ILO within the UN Humanitarian Response Reform: OCHA releases the report on the first year of implementation

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has recently released the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Report on Implementation of Global Cluster Capacity-Building.

As an effect of the UN Humanitarian Response Reform, ILO is active member of the IASC Early Recovery Cluster, which bridges relief and development. ILO is accountable for two major areas of work: post-crisis livelihood recovery jointly with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and capacity building & training of national and local actors in close collaboration with the International Training Centre. The Programme on Crisis Response and Reconstruction serves as focal point for ILO within the Early Recovery Cluster.

The report can be downloaded from the web page

At the pages 17 and 18 of the report, outputs and achievements of the Early Recovery Cluster are briefly outlined.

In particular, ILO has undertaken a coordination and technical backstopping functions for the implementation of the following projects: development of the Integrated Livelihood Assessment System with FAO (Briefing Note attached); support to assessment, planning and response to the crises in Pakistan (October 2005), Indonesia (May 2006), Lebanon (July 2006), Philippines (December 2006); production of an online database of training resources worldwide managed by ILO ITC; development of the training packages Disaster Risk Reduction in the Framework of Sustainable Local Development with ILO ITC, and How to integrate Local Economic Recovery into the Community-Driven Development (CDD) Approach (KDP, Indonesia).

Furthermore ILO is contributing to the development of the Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) framework; and to the development, led by OCHA, of a training module on the coordination of early recovery into the forthcoming cluster/sector leadership training programme.

ILO has recently submitted, jointly with partner agencies, a number of project proposals to be included in the Global Cluster Appeal covering April 2007-March 2008. The following activities seek for funding:

• Delivery in high-risk countries in Southern America of the second edition of the training Disaster Risk Reduction in the Framework of Local Development
• Translation and region-wise adaptation of the training Disaster Risk Reduction in the Framework of Local Development for high-risk countries in South and East Asia
• Enhancement of the online database of worldwide training resources by: (i) developing further the section on tools and packages offered by each institution; and (ii) integrating institutions providing training services focused on conflict management
• Development and delivery of a pilot training package on Local Economic Recovery in peace-building contexts, by building on the existing three-day learning package
• Implement and rollout the Pre Disaster Recovery Planning, according to the framework developed through the 2 regional consultative workshops, at the national level in 6 high risk countries
• Development, jointly with FAO, of training materials and country-level assessment preparedness procedures for the use of the Integrated Livelihood Assessment System (ILAS)
• Delivery of training for national government, NGO and UN staff in the different technical elements of the ILAS. Pilot countries: Indonesia, Bangladesh and two other disaster risk hotspot countries

For further details on ILO's work within the Early Recovery Cluster, please do not hesitate to contact Mr. Kiniger-Passigli (kiniger@ilo.org) or Ms. Francesca Battistin (battistin@ilo.org).