Regional Offices

Each OCHA Regional Office has its own history, priorities and specific activities. 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.

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 centres 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 centres 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) Mobilising 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.

Coordination Snapshot from West Africa

Speaking to a colleague in the Regional Office in Dakar one day in October this year, she mentioned that, "again today, media notes from our colleagues in Côte d'Ivoire are reflecting tensions in Abidjan". She added that other early warning indicators had also just been analysed by the sub-regional emergency working group and that the conclusion was, "the 'CDI+5' contingency planning process must be reactivated. This is the priority now! We have to review our inter-agency preparedness plan in case of major troubles in Cote d'Ivoire." A teleconference is immediately organised to discuss the issue with the relevant colleagues and counterparts. It is decided that the sub-regional task force chaired by the WFP Regional Office must prioritise interactions with the Humanitarian Coordinator in Cote d'Ivoire and Resident Coordinators in surrounding countries to jointly review the potential worst-case scenario. She noted that, "Our main expectation is:

a) to reach a consensus on planning figures related to potential caseloads of refugees, returnees, evacuees and third country nationals so that each humanitarian country team prepares itself in coherence with the rest of the affected countries; and

b) to agree on a calendar and deadlines for updating the plans and consolidating both draft CERF applications and the Flash Appeal."

Natural hazard maps for Asia and the Pacific

The Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (ROAP) is using innovative map products to analyse disaster risks across the region. The maps show more clearly than ever before how natural hazards such as earthquakes, volcanoes, flooding and tropical storms affect the region. "It's the first time disaster information for the region has been presented comprehensively in this way," explains the OCHA Regional Information Management Officer in Bangkok. "Looking at the data visually allows us to observe patterns and trends that weren't noticeable before."

The maps are being widely distributed to partners in the region, including UN Agencies, NGOs and donors. The Regional Office is working with OCHA country offices to develop detailed country-level maps and other Regional Offices have shown an interest in creating similar products.

The maps have also inspired the public at large, with thousands of downloads recorded from websites such as reliefweb.int and ochaonline.un.org/roap. Reuters recently praised the maps in a news story published on its 'AlertNet' website. Large-format versions of the maps have also been used to good effect in exhibitions and conferences explaining OCHA's work in the region and a number of schools have shown an interest in using the maps in the classroom.

"We've received very positive feedback on the maps and useful comments on ways to develop them further," says OCHA's Craig Williams. "In response to demand we're planning to develop maps showing seasonal variations in natural disaster risks, as well as vulnerability mapping, which will take factors such as population density into account."

Regional Scenario Development Workshops

Twice a year, the Regional Office in Nairobi holds what has come to be called a Regional Scenario Development Workshop for each of the two regions the office works in: the Great Lakes Region and the Horn of Africa. This year, the timing for the workshops faced severe constraints due to the UN Climate Change Conference that was held at the same time in Nairobi. Our staff from the Regional Office was forced to organize two workshops, one for each region lasting 2-3 days, in one week.

The Regional Scenario Development Workshops initially evolved from regional contingency planning exercises. It was felt amongst stakeholders that in both regions the aim should not be to work on actual contingency plans at the regional level but to concentrate on scenario development which would then feed into more practically oriented national contingency plans. The objective of the exercise is to provide country teams and regional partners, including donors, with consensus visions of alternate future environments within which humanitarian action is expected to be programmed. Needless to say, the ultimate objective is to improve the effectiveness of planning and delivering humanitarian services in the region.

The Regional Scenario Development Workshops are unique fora at the regional level that gather a wide representation of UN and NGO partners from the country and regional offices, as well as donor and government representatives.

Therefore, "instead of only looking at scenario development, we try to capitalize on the presence of all these partners and carry out more in-depth analysis of particular themes of interest in the region." One such theme has recently been to look at the grey areas of transition, moving from 'pure' relief to recovery and longer-term sustainable development. "For this we are asking: 'what kinds of activities are appropriate for each humanitarian mandate and agency during the various stages of crisis?'" A simulation exercise is being planned to look at this question specifically.

Every year, feedback has been very positive. The workshops have been hailed as "a best practice in information management and in early warning". Its organization is a big team effort for the Regional Office. "With participants coming from a variety of mandates, sectors and from a range of capacities and resources," says our focal point, "the workshops have to have added value for each single participant."

Surge Capacity deployments

Hurricane Ivan was the strongest hurricane of the 2004 Atlantic hurricane season and caused major damage and destruction throughout the Caribbean. Ivan reached Category 5 strength on the Hurricane Scale, the highest possible category, and it was at that time the sixth (now the ninth) most intense Atlantic hurricane on record. In September, with Ivan fast approaching the island of Jamaica, the OCHA Regional Disaster Response Advisor led the pre-deployment of a 5-member UNDAC team to prepare for the emergency. The objective of the pre-deployment was to establish an On-Site Operations Coordination Center (OSOCC) and to support the UN Resident Coordinator and the UN Disaster Management Team in coordinating activities with the different national authorities and national and international humanitarian actors.

The team was in place two days before Hurricane Ivan took its toll and had already set up an operations room in their hotel. The day following the passing of Ivan, as the Prime Minister was declaring a state of emergency, the UNDAC team was operational - carrying out flight assessments, coordinating from the hotel operations center, and establishing the UNDAC Airport Reception Centre for the registry of the relief workers and relief cargo. Cooperation in the areas of logistics and personnel at the parish level proved to be particularily effective.

Meanwhile, the rest of the staff at the Regional Office in Panama coordinated information and response activities at the regional level with the Risk, Emergency and Disaster Taskforce for Latin America and the Caribbean (REDLAC). The OCHA Regional Office acts as Executive Secretary for this group, which is formed by regional UN Agencies, NGOs, and other partners located in Panama. REDLAC has created a platform for the exchange of information, joint planning, and joint actions to optimize prevention and response actions to more effectively mitigate the suffering of vulnerable populations affected by natural disasters in the region.

In total, Hurricane Ivan affected 350,000 people and caused 15 deaths along with almost US$ 600 million in damage in Jamaica. However, the UNDAC pre-deployment and preparedness activities of the OCHA Regional Office, as well as the shared information and joint activities among the REDLAC group, are strongly believed to have reduced the impact.