In September, world leaders attending the UN General Assembly committed to a new phase of accelerated progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In fragile contexts, it is only by coming together that we will be able to improve humanitarian responses, build resilience and ensure development gains. UNICEF’s cluster lead role can help us deliver the humanitarian partnership and leadership needed for accelerated action towards 2030.
"The Cluster Coordination role helped me to be more strategic, to have a much more holistic vision and to have no limits on new initiatives" Ines Lezama, Nutrition Cluster Coordinator, Ethiopia
“Above all, we would like to commend the great value of our national and sub-national colleagues and how they roseto the challenge. Many were directly affected by the earthquakes, sleeping in their cars with their families. In extremely challenging times, they continued working hard to lead the coordination efforts and brought clarity and hope to those communities.”
During his May 2023 visit to Türkiye and north-west Syria to meet communities affected by the earthquakes that hit the region early this year, Manuel Fontaine, Director of EMOPS, highlighted the importance of cluster coordination work to ensure all efforts lead to the best support to people in need of assistance.
Humanitarian Coordination is UNICEF’s first commitment for children in humanitarian action. This Guide on Cluster Lead Agency Accountabilities and Humanitarian Coordination has been updated from its 2015 version to better equip UNICEF Country Offices (co-) leading the education, nutrition, and WASH clusters and child protection area of responsibility.
“UNICEF’s role as cluster-led agency is critical to deliver our mandate.The outcome of coordination should be fully capitalized on as part of UNICEF’s programming and emergency response activities to extend lifesaving support to all children”Itsuro Takahashi, WASH Manager, Pakistan
UNICEF-led/co-led clusters are hosting a side event titled Fragility and Climate: Joined-up Action for Collective Outcomes, at the upcoming COP28 conference in Dubai. We invite you and your partners to attend this session if you will be present for COP28 in person.
2022 HUMANITARIAN PROGRAMME CYCLE LAUNCHThe 2022 Humanitarian Programme Cycle (HPC) planning period has launched in June with the release of the latest facilitation package by OCHA. It contains the HPC calendar as well as the most up-to-date templates and guidance. Additional elements of note are: improvements to the Joint Intersectoral Framework (JIAF) 1.1 guidance and tools; additional information on response
GCCU is now GCCS!The Global Cluster Coordination Unit is now the Global Cluster Coordination Section in EMOPS Geneva, aligning with the rest of the organizational structure.AN AMBITIOUS LEARNING PROJECTIn 2021, UNICEF-led Global Clusters jointly worked on the development of their online learning platforms to bring humanitarian coordination learning opportunities to scale.
STRENGTHENING UNICEF'S ROLE AS CLUSTER LEAD AGENCYUNICEF holds a unique role as cluster lead/co-lead for the child protection, education, nutrition and WASH sectors. Seven years after the first evaluation, of UNICEF's cluster lead agency role (CLARE II) calls for a stronger execution of cluster lead responsibilities.