The main responsibilities of the Division are:

•  To provide direct support to the Emergency Relief Coordinator (ERC) in his role as principal adviser on humanitarian issues to the Secretary-General and coordinator of the international humanitarian response;

•  To provide direction and guidance to UN Resident/Humanitarian Coordinators on complex emergency and natural disaster matters; and

•  To provide support to OCHA's field offices including through the management of OCHA’s Regional and Field Offices and other supporting mechanisms, such as the support to Humanitarian Reform, including the cluster approach, CERF grants, and emergency cash grants.

CRD is also responsible within OCHA for coordinating all country level humanitarian strategies and response in both natural disasters and complex emergencies, and be the working level interface with partner humanitarian organizations and Secretariat departments, as well as donors on country-related issues. CRD works closely with EPS in interfacing with partner agencies involved in natural disasters preparedness and with GCMS in ensuring that substantive information on humanitarian response challenges reach actors such as donors, member states and IASC Agencies. CRD also interacts with UNDP and other Agencies on the transition from the humanitarian phase of an operation to early recovery and reconstruction.

The Division is led by a Director, located in New York. Desk officers cover specific countries and regions and support OCHA's response to natural disasters and complex emergencies. They maintain daily contact with staff in field offices.

Useful links

Emergency Relief Coordinator

Resident/Humanitarian Coordinators

OCHA Field/Regional Offices

Early Warning

Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC)

Consolidated Appeal Process (CAP)

Reliefweb

IRIN

Humanitarian Information Centers (HICs)

International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR)

Related documents

OCHA in 2008