Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Encyclopedia
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) , is a United Nations body formed in December 1991 by General Assembly
Resolution 46/182. The resolution was designed to strengthen the UN's response to complex emergencies and natural disasters by creating the Department of Humanitarian Affairs (DHA), and replacing the Office of the United Nations Disaster Relief Coordinator, which had been formed in 1972. In 1998, due to reorganisation, DHA merged into the OCHA and was designed to be the UN focal point on major disasters. Its mandate was also expanded to include the coordination of humanitarian response, policy development and humanitarian advocacy. It is a sitting observer of the United Nations Development Group.
OCHA is therefore an inter-agency body, serving UN agencies and NGOs in the humanitarian domain. Its main product is the Consolidated Appeals Process
, an advocacy and planning tool to deliver humanitarian assistance together in a given emergency.
, currently Valerie Amos.
As of 2007 OCHA has some 1,064 staff, distributed across the world. Major OCHA country offices are located in Afghanistan
, Burundi
, Central African Republic
, Chad
, Colombia
, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia
, Eritrea
, Ivory Coast, Palestinian territories
, Sri Lanka
, Sudan
(including a sub-office in Southern Sudan's capital Juba
), Uganda
, and Zimbabwe
, while regional offices are located in Panama City
, Dakar
, Cairo
, Johannesburg
, and Bangkok
. OCHA also has some liaison and support staff in New York and Geneva.
United Nations General Assembly
For two articles dealing with membership in the General Assembly, see:* General Assembly members* General Assembly observersThe United Nations General Assembly is one of the five principal organs of the United Nations and the only one in which all member nations have equal representation...
Resolution 46/182. The resolution was designed to strengthen the UN's response to complex emergencies and natural disasters by creating the Department of Humanitarian Affairs (DHA), and replacing the Office of the United Nations Disaster Relief Coordinator, which had been formed in 1972. In 1998, due to reorganisation, DHA merged into the OCHA and was designed to be the UN focal point on major disasters. Its mandate was also expanded to include the coordination of humanitarian response, policy development and humanitarian advocacy. It is a sitting observer of the United Nations Development Group.
OCHA is therefore an inter-agency body, serving UN agencies and NGOs in the humanitarian domain. Its main product is the Consolidated Appeals Process
Consolidated Appeals Process
The Consolidated Appeals Process is an advocacy tool for humanitarian financing, in which projects managed by the United Nations, NGOs and other stakeholders come together to approach the donor community funding international development activities...
, an advocacy and planning tool to deliver humanitarian assistance together in a given emergency.
Staff
OCHA is headed by the Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief CoordinatorUndersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator
The Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator is a high level position in the United Nations that heads the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs....
, currently Valerie Amos.
As of 2007 OCHA has some 1,064 staff, distributed across the world. Major OCHA country offices are located in Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, Burundi
Burundi
Burundi , officially the Republic of Burundi , is a landlocked country in the Great Lakes region of Eastern Africa bordered by Rwanda to the north, Tanzania to the east and south, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west. Its capital is Bujumbura...
, Central African Republic
Central African Republic
The Central African Republic , is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It borders Chad in the north, Sudan in the north east, South Sudan in the east, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo in the south, and Cameroon in the west. The CAR covers a land area of about ,...
, Chad
Chad
Chad , officially known as the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the southwest, and Niger to the west...
, Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
, Eritrea
Eritrea
Eritrea , officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa. Eritrea derives it's name from the Greek word Erethria, meaning 'red land'. The capital is Asmara. It is bordered by Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the south, and Djibouti in the southeast...
, Ivory Coast, Palestinian territories
Palestinian territories
The Palestinian territories comprise the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Since the Palestinian Declaration of Independence in 1988, the region is today recognized by three-quarters of the world's countries as the State of Palestine or simply Palestine, although this status is not recognized by the...
, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
, Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
(including a sub-office in Southern Sudan's capital Juba
Juba, Sudan
Juba is the capital and largest city of the Republic of South Sudan. It also serves as the capital of Central Equatoria, the smallest of the ten states of South Sudan. The city is situated on the White Nile and functions as the seat and metropolis of Juba County.- Population :In 2005, Juba's...
), Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
, and Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
, while regional offices are located in Panama City
Panama City
Panama is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Panama. It has a population of 880,691, with a total metro population of 1,272,672, and it is located at the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal, in the province of the same name. The city is the political and administrative center of the...
, Dakar
Dakar
Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...
, Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
, Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
, and Bangkok
Bangkok
Bangkok is the capital and largest urban area city in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep , meaning "city of angels." The full name of Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom...
. OCHA also has some liaison and support staff in New York and Geneva.
Services
OCHA has built up a range of services in the execution of its mandate. Some of the larger ones are:- IRIN, Integrated Regional Information Networks, a humanitarian news and analysis service (1995)
- INSARAG, International Search and Rescue Advisory GroupInternational Search and Rescue Advisory GroupThe International Search and Rescue Advisory Group is a network of disaster-prone and disaster-responding countries and organizations dedicated to urban search and rescue and operational field coordination...
- ReliefWebReliefWebReliefWeb is an on-line gateway to information on humanitarian emergencies and disasters. An independent vehicle of information, designed specifically to assist the international humanitarian community in effective delivery of emergency assistance, it provides information as events unfold, while...
time-critical humanitarian information on Complex Emergencies and Natural Disasters (1996) - Central Emergency Response FundCentral Emergency Response FundThe Central Emergency Response Fund is a humanitarian funding mechanism established by the United Nations to enable more timely and reliable assistance to victims of natural disasters and armed conflicts...
(2006) - Humanitarian Information Centers, an emergency-specific, data exchange platform, supported by the Field Information Support Unit. On 15 May, the United Nations [OCHA] launched the Myanmar HIC website Cyclone NargisCyclone Nargis , was a strong tropical cyclone that caused the worst natural disaster in the recorded history of Burma. The cyclone made landfall in Burma on Friday, May 2, 2008, causing catastrophic destruction and at least 138,000 fatalities...
. Based in Bangkok, the HIC is providing support to the Humanitarian Partnership Team and other humanitarian partners in Yangon, as well as those based in Bangkok. - Humanitarian ReformHumanitarianismIn its most general form, humanitarianism is an ethic of kindness, benevolence and sympathy extended universally and impartially to all human beings. Humanitarianism has been an evolving concept historically but universality is a common element in its evolution...
seeks to improve the effectiveness of humanitarian response by ensuring greater predictability, accountability and partnership. - Who does What Where Database and Contact Management Directory, To ensure that appropriate and timely humanitarian response is delivered during a disaster or emergency situation, information must be managed efficiently. The key information that are important to assess and ensure that humanitarian needs are met in any emergency/disaster are, to know which organizations (Who) are carrying out what activities (What) in which locations (Where) which is also universally referred to as the 3W (Who does What Where). The Who does What Where database (3W) is one product that is universally agreed to be the most important priority for any co-ordination activity. The integrated Contact Management Directory, complements the 3W database, making it easy for the user to navigate through the application.(2006)
- Common and Fundamental Operational Datasets The Common Operational Datasets (CODs) are critical datasets that are used to support the work of humanitarian actors across multiple sectors. They are considered a de facto standard for the humanitarian community and should represent the best-available datasets for each theme. The Fundamental Operational Datasets (FODs) are datasets that are relevant to a humanitarian operation, but are more specific to a particular sector or otherwise do not fit into one of the seven COD themes. http://cod.humanitarianresponse.info/
- Since 2004, OCHA has partnered with the Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian AssistanceCenter for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian AssistanceThe Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance is a direct reporting unit to the U.S. Pacific Command and principal agency to promote disaster preparedness and societal resiliency in the Asia-Pacific region...
to facilitate OCHA’s Civil Military Coordination (UN-CMCoord) course in the Asia-Pacific Region. The UN-CMCoord Course is designed to address the need for coordination between international civilian humanitarian actors, especially UN humanitarian agencies, and international military forces in an international humanitarian emergency. This established UN training plays a critical role in building capacity to facilitate effective coordination in the field by bringing together approximately 30 practitioners from the spectrum of actors sharing operational space during a humanitarian crisis and training them on UN coordination mechanisms and internationally recognized guidelines for civil military coordination.