of fundingandcumbersome bureaucraticprocedures.In addition to responding to the protection and assistance needs of the tens of thousands of Syrians, who are already in the Kingdom, efforts are also underway to reinforce preparedness for further influxes. A number of coordination meetings have been held with relevant government agencies, UN and NGOs. This has resulted in a number of options being reviewed including the establishment of a large site at Za’atari, close to Mafraq, which could accommodate 130,000 to 150,000 people. The site is well situated in relation to access and availability of water.
  • UNHCR highlighted the importance of raising awareness among the refugees to register to ensure their needs are met upon their arrival. A challenge for many refugees is a lack of information on where to seek basic services, such as education and healthcare, some of which are being provided by the Government of Jordan.
  • During the discussion,UNHCR informed that, on behalf of participating agencies, it will be presenting the Syria Revised Regional Response Plan in Geneva on June 27, 2012, which will call for $193 million for 28 NGOs and 7 UN agencies.
  • The main challenge in Lebanon is the fragile political situation in the country and the possibility of increasing insecurity. In a highly politicized environment, it is imperative for the HCT to act independently and according to established humanitarian principles.
  • There is concernover the absence of assistance to Palestinian refugees, third country nationals and refugees of other nationalities in the region. It was recommended that UN agencies meet on a regular basis to revise and adjust the response plan to accommodate the fluid humanitarian situation andensure it meets the needs of a wide group of stakeholders. Given current funding shortages, the focus should be on the lifesaving activities.

2.3Yemen

  • The WFP Regional Bureau presented the findings of a nationwide Comprehensive Food Security Survey (CFSS) that took place in late 2011. The purpose of the survey was to update statistics on food insecure households, identify the underlying causes of food insecurity and guide WFP’s targeting and humanitarian response in Yemen.
  • The results of the CFSS are alarming. It shows that 10 million Yemenis, 44.5% of the population, are food insecure and that children are particularly affected with malnutrition rates well above emergency thresholds. The agricultural sector is also being impacted by water shortages, with Yemen being one of the most water insecure countries in the world and the capital, Sana'a, is expected to run dry within six years.
  • WFP is working with humanitarian partners on the ground to ensure that the immediate needs of the severely food insecure are met and has called for joint action to scale up assistance and advocacy for the Yemeni population.
  • It was stressed that there is solid presence of NGOsin Yemen, which have had a long presence in the country and are engaging in the humanitarian response plan.
  • Participants stressed that there is a strong need for advocacy effort, especially regarding donor funding and press coverage for Yemen.
  1. Transformative Agenda
  • The OCHA Regional Office presented an overview of the IASC Transformative Agenda (TA) 2012, an initiative aimed at improving the response capacity of the humanitarian system. The TA is seen of particular importance for the MENA region given the number and scale of humanitarian emergencies and continuing instability in some countries. There are three main pillars: coordination, leadership and accountability.
  • Participants focused on improved coordination through the inter-agency network.A suggestion was made by the group toestablisha Task Force to improve coordination efforts and joint activities throughout the region,with Syria and Yemen as priority countries. OCHA stressed that the group should advocate at the country level for collective needs assessment, training and other joint activities.

Action:

Establish a Task Force to developaninter-agency network’swork plan and streamline activities towards the implementation of the TA, both at the regional and country levels.

  1. Minimum Preparedness Actions for Country Teams
  • The UNICEF Regional Office briefed the participants on the Training of Facilitators on Contingency Planning and Simulation that took place on 22-25 April in Cairo. The training was facilitated by OCHA, UNICEF, WFP, WHO, the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB) and the IASC Sub Working Group (SWG) on Preparedness.
  • Participants included 30 staff members from 15 humanitarian organizations, including UN agencies, INGOs and the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. The training sought to provide participants with the knowledge and skills to be able to co-facilitate inter-agency contingency planning and emergency simulation exercises in line with the MPP.
  • The training has led to a group of colleagues within the region, whounderstand contingency planning and simulation and support the roll out of these activities both within their own country and more broadly within the region.
  • UNICEF has recently facilitated an Emergency Preparedness and Response training in Iraq and it plans to build the capacity of its staff on humanitarian preparedness and response.
  • The inter-agency network reflected on next steps for the implementation of the Minimum Preparedness Package (MPP). This includes the advancement of the existing roster of trained facilitators on Contingency Planning and Simulation and the establishment of a mechanism to identify gaps in the implementation of the MPP in priority countries.

Actions:

The newly trained facilitators on Contingency Planning and Simulation will conductat least one contingency planning and simulation exercise in the priority countries.

OCHAwill develop and share a matrix that can help identify gaps in the MPP in priority countries.

The participants were encouraged to liaise with their country offices to identify the gaps in the implementation of the MPP and provide support through the trained facilitators.

To improve coordination regarding implementation of the MPP, it was agreed to record all relevant activities on the online calendar of eventsthat was develop for the inter-agency network (the online calendar of events is available at the following URL:

  1. Disaster Risk Reduction
  • The UNISDR Regional Office presented relevant regional DRR initiatives, such as the Arab Strategy for DRR Action Framework, Desinventar, the world disaster reduction campaign (WDRC), plans to establish a regional platform, the 2012/13 regional-national-local HFA reporting cycle and post-Hyogo consultations. UNISDR pointed out that while these initiatives are UNISDR-led, with the UN Office for Disaster Reduction acting as key convener and custodian of the HFA, they cannot be successful without agency support.
  • In this regard, UNISDR highlighted that, with few exceptions, all major UN agencies, IFRC and most key INGOs, have now developed DRR Strategies and plans and are contributing to the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction.There was general agreement among MENA agencies to be part of these processes and UNISDR briefly outlined a proposal to expand cooperation on DRR at the inter-agency level. This proposal needs to be further refined and will be presented at the next meeting.

Actions:

Partners agreed to provide support to countries in order to comply with their national Hyogo Framework for Action reporting obligations (National HFA Monitor). In this regard, they agreed to forward related documents (HFA Monitor template, SRSG letter, etc.) to their country offices to assist national HFA focal points. The deadline for providing interim national reports is end of September 2012.

Participants agreed to further cooperate with the League of Arab States (LAS) on capacity development for disaster risk managementand to contribute to the forthcoming regional reporting undertaken by LAS. This will require systematic exchange of information and the development of a matrix of actions for a coherent inter-agency approach.

UNISDR to collaborate with relevant partners in the setting up of an inter-active information exchange and planning platform for DRR on preventionweb.net. UNISDR will further develop a proposal for inter-agency collaboration and will present it at the next meeting.

  1. Collaboration with the League of Arab States
  • A brief was provided on the Sectoral Meeting between LAS and the UN on Collaboration in Humanitarian Assistance, which took place on 22-23 February 2012 in Cairo. The meeting was the tenth in a series of biennial meetings that were established by the General Assembly to address areas of importance to the development of Arab States. This was the first time, however, that it focused on the topic of humanitarian assistance.
  • The meeting was attended by LAS and its Specialized Organizations,13UN entities and 8NGO partners. It focused on five critical thematic issues, with each topic addressed by a lead UN agency and a focal point partner from LAS. The issues were: a)challenges in providing humanitarian assistance in the Arab Region (OCHA);b) protection of displaced populations (UNHCR/IOM);c) partnership between governments and Arab NGOs (OCHA);d) food and nutrition security (WFP/FAO); and e) disaster risk management (ISDR). Recommendations and action points were developed for each issue.
  • In terms of follow up, OCHA is preparing a trainingsession on the International Humanitarian System for LAS departments, which is scheduled for 4 – 5 July 2012in Cairo. The training will focus on the humanitarian architecture, information management and advocacy, unsolicited bilateral donations, gender and protection and will be conducted in partnership with other UN agencies.
  • OCHA, in partnership with LAS, is also preparing a workshop for NGOs from the region in order to promote cooperation in humanitarian affairs. The workshop is expected to take place during the third week of September.OCHA will extend invitationsto relevant UN agencies.

Actions:

Lead agencies of the UN-LAS thematic issues willcompile a matrix to monitor implementation of the recommendations from the sectoral meeting.The matrix will be developed by OCHA and include a list of the focal points at LAS Departments, UN agencies and NGOs for specific thematic issues.

OCHA to share the concept note of the upcoming MENA NGO Workshop in September with the inter-agency network and invite key agencies to participate.

  1. Training on International Legal framework
  • Following up on a recommendation from the previous inter-agency network meeting,the Department of Legal Affairsof UNRWA conducteda training session on International Legal Frameworks. The session was facilitated by Anna Segall (Legal Adviser), Lance Bartholomeusz (Chief, International Law Division) and Michael Schoiswohl (Legal Officer, International Law Division).The training focused on different areas of international law that are relevant to the provision of humanitarian assistance and humanitarian advocacy. It offered an overview of relevant legal frameworks regarding the operations of humanitarian actors and the generation of humanitarian space (access, privileges and immunities, etc.).
  • The training looked at the use of international law to address protection issues through international human rights law, international humanitarian law, international refugee law and related legal standards, with a particular focus on the MENA region.
  • The session also provided an overview of available institutional mechanisms for protection initiatives (advocacy) and the promotion of compliance with international law. The trainers emphasized the importance of a strategic use of international law that is based on a proper understanding of the facts and has the required level of institutional backing
  1. Next meeting
  • The next meeting of the inter-agency network will take place in November 2012 and will be hosted by Oxfam in Cairo. The dates will be confirmed by the end of October.

Annex 1: List of Participants

Care International / Daire O’Reilly
DRC / Yves-Kim Créac'h /
ValentinaStivanello /
ECHO / Stephane Quinton /
FAO / Irene Omondi /
Andrea Lazzari /
Handicap International / Jean-Bertrand Lebrun /
IOM / RanaJaber /
IFRC / Mohammed Babiker
HosamFaysal /
HichamRizkallah /
OCHA / Abdul HaqAmiri /
DelvinArsan /
Stuart Shepherd /
Mercy Corps / Rob Maroni /
Oxfam / Adam Taylor-Awny /
Save the children / Rae McGrath /
UNHCR / Andrew Harper /
PanosMoumtzis /
UNRWA / Cindy Issac /
Anna Segall /
Lance Bartholomeusz /
Michael Schoiswohl /
UN-Habitat / Marc Staedtler /
Dania Rifai /
UNICEF / SeydouDia /
BastienVigneau /
Mark Choonoo /
Dominique Hyde /
Maria Calivis /
UNFPA / Mollie Fair /
UNISDR / Lars Bernd /
USAID/OFDA / Stacey Ballou / ;
Dianna Long /
WFP / Jonathan Campbell /
WHO / Osama Maher /
InasHamam /

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