Response

Emergency Preparedness and Response

UNHCR is often faced with a sudden emergency requiring an immediate response - an eruption of fighting causing tens of thousands of people to flee their homes, perhaps, or a massive earthquake displacing hundreds of thousands. That means the agency must be able to rush aid and experts to the affected zone without delay. Providing fleeing civilians with emergency help is often the first step towards their long-term protection and rehabilitation.

To prepare for and respond to an emergency, UNHCR has assembled teams of people with a wide range of key skills who are ready for deployment anywhere in the world at a moment's notice. The agency has also created emergency stockpiles of non-food aid items in Copenhagen and Dubai to supplement local aid supplies in areas of need. We have established long-standing agreements with freight forwarders and logistics companies, and developed a global network of suppliers, specialist agencies and partners.

This means that at any given time, UNHCR has the capacity to respond to a new emergency impacting up to 500,000 people. The agency can also mobilize more than 300 trained personnel within 72 hours. These experts come from its Emergency Response Team (ERT) roster. UNHCR has also developed mechanisms for the immediate mobilization of financial resources to help meet the response to an emergency without delay.

To maintain this capacity and preparedness, UNHCR has developed training programmes that are held at regular intervals. They include the Workshop on Emergency Management, or WEM, which prepares all volunteers on UNHCR's ERT rosters. This weeklong exercise is held four times a year for up to 40 people and every effort is made to create the atmosphere of an actual emergency deployment. The main subjects include team-building, operations planning, financial and administrative systems, operational partnerships, communication and negotiation skills, security, coordination and information-sharing, telecommunications, and humanitarian protection.

UNHCR's eCentre in Tokyo, meanwhile, is helping improve emergency preparedness and response capabilities in the Asia-Pacific region through targeted training and other capacity-building measures. UNHCR also contributes to inter-agency initiatives to enhance early warning and preparedness.

Da bi se pripremio za i reagovao na krizne situacije, UNHCR je okupio timove ljudi sa širokim spektrom veština i znanja koji su spremni za rad u bilo kom delu sveta na prvi poziv. Agencija je takođe stvorila zalihe neprehrambenih artikala u Kopenhagenu i Dubaiu da bi dopunila lokalne zalihe pomoći u regionima gde nastaju potrebe. Sklopili smo dugoročne sporazume sa špediterima i kompanijama koje se bave logistikom i razvili globalnu mrežu dobavljača, specijalizovanih agencija i partnera.

To znači da u svakom trenutku UNHCR poseduje kapacitet da reaguje na novu krizu koja pogađa do 500.000 ljudi. U roku od 72 sata agencija može da mobiliše više od 300 obučenih službenika. Ovi eksperti nalaze se na spisku Tima za intervencije. UNHCR je takođe uspostavio mehanizme trenutne mobilizacije finansijskih sredstava da bi se bez odlaganja moglo odgovoriti na krizu.

Da bi održao taj nivo kapaciteta i spremnosti, UNHCR je organizovao obuke koje se redovno održavaju. Jedna od njih je Radionica za upravljanje krizama, ili WEM, na kojoj se obučavajju svi volonteri sa spiskova Tima za intervencije. Ova obuka koja traje nedelju dana održava se četiri puta godišnje za maksimum 40 učesnika uz simulaciju atmosfere stvarne krize. Glavne teme su formiranje tima, planiranje operacija, finansijski i administrativni sistemi, operativna partnerstva, veštine komunikacije i pregovaranja, bezbednost, koordinacija i razmena informacija, telekomunikacije i humanitarna zaštita.
U međuvremenu, eCentar UNHCRa u Tokiju, pomaže da se poboljšaju kapaciteti za pripremu i reagovanje u kriznim situacijama u regionu Azije i Pacifika putem ciljnih obuka i drugih mera izgradnje kapaciteta. UNHCR takođe doprinosti međuagencijskim inicijativama da bi osnažio sisteme ranog upozoravanja i spremnosti.