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Roadmap for Better Fit-For-Purpose for Humanitarian Preparedness and Response

Roadmap for Better Fit-For-Purpose for Humanitarian Preparedness and Response

Message by UNFPA WCA Regional Director

I am proud to present the first UNFPA West and Central Africa Regional Office “Roadmap for Better Fit-for-Purpose for Humanitarian Preparedness and Response 2023-2025,” an essential document for advancing humanitarian work in the region.

This Roadmap aims at ensuring this vision can be turned into reality even amidst humanitarian crises, ensuring that no one is left behind.

The Roadmap encapsulates UNFPA’s commitment to the rights and well-being of the most vulnerable, particularly women, girls, and young people, amidst the complexities of humanitarian crises.

The document incorporates strategies such as strengthened capacities at leadership and technical levels, strengthened supply chain, coordination, innovation, and partnerships. It is a call to action for all stakeholders—governments, donors, partners, and communities—to join efforts to forge a future of hope and prosperity for the region.

Dr. Sennen Hounton UNFPA WCA Regional Director

Executive summary

The West and Central Africa region is experiencing numerous complex humanitarian crises owing to political instability, armed conflicts, increased competition over resources due to the effects of climate change, poverty, and inflation. These crises are increasing humanitarian needs and contributing to the rising number of forcibly displaced populations across the region.

In response to the complex and evolving humanitarian landscape in West and Central Africa (WCA), the UNFPA WCA Regional Office, along with leaders in Country Offices (COs), have developed a Roadmap for Better Fit-for-Purpose for Humanitarian Preparedness and Response 2023-2025. The goal of the Roadmap is to enhance UNFPA’s ability to effectively prepare for and respond to humanitarian crises in the WCA region.

Effective and rapid humanitarian response in the WCA region demands a multifaceted approach, requiring UNFPA Country Offices (COs) to prepare and respond within the nexus, integrating humanitarian, development, and peacebuilding efforts. To achieve this, COs require robust support and capacity-building initiatives to navigate complex challenges effectively.

Main actions

Results Recommendations

Strengthening COs’ HR capacities in humanitarian preparedness and response

UNFPA WCARO Roadmap equips CO leaders and staff with the knowledge and skills needed to lead and engage effectively in humanitarian response efforts. It emphasizes familiarity with UNFPA policies and technical tools specific to humanitarian settings, fostering a strong commitment to addressing regional challenges.

Results Recommendations

Regional surge deployment mechanisms

A key component of effective emergency preparedness and humanitarian response is having qualified internal human resources ready for timely deployment. The Roadmap highlights the need to invest in developing personnel response capacities, including creating internal and external surge rosters of qualified staff and consultants to complement UNFPA’s global crisis response efforts and enhance regional CO capacity.

Results Recommendations

Strengthening Supply Chain Resilience for Reproductive Health in Humanitarian Contexts

UNFPA's strategy focuses on strengthening its supply chain to swiftly respond to emergencies by improving logistics management and establishing emergency stockpiles in West and Central Africa. Key elements include building partnerships, adopting innovative practices, and enhancing coordination.

Results Recommendations

Ensuring strong humanitarian coordination mechanisms

UNFPA WCARO aims to improve humanitarian preparedness and response by establishing three key coordination bodies, including reviving the Regional Humanitarian Steering Committee (R-HSC). This body, led by the Regional Director, will guide regional policies, while the Minimum Preparedness Action Monitoring Group and Regional Humanitarian Coordinators Community of Practice (RHCCP) will enhance coordination and strengthen preparedness efforts, particularly in GBV and SRH.

Results Recommendations

Knowledge Management

This action focuses on effective knowledge and data management by creating Regional SRH and GBV in Emergencies Communities of Practice for sharing best practices. Key activities include regular situation reports, proactive information sharing between COs and RO, and optimizing reporting mechanisms and advocacy tools.

Introduction

West and Central Africa is experiencing a number of complex crises that demand immediate and strategic humanitarian intervention. The convergence of protracted conflicts, impact from acute climate change events, political instability, and a burgeoning population of unemployed youth has created an environment where humanitarian needs are not just urgent but continuously evolving. UNFPA’s West and Central Africa Regional Office (WCARO) stands at the forefront of addressing these multidimensional crises, committed to delivering quality humanitarian actions that not only respond to immediate needs but also pave the way for sustainable peace and development.

This Roadmap for Better Fit-For-Purpose for Humanitarian Preparedness and Response 2023-2025 is a strategic blueprint designed to navigate the intricate landscape of humanitarian, development, and peacebuilding needs in the region. It reflects our commitment to the three transformative results: ending preventable maternal deaths, ending the unmet need for family planning, and ending gender-based violence and harmful practices. These goals are particularly poignant in a region where one in four individuals in need of humanitarian assistance is a woman or girl of reproductive age, underscoring the critical need for specific sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and gender-based violence (GBV) services.

Our approach is anchored in the recognition of the triple nexus, emphasizing the integration of humanitarian preparedness and response, peacebuilding, and development work. Through a comprehensive situation analysis, this document outlines the unique challenges facing the region, from climate-induced disasters to the grave impacts of conflict and displacement. It also highlights the opportunities that lie within our grasp to strengthen humanitarian leadership, technical capacities, and partnerships.

As we work towards reaching the objectives of this Roadmap, we are guided by the principle of leaving no one behind, ensuring that our actions are conflict- and climate-sensitive, integrated, and peace-responsive. This document not only outlines our strategic actions and priorities for the next two years but also serves as a call to action for all stakeholders to join hands in transforming the humanitarian landscape of West and Central Africa. Together, we can build a future where every individual has the opportunity to live a life of dignity, free from the injustices of crisis and conflict.

Together, we can build a future where every individual has the opportunity to live a life of dignity, free from the injustices of crisis and conflict.

Background

In 2023, 67.5 million people need humanitarian assistance and protection, of whom one in four are women and girls of reproductive age who may need specific SRH and GBV services. By 2030, up to two-thirds of the world’s extreme poor could live in conflicts and fragile contexts. If we want to achieve the three transformative results, global action must address the ever-challenging and complex humanitarian and fragility landscape.

In this context, the UNFPA Strategic Plan of 2022-2025 upholds the three transformative results, acknowledges the importance of the triple nexus, and recognizes that further work is needed to increase the rate of progress. In particular, it is a call to action for “expanding the humanitarian response capacity to better safeguard the lives of women, adolescents, and youth, especially adolescent girls.”

This must be done through a strengthened humanitarian, development, and peacebuilding programming approach, with UNFPA leading the way in transforming the culture, leadership, human resources, and operations needed to strengthen its capacities and systems to be an organization that is fit for purpose to achieve the three transformative results and the SDG agenda of leaving no one behind. Particular emphasis was placed on UNFPA’s humanitarian preparedness and response capacity with a dedicated output: “By 2025, strengthened capacity of critical actors and systems for the preparedness, early action, and the provision of life-saving interventions related to SRH and GBV that are timely, integrated, conflict- and climate-sensitive, and peace-responsive.”

Strengthening COs’ HR capacities in humanitarian preparedness and response

Human resources are the most valuable assets of any organization, and this applies to UNFPA and its partners.

It is vital to have the right people in the right place at the right time in a crisis situation. To facilitate this, UNFPA will ensure a risk-informed approach to prepare for and respond to emergencies, including through MISP, GBViE coordination and implementation, SRH in Emergencies (SRHiE) implementation and coordination, SRHR / GBV integration, humanitarian data, disability inclusion, Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA), Humanitarian Logistics Management, Mental Health and Psycho-social Support (MHPSS), and Accountability to Affected Populations (AAP).

Acknowledging our leadership and all staff’s unique expertise, knowledge, and understanding of the local context/s and integrating that into learning interventions is fundamental to prepare for and be able to respond to humanitarian crises.

At the same time, we recognize that humanitarian HR capacity strengthening is not a discrete set of tasks to be completed once but a continual cycle of learning, application, and integration of skills and knowledge in real time. It is important to also observe the impact and identify other gaps that need to be addressed to ensure relevant capacity strengthening at various levels and among different cohorts of staff. Humanitarian response requires a specialized skill set; therefore, UNFPA WCARO aims to build in-house capacity as well as surge capacity to improve the ability to respond effectively and rapidly.

Staff capacity building in humanitarian settings is led by specific staff profiles and the context, which is linked to the needs on the ground. Building on UNFPA’s Humanitarian Response Division (HRD) and HQ experience of training and strengthening humanitarian capacities at all levels (management/leadership and technical) in COs and based on the WCAR “UNFPA’s Humanitarian Response Fit for Purpose” approach and actions, the Regional Office will undertake the below actions to strengthen humanitarian capacity.

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