OCHA Regional Office for West and Central Africa How can it support APORA? Laurent Dufour, Regional Disaster Response Advisor for West Africa Accra, 20 April 2015 www.unocha.org

OCHA ROWCA and APORA Covers 24 countries of West and Central Africa, all those of APORA and more OCHA is UN custodian of UN Humanitarian civ-mil coordination with dedicated unit in GVA and roster of specialists in UN-CMCOORD Close cooperation with ECOWAS on civ-mil cooperation in emergency response Strong and wide partnership network with UN and non UN humanitarian actors (NGOs, Red Cross)

OCHA and military actors OCHA as promoter of a civil-military cooperation based on comparative advantage and clear division of tasks Pragmatic approach in the interest of affected populations Working towards a conducive environment for civil-military cooperation and coordination respectful of humanitarian principles

What is UN-CMCOORD? “The essential dialogue and interaction between civilian and military actors in humanitarian emergencies necessary to protect and promote humanitarian principles, avoid competition, minimize inconsistency, and when appropriate, pursue common goals.”

Key elements of UN-CMCOORD? The key elements are information sharing, task division and planning Coordination is a shared responsibility facilitated by liaison and common training Basic strategies range from co-existence to cooperation

UN-CIMIC UN-CMCoord United Nations Nations Unies Peace and Security Humanitarian UN-CIMIC UN-CMCoord In October 2010, DPKO approved and published the UN-CIMIC policy instruction…the main issue is that UN-CIMIC stands for UN Civil-Military Coordination.

UN-CMCOORD Approach from awareness to direct field support

OCHA and APORA objectives OCHA working in all response pillars identified by APORA: Early Detection : Early Warning systems, Preparedness/Readiness for Response E.g.: Inter-agency EVD preparedness toolbox, EPR regional group, SIMEX Early & Efficient Response: Strengthening of national mechanisms, humanitarian clusters, effective national & international partners cooperation E.g.: ECOWAS task force on civ-mil cooperation in disaster response, UN-CMCOORD in French Feb in Lomé, support to ECOWAS Emergency Response Team

OCHA and APORA objectives 2 Recovery: Ensuring smooth transition from emergency response to development E.g.: Advocacy role, UNDP-OCHA partnership on recovery, lessons learnt exercises, ongoing trainings

www.unocha.org