Iraq Crisis - Humanitarian Coordination - OCHA 2016-2019

September 2016 – The humanitarian situation in Iraq continues to deteriorate as armed clashes between Daesh and government forces drive displacement. Since January 2014 over 3.3 million people have been displaced and an additional 887 000 previously displaced people have returned to their homes that have often been destroyed making it one of the largest cases of internal displacement in the world. Persecution of minority groups is an ongoing concern as well as the protection of women and children who are at an increased risk of (and in some cases targeted for) sexual violence such as rape as well as child early and forced marriage. Canada is helping reduce the vulnerability of hundreds of thousands of crisis-affected people especially women and children through a broad spectrum of humanitarian assistance activities across Iraq. GAC’s multi-year humanitarian support to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Iraq is contributing to improved coordination and communication among humanitarian agencies. Project activities include: (1) coordinating activities for humanitarian agencies to ensure a needs-based humanitarian response; (2) developing communication tools and increasing surge capacity for clusters in areas of high humanitarian need; (3) providing effective support to clusters in developing documentation and analysis of data for planning and monitoring; (4) building the capacity of emergency response preparedness; and (5) managing joint funding mechanisms to respond to evolving humanitarian priorities.

The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) improved coordination communication and surge capacity of and between humanitarian partners and clusters; (2) improved planning and monitoring; (3) increased capacity of emergency response preparedness; and (4) improved use of joint funding mechanisms. The expected ultimate outcome is lives saved suffering alleviated and human dignity maintained in countries experiencing humanitarian crises or that are food insecure.