February 2009 Conference
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Participants at the February Doha conference included actors from Gaza and representatives of Western and international organisations, including Special Humanitarian Envoy of the United Nations, His Excellency, Ambassador Abdulaziz bin Mohamed Arrukban. The wide range of actors involved reinforced the importance and benefits of working together; collective action and partnership were prevalent themes throughout the discussion, particularly in light of the level of destruction experienced in Gaza and the long-term support needed across all sectors.
The Humanitarian Forum was identified as a key facilitator in partnerships; both through follow up meetings (see November 2009 Update) and through its online communications.
Challenges and opportunities
Access: the main immediate hindrance to relief efforts; it has a huge impact on the people of Gaza.
Partnerships and advocacy: an important form of international cooperation, but the role of local partners should not be forgotten since, in Gaza, they have proven to be the most responsive agencies, delivering aid almost immediately.
Recommendations from working groups:
Project design: A pre-requisite for the design of joint projects is a completed mapping exercise to determine the sectors that different organisations are supporting, the funds and timeline required for the individual projects. For a consortium project, a task force could work on the logistics of the project design. For the project implementation stage, sectoral meetings should be organised to ensure that efforts are well coordinated. The Humanitarian Forum has an important role to play disseminating information and coordinating relief efforts. It should help link its members with UN agencies and its respective clusters.
Advocacy: The Humanitarian Forum should consider expanding its working modules to ensure the issue of advocacy is included in its mandate. It is an ideal advocacy platform, since the diversity of its membership means that international statements would be strong. The Humanitarian Forum could also advocate for the materialization of donor pledges, ensuring they become a reality.
Cooperation and Coordination: Organisations should take advantage of the UN's CAP/Flash appeals and that of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS), ensuring that programmes and projects are supported with financial assistance. They should be encouraged to participate in the coordination of field-level activities. The Humanitarian Forum has a role in communication and information sharing. In order to avoid the duplication of coordinating mechanisms, it was proposed that the Humanitarian Forum helps to create/develop stronger links between UNOCHA and local NGOs and looks at the (perceived) barriers. One way to improve information would be for the Humanitarian Forum to employ 3 coordinators (in London, Cairo and Rafah) to ensure that the most up-to-date information is obtained, and could be easily disseminated among all members.
Future mechanisms: We can build on existing systems by identifying their gaps. Since UNOCHA coordinates the activities of international and local organisations, the Humanitarian Forum could fill the gaps: expanding the number of partners, including Gulf charities, other local partners, and non-traditional donors. The Humanitarian Forum would be able to connect a wider range of development and humanitarian relief agencies.
Meeting outcomes
The meeting encouraged the use of existing coordination mechanisms. Organisations were able to share information between organisations via the Humanitarian Forum website which helped to refine projects.
Projects: Organisations could share their projects, both to complete the mapping and as a basis for concrete partnerships. This was done through the Humanitarian Forum website, using an agreed template. The Humanitarian Forum will then try to facilitate partnerships, giving priority to organisations and projects that build bridges.
Advocacy: Organisations could also share the advocacy points that they are making through the Humanitarian Forum website. Suggestions were also made for The Humanitarian Forum to explore other ways to help with advocacy, such as by working with international lawyers and developing shared resources; this would require additional funding.
