Advocacy and Public Information Section

The Advocacy and Public Information Section (APIS) assists and supports the Under-Secretary-General (USG), Assistant Secretary-General (ASG), the Senior Management Team, Humanitarian Coordinators and OCHA itself in advocating for effective and principled humanitarian action at the global, regional and country levels.

Besides making sure humanitarian concerns are included in UN decisions, APIS regularly reminds national and international media of the existence and impact of forgotten emergencies and natural disasters. The Section helps the Office of the Spokesperson of the Secretary-General ensure that relevant humanitarian messages are part of UN communications. Moreover, APIS advocates independently and jointly with non-governmental organizations (NGO), civil society groups and academic institutions to emphasize humanitarian crises.

The Section provides numerous services to strengthen OCHA’s overall humanitarian advocacy, including comprehensive media outreach, crisis communication, and advocacy strategy and design. In addition, APIS supports OCHA regional and country offices in the development and implementation of humanitarian advocacy and public information strategies. APIS in Geneva serves as the OCHA focal point for external relations and public information in Europe.

In particular, the Section provides public information support to the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) through the development of success stories, press releases, Op-Eds, and other services, including information management – with the aim to further the development of the CERF web site, and expand knowledge of the CERF and its importance for humanitarian action.

One of OCHA's main advocacy and public information functions is to supply communication support to the annual Consolidated Appeals. Advocacy and public information staff also manage the global Consolidated Appeals Process (CAP) launch in New York and satellite CAP launches in various donor capitals.

Finally, APIS is responsible for the daily update and maintenance of OCHA Online (OOL), OCHA's corporate web site. OOL is an advocacy platform that stimulates discussion and informs both the humanitarian community and general public on major humanitarian issues.