IASC News shy November 2015 View this email in your browser

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Meetings amp Events

Humanitarian response to cyclones Chapala and Megh in Yemen Credits Society forHumanitarian Solidarity (SHS)

LATEST NEWS

YemenAs a result of cyclones Chapala and Megh 26 people were killed and 78 injured Manyfamilies have returned to their homes but many still shelter in tents Restoringhabitations roads and livelihoods as well as continued humanitarian assistance areprioritized The humanitarian community continues to provide assistance to peopleaffected by the cyclones Meanwhile the situation in Taizz has intensified On 24November Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen OrsquoBrien stated that ldquofighting hasintensified there and some 200000 vulnerable civilians are living under a virtual state ofsiege in dire need of drinking water food medical treatment and other lifeshysavingassistance and protectionrdquo Access is severely limited and very limited assistance hasbeen allowed inrdquo Mr OrsquoBrien urged the international community to hold all parties whoviolate humanitarian and human rights accountable The Humanitarian Needs Overview

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for Yemen details the crucial needs the Yemeni population faces

Burundi escalation of violenceOn 12 November the Security Council adopted resolution 2248 expressing its deepconcern about the continued rise in violence and insecurity in Burundi As of 25November over 219000 people have sought refuge in neighbouring countries UN HighCommissioner for Human Rights Zeid Rarsquoad Al Hussein deplored the suspension of 10NGOs including several working on peace and human rights issues warning against arelapse into ldquofullshyfledged civil warrdquo Donors are scalingshydown support to the governmentin face of current events Education WASH programs and the healthcare sector havebeen significantly impacted

RECENT DEVELOPMENTSEl NintildeoUNHCR IBELONG campaignagainst statelessnessEmergency TelecommunicationsCluster (ETC) Plenary MeetingThe Global EWARS projectThe Humanitarian Networks andPartnership Week (HNPW)New Index for Global RiskManagement LaunchedRecent Nominations

Elder woman speaking to ASG Kang during thecommunity meeting in Ethiopia on El Nintildeo relateddroughts Credit OCHALaila Bourhil

El Nintildeo Most climate models predict a strong El Nintildeo for the end of 2015 and into 2016 leadingto record global temperatures alongside droughts floods and forest fires Millions ofpeople will be affected by El Nintildeo this year and next Climate forecasters predict EastAfrica Southern Africa the Pacific Islands South East Asia and Central America aremost at risk of extreme weather including belowshynormal rains and droughts in someplaces and intensive rains and flooding in others The humanitarian impact will include anincrease in food insecurity higher malnutrition rates devastated livelihoods and forceddisplacement The humanitarian community is raising the alarm in countries at risks andHCTs are developing preparedness and response plans CERF plans to allocate morethan US$85 million to aid agencies to respond to droughts and floods linked to El NintildeoEvidence indicates that climate change will increase the frequency of stronger El Nintildeos incoming decades

UNHCR IBELONG campaign against statelessness Today 10 million people around the world are denied a nationality They often are notallowed to go to school see a doctor get a job open a bank account buy a house oreven get married Help to change their lives and sign the Open Letter to End

Statelessness which is part of UNHCRrsquos IBELONG campaign

Emergency Telecommunications Cluster (ETC) PlenaryMeeting As global lead of the ETC WFP convened representatives from 20 humanitarian privatesector and government organizations for the twiceshyyearly ETC Plenary Meeting held inOctober at UNHCR headquarters In addition to reviews of ETC operations in NepalVanuatu West Africa and Yemen participants explored the development of ETC2020Pilot Projects ETC2020 is the clusterrsquos strategy which seeks to ensure that by 2020 allthose responding to humanitarian emergencies have access to vitalcommunication services Currently being designed for Haiti Liberia Nepal and thePhilippines pilot projects will cover the four key pillars of the strategy EnhancedCommunications and Energy Improved and Decentralized Response ReadinessIncreased Communications Resilience to Disasters and Communications as Aid

The Global EWARS project The Global EWARS project is a WHO initiative that aims to strengthen early warningalert and response in emergency settings The project supports Ministries of Health andhealth partners by providing technical guidance training and fieldshybased tools Byproviding EWARS in a box frontline health workers can establish and managesurveillance and response activities in field settings without reliable internet or electricityOne kit costs approximately US$15000 and can support surveillance for 50 fixed ormobile clinics covering roughly half a million people In December it is being piloted inSouth Sudan with the aim of increasing surveillance in hardshytoshyreach areas This willreduce delays in detecting and responding to disease outbreaks and therefore help toavoid unnecessary cases and deaths For more information contact the Global EWARSProject at WHO Geneva (infoewarsws)

The Humanitarian Networks and Partnership Week(HNPW) Humanitarian Networks and Partnership Week (HNPW) is the annual meeting of OCHAshysupported networks and partnerships under the Consultative Group umbrella The eventis open to other actors that have an interest in its activities Every year the HNPW isunderpinned by a different theme from 1 to 4 February 2016 it will focus onEffectiveness of international preparedness and response The week sees both plenarysessions and networkshyspecific meetings Focus Task Forces hold workshops to consultand update partners on progress and thematic sessions are organized to present newdevelopments and initiatives Register here before 25 December

New Index for Global Risk Management Launched INFORM is the first global objective and transparent tool for understanding the risk of

humanitarian crises When all those involved in crisis prevention preparedness andresponse use a shared risk assessment they can work more effectively togetherINFORM has been developed in response to recommendations by numerousorganizations to improve the common evidence basis for risk analysis as well as the realdemands of INFORM partner organizations and is openshysource To learn more aboutINFORM view this short animation or visit the INFORM website

Recent Nominations Following his nomination by the Secretary General Filippo Grandi was elected as thenext United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees He will take over from AntonioGuterres on 1 January 2016 for a period of five years On 4 November 2015 EmergencyRelief Coordinator Stephen OrsquoBrien designated Mr Stephen Tull incoming ResidentCoordinator in Chad as Humanitarian Coordinator and Ms Ahunna Eziakonwa incomingResident Coordinator in Ethiopia as Humanitarian Coordinator Jamie McGoldrick willassume the role of Resident Coordinator for Yemen deploying to Sanarsquoa in earlyDecember

IASC PRIORITIES For more information or to join thegroups please visit the IASC SubsidiaryBodies webpage

IASC Task Team on Accountability toAffected Populations and Prevention ofSexual Exploitation and Abuse(AAPPSEA)The IASC AAPPSEA Task Teamundertook a mission to Niger in midshyNovember Accountability had emergedas an important course corrector in theNiger Operational Peer Review carriedout by the STAIT in March 2014 andseveral actions related to accountabilityhave been included into the Niger actionplan post OPR The Task Teamfacilitated a workshop with clusterscoordinators and facilitators as well asgovernment counterparts and local NGOsto discuss a roadmap to operationalizeaccountability at a collective levelThe Task Team also supported thefacilitation of a workshop hosted by IOMon the Community Based ComplaintsMechanisms (CBCM) piloted in Ethiopiaand DR Congo Representatives fromboth pilot countries along with globalexperts on PSEA met in Kigali from 2 to 6November to discuss lessons learned

Humanitarian FinancingThe new coshysponsors of HumanitarianFinancing are Gordana Jerger of WFPand Raphael Gorgeu of ICVA andMateusz Buczek of OCHA is nowproviding the secretariat supportfunction for the Task Team Welcome

The Humanitarian Financing TaskTeam will follow up on the Future ofHumanitarian Financing report with athink piece on emerging financingrecommendations drawing on currentglobal processes prioritizingrecommendations and future key workstreams The work on donorconditions will be continued to furtherinfluence the HighshyLevel Panelrecommendations around a GrandBargain The Task Team will hold theirannual retreat in midshyJanuary tostrategize future work

Mental Health and PsychosocialSupport in Emergency SettingsOn 4 and 5 November 40representatives from memberorganizations and observers of theMHPSS Reference Group met inIstanbul to review and discussprogress of intershyagency workundertaken on MHPSS including on

which will feed into the CBCM BestPractice Guide The fifth day open toother interested stakeholders allowed togain a better understanding of issues andchallenges faced in addressing SEA inother countries The Best Practice Guidefor establishing intershyagency CBCMs willbe produced and broadly disseminatedby end of December 2015

Gender in Humanitarian ActionThe Gender Equality in the StrategicResponse Plan report captures lessonson integrating gender into the previoushumanitarian planning process andmakes recommendations for continuedimprovements It is encouraging thatconcerted efforts are being made toensure that humanitarian programmingeffectively addresses the distinct needs ofwomen girls men and boys Despiteimportant progress the review of theIASC Gender Marker codes indicated thatthe majority of projects were eithergender blind (22 per cent) or onlypartially designed to address the distinctneeds of women girls boys and men (42per cent) Some key recommendationsfor the planning process areimprovement of quantitative andqualitative data collection filling gaps infuture assessments coherent activitiesand indicators closer attention to thewider role of women and girls in societyand a stronger focus on vulnerabilitiesfaced by men and boys to improve thewider gender understanding

the development of a Monitoring andEvaluation Framework for the IASCGuidelines on MHPSS key advocacypriorities on MHPSS around WHS andfollow up to the UNICEF symposiumon lsquoGrowing up in conflict The impacton Childrenrsquos mental health andpsychosocial wellshybeingrsquo The followingpriorities have been set for the nexttwo years MampE Framework and its rollout development of an IASC tool forreferral clarifying the thinking aroundMHPSS and peacebuilding through aworking group established within theReference Group promoting the useof IASC guidelines through furtherdissemination of the review alreadyundertaken greater advocacy onMHPSS including for the WHSCapacity building surge ongoing fieldsupport greater guidance onCommunity based MHPSS and areview around the work onPsychological First Aid (PFA) It wasalso decided that the IFRC ReferenceCentre and UNICEF will serve as coshyChairs for the year 2016 with formerrsquosrole extending till 2017

Preparedness and ResilienceThe Key Messages on ClimateChange recently endorsed by theIASC Principals and Working Groupare used as an intershyagencycommunication and advocacy toolduring and after the COP21 They callupon the global community to rapidlyreduce the greenhouse gas emissionsand to strengthen preventive andadaptive capacities of individualscommunities and systems for climateresilience

IASC EVENTS

IASC Events are organized on an ad hoc basis by theIASC secretariat in Geneva and New York

Humanitarian Needs Overview Syria2016 with Helena Fraser

RECENT REPORTSAND STUDIES The new intershyagencyguidance note MentalHealth and PsychosocialSupport for RefugeesAsylumshyseekers andMigrants on the Move in

The HNO findings are sobering humanitarian needs arespread across the whole country Over 11 million peoplehave been displaced many of them several timesExplosive threats child labour lack or loss of civildocuments and family separation are among the topprotection threats Preparing to flee is the third copingmechanism after seeking advice from community leadersand seeking support from NGOs

The HNO for Syria 2016 should serve as a robust base foroperational planning in 2016 For the first time fieldshybased in depth geographic coverage data is available toall partners and will be updated bishymonthly The severityranking in the HNO measures the levels of need andallows humanitarian actors to refine the responseTheHNO is widely supported by the intershyagency communitywhich commended its inclusiveness and the great effortsdone towards streamlining protection livelihood andresilience throughout the document

GA Humanitarian Omnibus Resolution OCHA PDSB provided a briefing to the IASC community onthe GA resolutions on Strengthening of the coordination ofemergency humanitarian assistance of the UnitedNations The resolutions aim to incorporate outcomes ofthe 2030 Sustainable Development agenda the SendaiFramework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015shy2030 andreference to WHS among other global processes

Humanitarian Briefing on the Sahelwith Toby Lanzer Toby Lanzer Assistant Secretary General and RegionalHumanitarian Coordinator for the Sahel depicted thedramatic conditions in the Sahel poverty security gapsand environmental degradation are of particular concernThe situation in Lake Chad Basin is deteriorating withcurrently 25 million displaced people The SustainableDevelopment Goals provide an opportunity to increase ourresources and cash programs should be used more oftenFinally development and security actors can provide goodand reliable data and could have a huge impact ifcollaborative work is realized

Habitat III

Europe provides adviceon protecting andsupporting the mentalhealth and psychosocialwellshybeing of affectedpeople It describes keyprinciples and appropriateinterventions to guide allthose who are designingand organizingemergency servicesandor providing directassistance The guidancenote will be available onwwwMHPSSnet shortly

The Chatham Housereport Heat Light andPower for RefugeesSaving Lives ReducingCosts zooms in on theenergy needs and use ofrefugees and displacedpeople worldwide andshows how newapproaches could benefitrefugees and displacedpeople host countrycommunities and theenvironment

The Global TerrorismIndex shows a surge inactivity from NigeriarsquosIslamist insurgency BokoHaram and Islamic Statein Iraq and Syria whohave driven an 80 percent increase in thenumber of people killed byterrorists in 2014 Theindex also shows that 80per cent of last yearrsquosterrorist killings werecarried out in just fivecountries Iraq NigeriaAfghanistan Pakistan andSyria

The UNICEF reportUnless we act now Theimpact of climate changeon children looks at howchildren and particularlythe most vulnerable areaffected and whatconcrete steps need to be

Ana Moreno Secretariat Coordinator for Habitat III briefedthe IASC community on the process leading up to theconference that will take place in Quito Ecuador inOctober 2016 The conference aims to advocate for thenew drivers of the urban agenda urban rules andregulations planning and design and municipal financing

Launch of the Gendershybased Violence(GBV) Guidelines in Geneva The launch was held in the margins of the 62nd session ofCEDAW and attended by a diverse range of actorsincluding Member States UN agencies and NGOs Thepanelists from UNFPA UNICEF UNHCR and World VisionInternational explained the objective of the revisedguidelines which is to implement a systemshywide changeacross all sectors and clusters and push for stronger GBVstandards including in humanitarian programmingDiscussants highlighted the necessity to be accountableand practically implement the guidelines at the field level

Cash Toolkit shy Technical briefing Cash programmes take an increasingly important role inhumanitarian action and Multipurpose Cash Grants (MPG)are proven to be an effective tool to address various needsin different contexts While conceding that cashprogrammes cannot be used in all situations (eg wheremarkets are unavailable) the panelists from UNHCR andNRC reminded us of the necessity to push for cashprogramming in all agencies and organizations to endmisperceptions and the lack of understanding of cashprograms The Cash Toolkit developed by UNHCR iscomprehensive and practical and can be used by allhumanitarian actors not only cash experts Arepresentative of ECHO highlighted the fact that MPGbecome more costshyeffective at a large scale Intershyagencycoordination and preparedness work will help betterimplement MPG in different emergenciesThe toolkit in itsfinalization stage after receiving input during workshopsand will be made available on the CaLP website

FEATURED PRODUCT

Guidelines for addressing HIV inHumanitarian settings

taken to protect them

The IDMC report Drivenapart how repeateddisplacement changesfamily dynamics ineastern DRC (alsoavailable inFrench) focuses on theimpact of repeateddisplacement on familycomposition relationshipsand roles in theDemocratic Republic ofthe Congo and looks athow the phenomenonaffects the ability ofdisplaced families to copewith the consequences

Supporting communityresilience on conflict is apodcast by HarvardsAdvanced TrainingProgram on HumanitarianAction

The Central AfricanRepublic addressing theprotection crisis a reportby the OverseasDevelopment Institutelooks at how people inCAR affected by theconflict see protectionthreats how they mitigatethem and what theyexpect from those seekingto provide protection

Parts of Central Americaand Mexico are sufferinga humanitarian crisiswhich stems directly fromexpanding criminalviolence including rapekidnapping humantrafficking extortionforced displacementexploitation and murderThe IDMC report Newhumanitarian frontiersAddressing criminalviolence in Mexico andCentral America pinpointsthree structuralchallenges in response to

Ahead of World AIDS Day on 1 December UNAIDSreleased a report showing that countries are getting on theFastshyTrack to end AIDS by 2030 as part of the SustainableDevelopment Goals By adapting to a changing globalenvironment and maximizing innovations countries areseeing greater efficiencies and better results

At the same time the importance of addressing HIV inhumanitarian emergencies has been recognized not onlyin the updated UNAIDS Strategy 2016shy2021 In additionthe Global Fund to Fight AIDS Tuberculosis and Malariafor the first time has recognized the need to address HIV inemergencies and has set up an Emergency Fund that maybe further expanded in 2016

The IASC Guidelines for Addressing HIV in HumanitarianSettings revised in 2010 aim to assist humanitarian andAIDS organizations to plan the delivery of a minimum setof HIV prevention treatment care and support services topeople affected by humanitarian crises Users can refer tosectoral responses as well as relevant actions that shouldbe addressed across all sectors

criminal violence in theregion the features andcharacteristics of criminalviolence the presence ofselfshysustaining regionalmixed migration and theflow of narcotics and theextremely fragile nature ofCentral American states

More than 100 millionpeople are currently inneed of humanitarianassistance shy that is morethan at any time since theend of the Second WorldWar Among thosedisplaced by conflict oruprooted by disaster arean estimated 26 millionwomen and adolescentgirls in their childbearingyears The State of WorldPopulation 2015 report isa call to action to meettheir needs and protecttheir rights and to reframehumanitarian response

UPCOMING MEETINGS amp EVENTS

IASC Meetings amp Events

2 December 2015 IASC Event Adapting the IASC Gender Marker to your needsfuture evolution

3 December 2015 ad hoc Working Group Meeting

4 December 2015 GPC Task Team on the IASC Protection Priority Meeting

4 December 2015 Gender Reference Group Meeting

7 December 2015 IASC AAPPSEA Task Team meeting

11 December 2015 Principals Meeting

15 December 2015 IASC Event WHS briefing

16 December 2015 Task Team on Humanitarian Financing (HFTT) Meeting

17 December 2015 (TBC) IASC Event Second briefing on the HumanitarianOmnibus Resolution

17shy21 January 2016 Emergency Team Leadership Programme in Nairobi Kenya

Other Events

30 Novembershy11 December 2015 The United Nations Climate ChangeConference COP21CMP11

8shy10 December 2015 32nd International Conference of the Red Cross and RedCrescent

15 December 2015 CERFrsquos annual HighshyLevel Conference

19 October 2015shy15 January 2016 InterAction Photo Contest

1shy2 December 2015 Global Policy Forum New York USA

2 December 2015 The relationship between the International Criminal Court andhumanitarian actors PHAP Online Learning Series on Humanitarian Law andPolicy

7 December 2015 Global Humanitarian Appeal launch

10 December 2015 Yemens forgotten war Overseas Development Instituteevent Geneva Switzerland

15 December 2015 Countryshybased pooled funds NGO Dialogue Platform meeting

15 December 2015 Market analysis for urban humanitarian response ALNAPwebinar

17 December 2015 Suppressing foreign terrorist fighters and supportingprincipled humanitarian action PHAP Expert IHL Briefing

1shy4 February 2016 Humanitarian Network and Partnership Week (HNPW)Geneva

16 February 2016 19th International Meeting of Mine Action National ProgrammeDirectors and UN Advisor (NDM)

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The IASC was established under General Assembly Resolution 46182 (1991) as the primary intershyagencycoordination mechanism for humanitarian action in complex and major emergencies It is a unique forum whichbrings together UN operational agencies and other humanitarian organizations and is supported by the IASCsecretariat Email iasccorrespondenceunorg Copyright copy 2014 United Nations All rights reserved

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