Humanitarian Assistance
“It would be a dream that I would cherish if we all banded together and accepted that we live in one world and what happens in another country, maybe far away, could have an impact on all of us.” Secretary-General Kofi Annan
UN Photo/Stephenie Hollyman
Chapter Summary The United Nations functions as the global facilitator and advocate for people in catastrophic circumstances, whether from natural disaster, conflict or other large or complex emergencies. Working closely with national governments, nongovernmental organizations, civil society representatives, donors and the private sector, the Organization performs the criti cal function of ensuring, often with little or no notice, that necessary forms of aid are assembled from around the world, delivered swiftly and in useful sequence to the affected regions and distributed efficiently on the ground to the people and communities in need.
Highlights In response to disasters and emergencies around the world, the United Nations Secretariat helps to mobilize and coordinate effective and principled humanitarian action in partnership with national and international actors. The Organization seeks to alleviate human suffering, advocates for the rights of people in need, promotes preparedness and prevention and works to ensure that solutions can be sustained beyond the period of crisis and response. In this role, the United Nations works closely with national governments, non-governmental organizations, civil society representatives, donors and the private sector. Through its Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), in partnership with many other parts of the United Nations system, the Organization performs the critical function of ensuring, often with little or no notice, that necessary forms of aid are assem-
UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe
Humanitarian Assistance 2005
bled from around the world, delivered swiftly and in useful sequence to the affected regions and distributed efficiently on the ground to the people and communities in need. In a separate and distinct case, a different form of UN humanitarian effort has concentrated, for more than 55 years, on responding to a single longstanding crisis: the provision of aid and development assistance directly to the 4.3 million reg- The Organization istered refugees from British- seeks to alleviate human suffering, admandate Palestine now living vocates for the rights in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and of people in need, the West Bank and Gaza Strip. promotes preparedness and prevention, This effort is unique in the UN and works to ensure family, in that United Nations that solutions can be personnel have delivered essen- sustained beyond the period of crisis tial services directly to the 59 and response. refugee camps over the course of four generations, not by funding and coordinating the work of other providers, but by using the United Nations’ own infrastructure and staff to deliver humanitarian aid, basic community services such as education and health care,
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and development assistance. This longstanding mandate is discharged by a separate UN programme: the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). These distinct areas of humanitarian work call for different kinds of resources, operate at different levels, and result in different kinds of measurable outcomes. This chapter therefore describes their performance in 2005 under separate headings, though with an eye to their common principles and challenges. Humanitarian coordination, advocacy and response
UN Photo/Evan Schneider
The United Nations’ performance is most visible during emergencies that require a large-scale or complex response from the global community. In 2005, these included two major national disasters: the Indian Ocean tsunami, which struck in the final days of 2004, and the South Asia earthquake of October 2005. While the focus on the world was on these two events, civilians across the globe suffered from the cruelty of conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, northern Uganda and Colombia, while millions more were affected by natural disasters ranging from drought in Niger, the Horn of Africa and southern Africa, to floods and mudslides resulting from hurricanes and tropical storms in Guatemala and throughout the Caribbean. The United Nations was actively engaged
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in all of these emergencies, alongside with its partners, seeking to ensure relief and advocating on behalf of millions of affected people. In these cases, UN coordination of emergency response included contingency and strategic planning in advance of disaster, deploying quick response mechanisms when crises emerge, setting up strategically placed field offices, preparing a common appeal, advocacy and information management, and working with partners around the clock to agree on policies, coverage and allocation of responsibilities. The number and intensity of conflicts and disasters in 2005 clearly underline the need for stronger contingency planning, risk management, emergency preparedness, capacitybuilding and predictability in the humanitarian community’s response. In the tsunami, which alone affected 14 countries in Southeast Asia and Africa, nearly a quarter of a million people died, and livelihoods were wiped out for hundreds of thousands more throughout
Humanitarian Assistance
Annual Global Humanitarian Funding 2005
$12.8
2004
$4.6
2003
$7.5
2002
$5.1
2001
$3.9
2000 $1.8 0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
US$ in Billions
the coastal areas. The Pakistan earthquake killed 80,000 people, made 3.3 million others homeless, and posed a severe challenge to a humanitarian system already deeply involved in the tsunami response. Yet external evaluations have found that the immediate response was effective and that the affected populations received the assistance they needed, due in part to very strong local response from civil society and local government as well as the quick arrival of a variety of national and international actors, including the military. Urgent Flash Appeals coordinated by the United Nations helped orchestrate and fund the international response to these crises. In the case of the tsunami, the Flash Appeal resulted in an immediate and unprecedented outpouring of contributions from governments, non-governmental organizations and the private sector. In ongoing work on policy and advocacy, the United Nations’ performance was not as publicly visible, yet in many respects was just as noteworthy. The Emergency Relief Coordinator’s
regular briefings to the Security Council and the Economic and Social Council, as well as to individual Member States, led to a steadily higher level of international attention to crisis response and, most measurably, to stronger donor support for humanitarian assistance (see graph). The level of response to the tsunami and the sustained momentum of that response over many months also reflected improved outreach to Member States and to the public, both in 2005 and in the years just before it. The Emergency Relief Coordinator’s vigorous engagement with the media has raised understanding of UN humanitarian work among donors and the public at large — a crucial challenge, given the difficulty of explaining the complex, behind-thescenes work of planning and organizing, and the vital importance of preparedness and flexibility in advance of a crisis. The higher level of resources available for humanitarian activities, thanks in part to intensified advocacy and donor relations, was itself another significant accomplishment of 2005. By the end of the year, the United Nations had surpassed its two-year target for increasing donations through the Consolidated Appeals Process, a UN-led mechanism for drawing 21 separate humanitarian plans and appeals into a single global appeal. Recent years had seen a steady trend towards increased annual global humanitarian funding, but with an uneven distribution across emergencies. Funding peaks have always accompanied high-profile emergencies such as the tsunami, Iraq or Kosovo. The total level of resources therefore does not reflect the full story: many emergencies are neglected
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UN Photo/Martine Perret
due to lack of media and public attention, and funding for many of these life-threatening situations is often hard to come by. One of the key roles of the United Nations is therefore to seek more equitable and adequate funding for all people affected by conflict and disaster. But this continues to be a difficult and distant goal, which calls for the sustained commitment of the global humanitarian community. A third accomplishment in 2005 was the launch of a humanitarian reform process. In December, as one part of this reform, the General Assembly approved the creation of a Central Emergency Response Fund to provide more predictable humanitarian finances for new or rapidly deteriorating crises and underfunded emergencies. The fund represents the expansion of what had been a US$ 50 million emergency loan pool to now include an additional US$ 450 million in grants. The buildup of the fund moved quickly: By year’s end, Member States and many other donors, including some from the private sector, had already pledged more than 40 per cent of the fundraising goal. A second element of reform has been the development of a stronger response capacity, especially in sectors where there have been
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prior gaps in available expertise and resources, such as in camp management. Here, consultative meetings with regional groups and donor partners throughout the year led to real progress in improving the predictability of humanitarian response, with various partners now organized into well-coordinated clusters, each responsible for a particular sector or area of specialty. A third reform goal is to strengthen the Humanitarian Coordinator system in the field by, among other things, training coordinators who can be deployed rapidly when circumstances demand. The first 20 coordinators were trained in 2005.
Investing in Palestine communities and human resources The chief accomplishments of 2005 in the Palestine relief and development effort have been in responding to urgent humanitarian needs, providing quality education and supporting small enterprises. Against the backdrop of a humanitarian crisis caused by prolonged conflict and economic collapse in the occupied Palestinian territory, the United Nations in 2005 provided emergency assistance to an enormous population of affected refugees who relied on the Organization as a lifeline. All told, some 70 per cent of the 1.4 million registered refugees in the occupied Palestinian territory benefited from some form of material UN assistance. In 2005, the UNRWA delivered supplementary food aid to more than a million of these same refugees. It has proven effective; crisis-induced malnutrition rates have been shown to be lower in the camps where the food distribution has been concentrated.
Humanitarian Assistance
As unemployment and poverty rates have soared in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the past few years, as many as 10,000 Palestinians a month have found emergency employment on UN projects such as school construction or medical services. Of the nearly 3,400 refugee shelters destroyed in the recent conflict, by the end of 2005 almost one-third had been rebuilt, and preparations for the construction of thousands more were under way. One new initiative in 2005 has been a programme of mobile clinics, to help bring medical care to Palestinians unable to reach their regular physicians because of official restrictions on their movement and construction of the “separation barrier” in the West Bank. In education, with roughly a half million refugee pupils in its 652 mixed-gender schools, the United Nations continued to see high elementary and preparatory enrollment and low drop-out rates through the preparatory cycle, which serves children up to approximately age 16. Close to 97 per cent of matriculating preparatory students continued on to complete that level. Overall academic pass rates remained high, as did literacy rates for both boys and girls. That these refugee youth, overwhelmingly from low-income backgrounds, continue to attain educational levels comparable to those prevailing throughout their host countries is a tribute both to the effectiveness of the UN education effort and to the refugee communities’ determination to achieve self-reliance. Among the areas of significant educational innovation in 2005 has been the use and study of information technology. In the past year, generous assistance from the European
Commission made it possible to introduce computer laboratories in all UNRWA-run schools in the Gaza Strip and to refine the market-relevant information technology taught in its training centres and certification courses. A mobile computer laboratory provided by the Republic of Korea went into service in Gaza on a pilot basis. The study of information technology was also expanded in UNRWA schools in the West Bank, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. In support of small and informal businesses and households with emergency needs, the United Nations’ microfinance and microenterprise programme completed its 15th year in 2005, with 20,000 loans in the past 12 months alone. For more than a decade, the programme operated solely in the West Bank and Gaza. In the past three years it has become a new and growing financial resource in Jordan and Syria as well, while in the occupied territory, it is by now the largest source of credit to microenterprises. The UN programme serves both refugees and the non-refugee community with loans up to US$ 70,000 each, amounting to more than US$ 100 million in total credit extended over the years. These loans, though made at prevailing market rates, would be unavailable to small and low-income borrowers in the private financial markets. They help residents start or expand businesses such as small or home-based carpentry, tailor, or auto-repair shops, small pharmacies and factories, or informal businesses such as the sale of home-grown produce or crafts. Among the most outstanding accomplishments of 2005 has been the success of the loan prod-
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uct retailed specifically to women in the Gaza Strip. All together, more than 33,000 of these loans have been issued, with demonstrable benefits for women’s economic independence and increased participation in the labour force.
Actors and Partnerships Responsibility for coordinating the international response to crises is entrusted to the Emergency Relief Coordinator, supported by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). With offices in New York and Geneva, and through more than 35 field locations and six regional offices, OCHA has primary responsibility for ensuring timely, coherent and coordinated global response to disasters and emergencies, for promoting steps to reduce natural disaster, and for facilitating the smooth
UN Photo/Arpan Munier
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transition from emergency relief to rehabilitation and development. OCHA relies on close collaboration and consultation with a global network of donors and partners. These include the agencies or militaries of Member States involved in crisis response, non-governmental organizations, independent contributors and private companies that provide critical services in times of urgent need. Within the United Nations System, OCHA provides a system of coordination for the work of many agencies that have expertise in essential aspects of humanitarian assistance, including the World Food Programme, the UN High Commission for Refugees, the World Health Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization, the United Nations Development Programme and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Among its means of setting common policies for worldwide relief activity is its participation on the Inter-agency Standing Committee, which includes these same United Nations partner agencies as well as the Red Cross/Red Crescent movement and the major consortia of non-governmental organizations involved in relief. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, headquartered in Gaza and Amman, has primary responsibility for delivering services and support to Palestine refugees. Nevertheless, as with OCHA, interagency collaboration has always been integral to UNRWA’s programme development and implementation. Its education programme, for example, was established in 1950 with technical assistance from the UN Education, Scientific and Cultural
Humanitarian Assistance
Organization (UNESCO), whose staff still participates directly in UNRWA’s vocational training activities. The League of Arab States likewise collaborates in the education effort as part of regular discussions with the refugee host governments. Among a growing circle of publicprivate partnerships, UNRWA is working with such multi-national corporations as Cisco Systems and Microsoft on technology training for refugees. Its micro-loan programme in 2005 expanded its capital base through a financing instrument established by the OPEC Fund for International Partnerships, which helped broaden outreach to entrepreneurs in the informal sector unable to get financing in the conventional financial market. UNRWA’s General Assembly-approved cash budget for 2005 was almost all fully funded from voluntary donor contributions. This funded UNRWA’s ongoing work in education, health, and relief and social services. An additional US$ 47.1 million was budgeted for specific projects required to support the regular activities, along with US$ 21.7 million for in-kind donations for its food aid programme. Strategic Objectives OCHA’s strategy for implementing its core mission is to help develop and promote a common policy on humanitarian issues for the United Nations System and its partners; mobilize and coordinate assistance in complex emergencies; advocate for humanitarian issues; promote natural disaster reduction; mobilize and coordinate assistance for disasters; and provide timely information on emergencies and natural disasters to facilitate global humanitarian response.
UNRWA’s strategic objective is to invest in the human resources of Palestine refugees, contribute to the social and economic development of their communities, promote their self-reliance, and improve their living conditions with a special emphasis on infrastructure and environmental health in the 59 refugee camps in UNRWA’s area of operations. The agency also provides emergency assistance to Palestine refugees in situations of acute distress.
Analysis Recent years have seen significant improvement in OCHA’s ability to raise resources, improve cooperation with donors and partners, and recruit and deploy emergency staff to the field at times of crisis. The development of response tools such as the United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination teams now virtually guarantees the early arrival of an emergency response team within 48 hours of a natural disaster. In addition, stronger partnerships and engagement with donors, the military, and the private sector have strengthened the ability of the humanitarian system to respond when needed. Yet the office continues to encounter a number of problems that include identifying emergency experts who can be mobilized on very short notice, limited overall humanitarian funding, gaining access to critical areas due to heightened security concerns, and coordinating the increasing numbers of humanitarian actors on the ground. The arrival of almost 500 non-governmental and volunteer
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Poor humanitarian access continued to constrain activities in 2005 in a number of countries, but OCHA and other humanitarian partners were successful in negotiating greater access in some cases. One example was in northern Uganda, where negotiations resulted in a 15 per cent reduction of night commuters — primarily rural children who flee to cities seeking refuge from conflict, and who thereby risk potential abduction during the nights. There, the OCHA office provided monitoring, advocacy and ongoing effort to coordinate response. Another key challenge in improving the timeliness of response to crises is the need to strengthen early warning and analysis in the period before disaster strikes. Such advance information directly affects the ability of UN agencies and country teams to respond swiftly and in concert to emergencies. Yet it has proven difficult to elicit sufficient media interest in OCHA’s early-warning information and to engage the efforts of agencies with the ability to prepare for or prevent impending crises. The consequences were evident in 2005, for example, in the Sahel locust invasion — on which advance information had been accumulating for two years, with little press attention and little mobilization of resources for prevention. In the end, the cost of emergency response to agricultural and other losses from the locust swarms was at least ten times the amount that would have been needed for prevention.
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External performance evaluations have found that the humanitarian community needs to continue to strengthen monitoring and accountability; increase the level of common understanding of the operating environment among agencies; better integrate assessment missions to ensure that cross-sectoral issues such as gender and the protection of civilians are addressed; manage the tension between urgent, short-term needs and quality programming; and ensure the induction and training of humanitarian workers. These evaluations help guide OCHA, along with its humanitarian partners, in improving the effectiveness of its work in the field. One important long-term measure of performance in UNRWA’s service to Palestine refugees is that, when the programme began
UN Photo/Martine Perret
organizations to tsunami-affected Banda Aceh in Indonesia, for instance, made coordination an all but impossible task resulting in duplication, gaps and competition.
Humanitarian Assistance
UN Photo/Evan Schneider
in 1950, virtually the entire registered population was dependent on direct relief hand outs. Over the years, the vast majority of the refugees have become self-supporting, with only some six per cent of the registered refugees still in need of continued relief assistance, not taking into consideration emergency relief extended to much of the refugee population in Gaza and the West Bank since 2000. More immediately, in 2005 UNRWA’s programmes met most of their broad strategic objectives, though many activities were constrained by donor contributions that fell roughly US$ 15 million, or nearly 4 per cent, short of total planned expenditures. Curriculum changes in host countries meanwhile placed an unexpected strain on the agency’s education budget, when it became necessary to make costly improvements in information technology in order to maintain rough parity with host-country schools.
UNRWA also continued to face challenges in recruiting skilled staff in various disciplines, including education, health and microfinance, owing largely to the agency’s relatively low salary structure compared with prevailing levels in the host countries and across the region. In addition to the normal vicissitudes imposed by annual donor funding cycles, the uncertainties of the Middle East peace process and ongoing violence continue to make it difficult to plan, forecast budgetary needs and set annual performance goals. In the occupied Palestinian territory, for example, it was necessary to provide education for a quarter of a million young refugees in 2005 amid military curfews, movement restrictions and the construction of the barrier in the West Bank — all of which imposed unforeseen costs and midcourse operational changes.
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Subprogramme Objectives and Performance Measurements
1
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Subprogramme Objective
To ensure an effective international response to situations calling for humanitarian assistance. Expected accomplishment:
Indicator of achievement:
Improved coordination within the United Nations System to ensure a coherent United Nations response to humanitarian emergencies.
• Number of agreements by members of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) on appropriate standards to improve coordination mechanisms and structures at headquarters and in the field; • Increased implementation at the field level of policy guidance emanating from the Inter-Agency Standing Committee and the Executive Committee on Humanitarian Affairs; • Increased coherence among the political, humanitarian and developmental components of the United Nations in response to humanitarian emergencies.
Performance Measure
180
Indicator
Baseline
Target 2005
Actual 2005
Number of agreements by members of the IASC on appropriate standards to improve coordination mechanisms and structures at headquarters and in the field
4
4
9
Number of agreements concerning field implementation of policy guidance emanating from the IASC and the Executive Committee on Humanitarian Affairs
5
5
5
Number of tools/strategies developed to increase coherence among the political, humanitarian and developmental components of the United Nations in response to humanitarian emergencies
5
5
5
Humanitarian Assistance
2
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Subprogramme Objective
To reduce vulnerability to natural hazards and to ensure effective international support to reduce the impact of disasters, through the implementation of coherent policies and measures in this regard. Expected accomplishment A:
Indicator of achievement A:
Increased public awareness of the development of a culture of prevention and reduction of risk and vulnerability to natural hazards.
Increased number of countries adopting risk reduction within their development plans and policies.
Expected accomplishment B:
Indicator of achievement B:
Increased application of scientific and technical knowledge for risk and vulnerability reduction by policy makers at national levels.
Increased development of tools for risk assessment and monitoring of progress in disaster risk reduction field.
Expected accomplishment C:
Indicator of achievement C:
Increased capacity of developing countries for disaster prevention, preparedness, mitigation and recovery.
Increased number of countries adopting national programmes to implement disaster risk reduction strategies.
Performance Measure Baseline
Target 2005
Actual 2005
10
30
23
Number of tools for risk assessment and monitoring of progress to disaster risk reduction field
1
3
5
Number of countries adopting national programmes to implement disaster risk reduction strategies
10
20
19
Indicator Number of countries that have adopted risk reduction within their development plans and policies
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3
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Subprogramme Objective
To facilitate the timely delivery of disaster relief assistance, upon the request of the Member States concerned, to victims of natural disasters and environmental emergencies, including technological accidents. Expected accomplishment A:
Indicator of achievement A:
Timely dissemination of information on the situation in countries and areas affected by natural and environmental disasters, including the identification of resource requirements, to humanitarian partners.
Timely response of Member States in providing resources for the emergency.
Expected accomplishment B:
Indicator of achievement B:
A more timely and better coordinated response to the countries affected by a disaster.
International assistance is provided to the affected country within 48 hours following the issuance of the situation report and appeal for funds.
Performance Measure
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Indicator
Baseline
Target 2005
Actual 2005
Average number of hours it takes Member States to provide resources
60 (estimate)
48
58
Average number of hours it takes to provide international assistance
60 (estimate)
48
48
Humanitarian Assistance
4
United Nations Relief and Works Agency
Subprogramme Objective
To meet the basic educational and training needs of Palestine refugees and to enhance their educational and employment opportunities. Expected accomplishment:
Indicator of achievement:
Maintenance and improvement of the quality of education provided to the Palestine refugee population at all levels, including maintaining an environment conducive to learning and meeting the needs arising from the natural growth in the refugee population through upgrading and construction of facilities and enhancing the skills and competencies of the Agency’s teaching and training staff.
• Maintenance of relatively high pupil pass rates in elementary and preparatory cycles; •���������������������������������������� �������������������������������������� Maintenance of relatively low dropout rate in elementary cycle; •�� Reduction ������������������������������������� in the dropout rate in the preparatory cycle.
Performance Measure Baseline
Target 2005
Actual 2005
Elementary cycle: 96%
Elementary cycle: 96%
Elementary cycle: 94.9%
Preparatory cycle: 98%
Preparatory cycle: 98%
Preparatory cycle: 96.1%
Maintenance of relatively low dropout rate in the elementary cycle
0.5%
0.5%
0.48%
Reduction in the dropout rate in the preparatory cycle
3.0%
2.8%
2.69%
Indicator Maintenance of relatively high pupil pass rates in elementary and preparatory cycles
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5
United Nations Relief and Works Agency
Subprogramme Objective
To improve the quality of life of small and micro entrepreneurs, create and sustain jobs, decrease unemployment and provide income-generating opportunities to needy men and women through the provision of credit. Expected accomplishment A:
Indicator of achievement A:
Increase in business and incomegeneration opportunities.
• Value of loans disbursed; • Number of loans disbursed; • Repayment rate of loans.
Expected accomplishment B:
Indicator of achievement B:
Development of the capacity of women micro entrepreneurs among Palestine refugees.
Number of refugee women provided with loans.
Performance Measure Indicator Value of loans disbursed (US$)
Number of loans disbursed
Repayment rate of loans
Number of refugee women provided with loans
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Baseline
Target 2005
Actual 2005
$8,822,165
$21,346,660
$20,492,502
12,324
21,450
21,939
93%
97%
97%
4,160
4,200
4,852
