Surge Capacity Section Overview of 2014

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1 Surge Capacity Section Overview of has been the busiest year for the Surge Capacity Section since its creation in 007. A record number of 09 deployments to 9 countries responding to both new and protracted emergencies took place. This number includes not just deployments from the ASP, ERR and SBPP deployments but also those from the Senior Surge mechanism (eight deployments) and the Roaming Emergency Surge Officer (RESO)/ Roaming Operations Stability Officer (ROSO) with a total of three individual assignments to Lebanon, Syria and Iraq. The increase in surge this year has been primarily a result of responding to five Level- III emergencies (L-III): two L-IIIs that were declared in 04 (South Sudan and Iraq) and three L-IIIs that continued into 04 (Central African Republic, Philippines and Syria). SCS also supported the UN Monitoring Mechanism in Turkey and Jordan with ten surge deployments and a further ten to Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone in support of the Ebola response crisis and UNMEER In sum, deployments took place this year to support the OCHA operations in the L-III emergencies while 6 deployments were deployed to countries outside of the L-III emergencies (see graphics below). 4 Level emergencies in 04 Total surge deployments (ERR, ASP, SBPP, Senior Surge, Reso/Roso) in 04 Philippines Syria CAR Iraq 4 44 Yemen Ukraine Thailand Sudan Somalia Solomon Islands Sierra Leone Senegal Pakistan opt NY-Ebola Nigeria Niger Myanmar Mali Liberia Guinea Fiji DRC Chad Cameroon 6 Surge deployments outside of L emergencies January-December 04 The demand for priority profiles continued to be HAO (%) and IMO (%), which corresponded to 7 requests for HAOs followed by 44 IMO requests. Third in line was the Civil- Military Coordination Officer, of which we deployed nine staff to support operations in DRC, CAR, Iraq, occupied Palestinian Territory, Somalia, South Sudan, Turkey and the Philippines. 08 of all requests were for P level followed by requests for P4. The total number of days that SCS-managed surge has contributed to field operations in 04 amounted to,09 days, the equivalent of 60 person years of work, an increase of 0. years since last year. Demand continued for relatively recent profiles of Cash Coordinator, Communication with Communities (CwC) and staff with knowledge in the domain of Accountability to Affected Populations (AAP). Furthermore, fluent French speakers as well as Arabic speakers were sought to deploy to large scale emergencies in francophone Africa and the Middle East. For both new profiles and scarce language skills SCS continues to boost capacity on the rosters. The number of simultaneous high profile emergencies over the course of 04 has 7 0

2 confronted OCHA s surge mechanisms with a number of challenges. Half way through the year the rosters were close to depletion SCS addressed this immediately by issuing special calls for new ERR intakes via the USG. As there is an expectation that the current demands will continue in the medium-term future, SCS has further launched a revision of the internal surge mechanisms; as part of this, a 0 per cent quota on surge will be introduced in 0, and the senior surge component will be formalised as part of the ERR. SCS is further working with relevant partner sections to ensure that necessary structures are in place to ensure smooth transition from surge to regular staffing. 04 further brought a change to the structure of the Section. In January, the Interagency Gender and Protection Stand-By Capacity (GenCap and ProCap) Secretariat joined SCS. In August, the Logistics Support Unit (LSU) was located to other parts of ESB as part of an internal restructuring. Hence, SCS now consists of the Surge Deployments Team, the Surge Staff Development Team and the GenCap/ProCap Secretariat. Associates Surge Pool (ASP) During 04, the total number of ASP deployments has remained constant. members to countries were deployed to OCHA operations throughout the world with three deployments already in the pipeline for early 0. Filling critical staffing gaps in countries outside of the L-III emergencies covered 4 per cent of ASP requests. The OCHA Office in the Philippines (in response to Typhoon Haiyan) was the largest recipient of ASP members with a total of deployments. This makes up for 6 per cent of all ASP deployments providing mid-term support to the main office and sub offices. (See graphic below). 8 per cent of all deployments were to complex emergencies. The most requested profile remains the HAO (64%) followed by the IMO (%) with an average lead time of 9 days. The ASP expanded its profile range to include the much awaited category of HAO/Civil-Military Coordination Officer and the PIO profile will extend to include Reports Officers and Communication with Communities Officers in 0. ASP deployments in 04 Emergency Response Roster (ERR) OCHA's primary internal surge mechanism - the Emergency Response Roster (ERR) - was fully engaged in several concomitant L-III emergencies with deployments to Iraq, Central African Republic, South Sudan and Syria. 04 saw a steep rise in deployments, totalling 9 ERR members deployed, almost double compared with last year. The number of emergencies to which ERR members were deployed increased by 0 per cent to a total of 8 countries. Of the 9 deployments, Iraq and Central African Republic received most ERR deployments with 7 and deployments respectively, followed by South Sudan with deployments and Ebola affected countries with 9 deployments in total. Eight staff were deployed from the Senior Surge Roster over the course of 04. In 04, 98 per cent of deployments were to complex emergencies (this is in stark contrast to 0 when 60 per cent were to natural disasters). As in previous years the majority of profiles deployed were HAOs (4 %) followed by Information Management Officers (6%) and a considerable increase in the administrative profile (4%). The average lead time for a deployment was. days.

3 The biggest challenge in 04 was to identify an additional 4 qualified staff to deploy to new L-III emergencies with experience in sudden on-set disasters and/or complex emergencies. 04 brought a new test-to-thelimit of the capacity, rapidity and the strength of the ERR as we continued to support Country Offices at the same time as servicing L-III and corporate emergencies Stand-By Partnership Programme (SBPP) 04 was a record year in terms of deployments of seconded experts through the Stand-By Partnership Programme to OCHA field operations. This was due to the number of concurrent L-III crises to which we were called upon to respond. A total of 7 Stand-By Partner experts were deployed to OCHA operations in 8 countries, the vast majority of which were complex emergency situations (78%). This is almost twice the number of deployments compared to two years ago, in 0. Iraq was the country that received the highest amount of SBPP deployments, with secondments. This was followed by the Philippines (0 deployments), CAR (0 deployments) and Jordan (Syria crisis, 9 deployments). Over 40 per cent of those deployed took up the function of generalist Humanitarian Affairs Officer. Cash Coordinator and HAO/Communication with Communities emerged as profiles in rising demand as a result of being given increased prominence in the humanitarian response system and within OCHA; profiles that are in short supply amongst our partners. Over half of the secondees deployed performed at the P level. New MoUs were signed with the Danish Emergency Management Agency (DEMA) and MapAction. This brings the total number of partners with whom OCHA has SBPP MoUs to 4. ProCap/GenCap Recently placed under the umbrella of OCHA s Surge Capacity Section, the Gender and Protection Standby Capacity (GenCap and ProCap) inter-agency mechanisms continued to facilitate and strengthen the capacity of relevant actors to mainstream gender and enhance the humanitarian protection response in 04, with respectively 7 and deployments of senior advisers to humanitarian operations worldwide. The majority of these deployments (9) have been country specific, while five advisers supported capacity building of global cluster leads on gender or protection. Additional deployments took place at regional level, especially through increased synergies with the Gender Based Violence (GBV) Area of Responsibility (AoR) resulting in the deployment of six Regional GBV Advisers in 04, and in support of the Strategic Response Plan (remote assistance). Strong focused was placed on immediate support to LIII operations, with eight GenCap and six ProCap deployments (in addition to five GPC field missions) to these emergency contexts. In parallel, the ProCap project trained 94 midlevel protection experts from standby rosters and UN agencies during four trainings held in English and French in 04. One of the trainings was given a thematic dimension and focused on the Syria crisis, participants being national and international staff working on the regional response. A similar context was chosen to implement the first Gender in Humanitarian Action Training (GiHA) in December 04 (Amman), enabling humanitarian practitioners to increase their understanding of gender equality programming and how to apply this in their respective areas of work. Based on this successful pilot, four additional trainings are planned for 0 in different regions.

4 Surge Staff Development The Surge Staff Development Team (SSDT) again continued to expand its footprint throughout 04 in addition to implementing its core portfolio of nine face-to-face training courses for the various surge mechanisms. A total of 7 staff members graduated from three Field Response Surge Training (FIRST) courses in 04, over 0 per cent going on to deploy with the ERR. The OCHA SBP courses this year trained a total of 9 participants, focusing on Humanitarian Affairs Officer profiles plus specialist skills in UN Civil-Military Coordination and Coordinated Assessment. Other training products Operations and Coordination Centre (OSOCC) Course Management Skills Training. As the course calendar turns to 0 and the year in waiting, SCS will be publishing its new-look Surge Staff Development Concept and facilitating a structured curriculum review on the FIRST course. Coming up in 0 Jesper Lund, SCS Section Chief since 0, will be leaving us this year, as he has fully assumed his new function as Section Chief of the Field Coordination Support Section (FCSS), remaining within the same Branch (Emergency Services Branch) in OCHA. SCS thanks him for his leadership and wishes him all the very best! The new Chief, Zola Dowell, will be taking on her new function in March 0. Please take a look overleaf at the infographic of surge deployments for 04 with details on destination, profile and gender. 4 provided bespoke learning opportunities for HQ staff in remote first aid and enhanced training skills. The SBP Training Secretariat, an interagency project managed by the SSDT, has continued to grow in influence and reputation during 04. The major focus has been to coordinate a cross-sector design team which culminated in the pilot delivery of the first ever Joint Information Management Training. A new inter-agency pooled funding mechanism, brokered by OCHA, has established a sustainable basis for Training Secretariat operations and we hope the humanitarian system will feel the benefit of its valuable work for many years to come. Finally, the SSDT has continued in its lead role in terms of training capacity building within OCHA headquarters, supporting partners in the design, delivery and evaluation of their own training portfolios, including a roll-out of the revised Inter-Cluster Leadership Courses and the On-Site

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