Regional Offices
The first regional structure of OCHA was established in 1996 in Nairobi, Kenya. It began as a support structure for the UN Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Great Lakes Region but developed over the years into a fully-fledged Regional Office. Now OCHA has six Regional Offices—three in Africa (Dakar, Nairobi and Johannesburg), one in the Middle East (Dubai), one in Latin America (Panama) and one in Asia and the Pacific (Bangkok).
Each OCHA Regional Office has its own history, priorities and specific activities as briefly described below. The raison d’être for all of them, however, is based on the assumption that as regional structures they bring an added value to the effectiveness of humanitarian assistance, be it as support to country offices or by addressing coordination, preparedness and advocacy issues for which a regional approach is warranted.
Regional Office for West Africa (ROWA)
ROWA is based in Dakar, Senegal and supports the fifteen ECOWAS countries plus Mauritania, and Cameroon i.e. Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Cote d'Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Niger, Nigeria, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo. In addition to OCHA country offices in Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea and Niger, National Humanitarian Officers are supporting UN Resident Coordinators in Burkina Faso, Mali, Guinea Bissau and Mauritania.
The West Africa region suffers from natural and human-made disasters, as well as protracted complex emergencies. Impoverished populations are increasingly vulnerable and less able to cope with extended conflict. Birth rates are on the rise, while economic growth is disparate and agricultural production fails to feed populations dependant on food import and foreign aid. The region is also prone to epidemics including cholera, meningitis, measles, yellow fever, malaria and the HIV pandemic, as well as to flash floods, droughts and locust infestations. Furthermore, it has been plagued with political and social tensions, mostly due to weak electoral systems, bad governance, abject poverty and intense competition for resources.
The OCHA regional team provides strategic leadership and technical assistance to humanitarian teams active in the 18 countries included in the geographic scope of the office, and assists UN Country Teams, governments, regional inter-State institutions, donors and NGOs. Additionally, ROWA work in support of a coordinated response to an outbreak of Avian and Human Influenza.
Regional Office for Central and East Africa (ROCEA)
ROCEA is based in Nairobi, Kenya and covers 14 countries, 11 of which have an OCHA presence. They are as follows: Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan, Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania.
The Central and East African region is home to more than 13 million persons - both IDPs and refugees. Open conflict, violent ethnic and resource-based clashes, as well as sudden onset and/or recurrent natural disasters, including droughts, floods, and irregular rainfall complicate the existing fragile political and economic contexts. The shortened recovery period between emergencies means that populations are in constant need of relief and in competition for scarce resources, thus fueling tensions among communities whose coping capacities already strained to the limit. Several countries in the Horn of Africa are still coping with the effects of the worst drought in decades, now complicated by recent flash flooding.
Some countries are going through post-conflict transition linked to fragile economies and weak overall governance, and civil authority is not uniformly established. In addition, life-threatening diseases such as cholera, malaria and HIV/AID continue to be of serious concern.
ROCEA works closely with the OCHA offices in the region by supporting disaster response activities, such as monitoring, analyzing and reporting of humanitarian trends and issues, networking with development partners, national and international NGOs and regional institutions, and providing a strengthened information management and information technology.
Regional Office for Southern Africa (ROSA)
ROSA, based in Johannesburg, South Africa, provides support and services to UN Country Teams (UNCT) in the following countries: Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Reunion, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Seychelles, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The overarching responsibility of the Regional Office for Southern Africa is to support the Resident and Humanitarian Coordinators in the region to provide effective, efficient and coordinated humanitarian assistance to populations in need.
Assistance to RCs and HCs is two-pronged:
(1) to build response capacity within the region to better deal with natural disasters; and (2) to support the establishment of a strong, coordinated effort on the part of the UN and its partners to address humanitarian needs in the region.
As part of this second function, the OCHA Regional Office supports the Special Envoy (SE) for Humanitarian Needs in southern Africa, Mr. Jim Morris, in his function to raise awareness of the crisis in the region, strengthen the response and mobilize donor support.
A key component of the OCHA Regional Office is the Southern Africa Humanitarian Information Management Network (SAHIMS). SAHIMS is a network of information resources for disaster reduction in southern Africa and contributes to OCHA’s overall goal in the region through the provision of essential humanitarian information management services such as: database development, data warehousing, data analysis, GIS services, web dissemination and training.
Regional Office for the Middle East, North Africa, Iran and Afganistan (ROMENAIA)
ROMENAIA, based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, maintains a watching brief over 21 countries and territories which includes Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Morocco, occupied Palestinian territory, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syrian Arab Republic, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Western Sahara and Yemen. The Office supports the humanitarian coordination and diasaster response services provided to the UN Resident Coordinators, OCHA offices (Tehran, Jerusalem and Beirut) and UN missions (primarily UNAMI in Iraq and UNAMA in Afghanistan).
The MENAIA region harbors risks related to natural hazards and technological failures as well as emerging human-induced risk factors such as pandemics and climate change. Earthquakes, floods, landslides, industrial accidents and oil spillages are the most common phenomena leading to disasters. In addition, slow onset natural disaster - principally drought - affect certain parts of the region. The impact of such disasters on densely populated and vulnerable areas can be enormous and present humanitarian challenges to governments and other stakeholders.
In addition, a number of countries and territories pose humanitarian challenges due to previous and/or current conflict and insecurity, either widespread or intermittent. There are an estimated 3.3 million IDPs in the region (primarily in Iraq and Afghanistan) and 6 million refugees (primarily from oPt and Afghanistan).
The Regional Office of OCHA aims to position itself as an accessible neutral broker and entry point through which partners in the region can increase their substantive participation and recognition in the international humanitarian arena. ROMENAIA works with humanitarian partners in countries that are prone to or affected by crises and exacerbated by inadequate systems and resources.
Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean (ROLAC)
OCHA has been present in Latin America since 2003 with the aim of coordinating effective and principled humanitarian action. The OCHA Office works on four core functions: alleviate human suffering in Latin America caused by Emergency and disasters; promotion of preparedness and prevention efforts to reduce future vulnerability to natural disasters; advocating for the rights of people in need; and facilitating sustainable solutions to address root causes.
ROLAC covers all countries of Central and South America and the Caribbean. Three countries have an OCHA presence. The region is home to more than 560 million people and encompasses more than 20 million square kilometers of landmass.
The office functions as the secretariat and chief adviser to the Humanitarian Coordinator (HC) for Latin America. The HC is appointed by the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator (also Under-Secretary-General and Head of OCHA) after consultation with the Inter-Agency Standing Committee of organizations from the UN system, Red Cross Movement and key non-governmental consortia.
As a coordinating body, free from the day-to-day operational challenges, OCHA ROLAC focuses on the full spectrum of issues associated with humanitarian assistance. This includes anticipating changes in operational environments and supporting the HC and UNCT set the agenda for common humanitarian actions in Latin America.
OCHA plays a key role in examining and addressing the immediate challenges to humanitarian assistance. It also plays a role in identifying, monitoring and providing technical and policy support both before and after a crisis. This means working on behalf of, and in consultation with, the larger humanitarian community to seek out ways to predict and possibly avert crises, and to ensure that relief programmes contribute to the larger goals of sustainable development and peace.
Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (ROAP)
ROAP covers 37 countries and 16 territories, six of which have an OCHA presence. The Office was established in early 2005, with the aim of reinforcing response and preparedness activities in the region and supporting ongoing humanitarian action undertaken by governments, UN Country Teams, IASC Members and other stakeholders. With a main hub in Bangkok, Thailand and key elements of the regional team based in Suva and Port Morosby, ROAP is well placed to determine the requirements in individual countries, as well as establish partnerships and respond with technical assistance and surge capacity in support of humanitarian activities during both natural disasters and complex emergencies.
The Asia-Pacific region is one of the most disaster-prone in the world. More than half of the world's natural disasters during the last decade occurred here. The effects are increasingly severe and frequent, and are coupled with growing population density. While most countries in the region have developed some capacity for disaster reduction and response, many communities remain vulnerable and at risk. Vulnerability linked to natural disasters is compounded by the serious humanitarian consequences of existing and evolving complex emergencies and protection needs in the region.
Since its establishment, ROAP has provided added flexibility and efficiency to OCHA's preparedness and response work in Asia and the Pacific. Major deployments following the Indian Ocean Tsunami (2004) and in response to the South Asia Earthquake (October 2005), Central Java Earthquake (May 2006), and Timor-Leste emergency (May 2006) provided valuable lessons on how to support country-level and regional coordination with available resources. Taking advantage of regional partnerships and working closely with UN Country Teams and Resident/Humanitarian Coordinators, ROAP has also made efforts to improve disaster response and emergency preparedness by supporting national contingency planning processes. An important component of this preparedness work has been the promotion of information management and data preparedness for emergency response.
In summary, OCHA Regional Offices have added enormously to the effectiveness of OCHA’s work by:
a) Taking a regional approach to analysing humanitarian needs: analysing all types of crises (conflict related, health related, environmental and natural disasters) from a regional perspective, which allows a more holistic view and adds weight and substance to advocacy strategies as well as to regional preparedness planning.
b) Facilitating regional disaster preparedness/contingency planning: disasters or complex emergencies rarely affect a single country. OCHA Regional Offices initiate and coordinate preparedness activities that go beyond the borders of any one single country.
c) Acting as resource centers for technical advice in national disaster preparedness planning: especially in regions where OCHA does not have, or only has very little, country presence, the OCHA Regional Offices act as advisory centers for in-county disaster preparedness. Supporting national preparedness planning for Avian and Human Influenza or for natural disasters such as cyclones or floods are practical examples of this type of activity.
d) Mobilizing and providing knowledgeable surge capacity to Country Teams in the region: with the staff’s specific knowledge of the region and its proximity, Regional Offices manage to deploy or mobilize immediate and effective surge capacity.