CAR: Area-based coordination and area-based programming: Typology, lessons and implications (Final report)

Country: Central African Republic Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Please refer to the attached file. Executive summary Area-based coordination and area-based programming have existed for years, but there is no commonly agreed definition or guidance from the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) on their use in humanitarian operations. The Global Cluster Coordination Group (GCCG) commissioned this study to propose a definition, document lessons on the application of these models, and outline implications for global actors. During the consultancy’s implementation, the Emergency Relief Coordinator (ERC) launched the Humanitarian Reset, which looks at simplifying and clarifying coordination mechanisms at country level and where area-based coordination features significantly. This study looked at four cases of area-based coordination1 and eight cases of area-based programming in six countries with a Humanitarian Country Team (HCT), selected by the GCCG’s mini-committee and made possible by the support of OCHA and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The consultant traveled to three countries (Mali, Nigeria, South Sudan) and covered the other three remotely (Sudan, Ukraine, Yemen), documenting their strengths and weaknesses using mainly perception-based data from aid workers, subnational state actors and donors.