IHP Support Request
Overview
The International Humanitarian Partnership (IHP) is a voluntary multinational operational network between eight governmental emergency management agencies in Europe (UK, Germany THW, Norway DSB, Denmark DEMA, Sweden MSB, Luxembourg CGDIS, Finland ESAB, Estonia ERB), active in the field of humanitarian assistance. The overall aim of IHP is to enhance emergency response efforts through supporting operational actors within the field of humanitarian assistance and coordination to save lives and reduce the impact of conflicts and natural disasters.
The objectives of IHP are to:
- Enhance operational capacity in emergencies through the deployment of specialized surge capacity (experts and equipment) to multilateral organizations.
- Improve operational efficiency and effectiveness in emergencies.
- Strengthen coordination of humanitarian assistance and facilitate information sharing as well as encourage cooperation between various actors in emergencies.
- Provide a practical demonstration of donor government cooperation and coordination.
- Enhance emergency preparedness, through capacity building, trainings and exercises.
The operational services provided by IHP normally take the form of either experts or Service Packages (also referred to as "Support Modules"). These capacities have been in use in complex emergencies as well as in sudden onset of emergencies and disasters. IHP also provides support to capacity building in terms of provision of trainings and exercises.
Experts
IHP has the capacity to deploy individual staff members within a wide range of areas of expertise including, but not limited to: logistics; engineering; IT and Telecommunication; water and sanitation; dangerous goods such as chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive materials (CBRN-E), information management; https://emergencymanual.iom.int 2 emergency coordination; and, assessments.
Service Packages (Support Modules)
Service Packages are customized, rapidly deployable technical and operational assets. The modules include specialized equipment and support staff to operate the equipment. IHP currently has a variety of support modules within the below four areas:
- Light/Heavy Base Camp Modules
- On-Site Operations Coordination Centre (OSOCC) / Operations Centre
- IT & Telecommunications Equipment and Services
- UN Minimal Operational Security Standards (MOSS) Module
- Setting up On-Site Operations Coordination Centre (OSOCC) / Operations Centre
- IHP Vehicle Support
- OSOCC Operational Support Staff Module
In addition, each IHP member has a large set of equipment that has not been standardized within the framework of IHP, which can also be requested and deployed. This entails emergency hospitals, water purification and water pumping capacity, bridge infrastructure, mine action, CBRN-E (hazardous goods) units, etc.
Trainings and exercises
IHP provides training and exercise opportunities and expertise in support of humanitarian actors and the humanitarian community in order to strengthen emergency preparedness and response. IOM as a partner of IHP is able to request support in any of the above modalities. In the past IOM has worked with IHP and its members to create coordination hubs, office and accommodation spaces closer to the field in places such as South Sudan, Nigeria and Bangladesh.
Description
Once there is a clear need and common decision taken to establish and maintaining a presence to facilitate humanitarian delivery or expand the presence of humanitarian actors closer to delivery points, IOM as an IHP partner can request the support of IHP to establish such facilities. Usually a decision would get made at Inter Agency level (HCT or ICC) to establish a common presence in a new location in order to scale up quickly and provide office and/or accommodation for humanitarian actors. IHP and its partners have engaged in various scenarios to provide such facilities, some of which have then remained for longer spans of time.
Below is an outline of the IHP request procedure (note that the requesting agency in this case would be IOM):
| Making an IHP Request | |
|---|---|
| Step 1 | Decision is taken that IHP support is needed after having identified a potential location and an estimated number of staff to be provide for. A request is then made to IHP by the requesting agency. Please contact IOM's IHP focal point via emergencyresponse_prd@iom.int. |
| Step 2 | IHP will check among its members to see which one can commit/respond to the request. An assessment mission comprising of one or various IHP members will be deployed to the area requesting support, to which the requesting agency should send its IHP focal point. The requesting agency will also need to appoint a field focal point for the assessment mission. The mission's objectives are to assess the feasibility, scope as well as involved partners, logistic aspects, and timeline of the envisaged project. At the conclusion, it will provide recommendations and a Letter of Agreement (LoA) between the requesting agency and involved IHP members will be drafted. |
| Step 3 | The LoA will describe the purpose, scope implementation of the required support, roles and responsibilities of each party, the contribution of each party, the funding involved, administrative arrangements and conditions for deployment of the support requests, liabilities and indemnification, security aspects, handover details and other legal aspects. It will also comprise a work plan or scope of work to guide the implementation and monitoring of the project. The committing IHP member(s) will provide assistance in-kind or seek financial assistance from donors. Matching funds from country level can be added to ensure sustainability as well as in-kind commitments (e.g., dedicated staff, logistics support, etc.) from the requesting agency. |
| Step 4 | Once the LoA is done the request will be shared with the Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC) from the European Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM) to officialize the request and for the committing IHP member(s) to sign up for it . The ERCC could at this point also cover some of the transportation expenses in cases where base camp materials are deployed from Europe. |
Interested country offices should contact IOM's IHP focal point via emergencyresponse_prd@iom.int from early on so contact can be made with IHP to ensure a swift roll out and outcome. Building on past experiences, lessons learned and best practices have been developed with IHP at HQ level as well as all the necessary request templates, checklists and procedures.
Although the most frequent request of support from IOM to IHP is for humanitarian hubs offering office space and/or accommodation, experts, training and other infrastructure support is also available.
Relevance to IOM’s Emergency Operations
The services offered by IHP are useful to IOM to enable coordination and humanitarian presence closer to where needs are present. During a humanitarian crisis or response, IOM often takes on the role of cluster coordinator or oversees overall coordination. This sometimes translates into having to facilitate the work of partners and the inter-agency response and may come with a high cost due to the realities of each crisis. As IOM is often faced with difficulties in acquiring access and logistic hurdles. Working with IHP, once the modality has been agreed upon at HCT level, can help to alleviate some of these challenges, for instance helping to facilitate the establishment of office/accommodation facilities.
IOM's Role
A) If decided and agreed as such at inter-agency level, IOM will play the role of requesting agency for IHP support on behalf of the humanitarian collective to benefit from the IHP support.
B) If the request of support is of a bilateral natural, such as for a specific need entailing only to IOM (expert deployment, training, its own office or presence expansion) it can request that support directly. In the first instance IOM is well placed given the successful past experiences of establishing humanitarian hubs with IHP in several contexts. Please liaise with the IHP support mailing list prior to making the offer official at country level in order to make sure it is in line with IHP and IOM objectives and that all necessary elements and know how are available for a successful proposal.
Contacts
For more information and guidance, contact: emergencyresponse_prd@iom.int.