Field Operations - OCHA 2013

March 2013 - The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in partnership with national and international actors oversees the coordination of humanitarian action in order to promote more effective and principled humanitarian response. OCHA establishes and oversees coordination systems (including supporting humanitarian leadership and the cluster system) monitors and reports on humanitarian situations engages with national authorities advocates for humanitarian access to affected populations supports the assessment and prioritization of needs and contingency planning and ensures an effective transition with development partners. With Canada's support OCHA's 2013 field operations will coordinate assistance to people affected by complex humanitarian crises across 50 countries (through 23 country offices eight regional offices three liaison offices and a range of humanitarian advisor teams).

Expected outputs include: Development of action plans in select countries to roll-out humanitarian reforms; enhancement of the Humanitarian Coordinator roster to strengthen humanitarian leadership and surge capacity during major humanitarian crises; establishment of standardized needs assessments to improve the decision-making capacity of humanitarian actors; enhancement of in-country monitoring systems to publish comprehensive real-time monitoring information; and improvement in the quality and coherence of the United Nations’ annual appeals for complex emergencies. The expected intermediate outcome is reduced vulnerability of crisis-affected people especially women and children.