Humanitarian Civil-Military Coordination in Chad
United Nations Humanitarian Civil-Military Coordination (UN-CMCoord) is the essential dialogue and interaction between civilian and military actors in humanitarian emergencies that is necessary to protect and promote humanitarian principles, avoid competition, minimise inconsistency, and when appropriate pursue common goals. Basic strategies range from coexistence to cooperation with the military, with a strong emphasis attached to coordination as a shared responsibility..JPG)
OCHA Chad has a Humanitarian Civil-Military Coordination Officer (UN-CMCoord Officer) based in Abéché, with area of responsibility for eastern Chad and northeastern Central African Republic. The function is there to facilitate relations between the humanitarian community at large and MINURCAT (Mission des Nations Unies en République Centrafricaine et au Tchad), DIS (Détachement Intégré de Sécurité), local actors and coordination bodies as appropriate.
This includes daily liaison on pragmatic matters of coordination between the humanitarian community, the military and the police; to serve as a channel for information exchange between humanitarian and uniformed actors on the ground; to establish or support already existing coordination and liaison structures; to mediate and consult where needed as a subject-matter expert for the humanitarian community towards the military; to provide inputs to policy papers, including the development of country-specific guidelines on civil-military relations; to advise the military on international humanitarian coordination mechanisms, actors and principles; and to serve as the principal advisor to the Humanitarian Coordinator on matters civil-military.
Products offered through this website:
Training and awareness raising:
Workshops: Workshops have been conducted in N’Djamena, Abeche, Goz Beida, Farchana/Hadjer Hadid and Iriba. Workshops are targeted at humanitarian workers (UN, NGO, Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement, Donors, governmental actors), UN Mission personnel (civilian, military and police components) and DIS.
They are based on a participatory approach and discuss principles and existing humanitarian guidelines of civil-military relations, ranging from the use of armed escorts to the use of military logistics, as well as Quick Impact Projects and humanitarian consideration thereof, the Do No Harm Framework and the NGO Code of Conduct, military and mission operating procedures and mandates, military structure etc.
Please contact the UN-CMCoord Officer directly for information on how to apply at the below contact details.
Bilateral awareness sessions: these are presentations and discussion sessions to the military, police and humanitarians. So far they have been requested and conducted with MINURCAT UNPOL and DIS, as well as UNICEF. For requests please contact the UN-CMCoord Officer directly.
UN-CMCoord Training Courses: the Civil-Military Coordination Section (CMCS) of OCHA Geneva provides an all year round training programme with one-week training courses on the subject matter. For information, please consult the Section’s website: http://ochaonline.un.org/cmcs, and contact the UN-CMCoord Officer for any further questions for participation from Chad.
UN-CMCoord IMPACT: Should you not be able to attend any of the training sessions, in the meantime, you may consult a self-study tool on Humanitarian Civil-Military Coordination, UN-CMCoord IMPACT (Integrated Missions Practical Approach to Coordination Tools). This tool provides you with a good overview and is field-focused for both, military and humanitarian actors.
Regularly updated information:
Civil-Military Coordination Newsletter: A monthly newsletter which will offer factual information on MINURCAT and the DIS for the humanitarian community.
For daily liaison and coordination matters, please contact directly
Anne-Sophie Durand-Allègre, UN-CMCoord Officer, OCHA Chad, at
durand(at)un.org, mob.: 620 1540, Thuraya: +67 001 5020,
or at the OCHA Office in Abéché.