OCHA UNITED NATIONS OFFICE FOR THE COORDINATION OF HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS ANNUAL REPORT 2020 unocha.org reliefweb.int @unocha | @UNReliefChief facebook.com/UNOCHA Credits This publication is produced by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). OCHA wishes to acknowledge the contributions of its committed staff at headquarters and in the field in preparing this publication. Front and back cover OCHA staff speak with affected communities in Darfur, Sudan. Credit: OCHA. Editing and Graphic Design OCHA For additional information, please contact: Donor Relations Section [email protected] Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Palais des Nations, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland Tel: +41 22 917 1690 The designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. OCHA THANKS ITS DONORS FOR THEIR GENEROUS SUPPORT TO ITS ACTIVITIES IN 2020 MEMBER STATES ANDORRA ARMENIA AUSTRALIA AUSTRIA AZERBAIJAN BANGLADESH BELGIUM BHUTAN BULGARIA CAMBODIA CANADA CHINA CYPRUS DENMARK ESTONIA FINLAND FRANCE GERMANY GREECE GUYANA ICELAND INDONESIA IRAN IRELAND ITALY JAPAN KAZAKHSTAN KOREA, REPUBLIC OF KUWAIT LATVIA LIECHTENSTEIN LITHUANIA LUXEMBOURG MALAYSIA MALTA MONACO MONGOLIA MONTENEGRO MOROCCO MYANMAR NETHERLANDS NEW ZEALAND NORWAY PERU PHILIPPINES RUSSIAN SAUDI POLAND PORTUGAL QATAR ROMANIA FEDERATION ARABIA SINGAPORE SLOVAKIA SLOVENIA UNITED ARAB SOUTH AFRICA SPAIN SRI LANKA SWEDEN SWITZERLAND THAILAND TURKEY TURKMENISTAN EMIRATES UNITED UNITED KINGDOM STATES VIET NAM OTHER DONORS BASQUE CATALAN AGENCY FOR BELGIAN AGENCY FOR UN, INGO DEVELOPMENT GOVERNMENT DEVELOPMENT AND PRIVATE COOPERATION OF FLANDERS COOPERATION EUROPEAN SECTOR (SPAIN) (BELGIUM) (SPAIN) COMMISSION JERSEY PARTNERS 1 2020 PRESENCE 1 5 30 24 Headquarters Regional Offices Country Offices Humanitarian two locations Adviser Teams The Hague Ukraine OCHA GENEVA Lebanon Kazakhstan Switzerland (Syria Crisis) Georgia DPR of Kyrgyzstan Korea3 7 RO for the Syria Crisis Turkey (Syria Crisis) Tajikistan OCHA NEW YORK Jordan (Syria Crisis) USA Syrian AR5 IR Iran6 Afghanistan Pakistan Japan Libya OPT4 Iraq 8 MIDDLE EAST AND Kuwait 8 NORTH AFRICA Qatar ASIA AND THE PACIFIC Cairo, Egypt Saudi United Arab 8 Bangkok, Mexico Arabia8 Emirates Thailand Guatemala Honduras Haiti Mali Niger Myanmar Philippines Barbados Chad Sudan Yemen Regional Office coverage Eritrea El Salvador Venezuela Burkina Ethiopia LATIN AMERICA AND THE Faso Nigeria 1 Colombia CAR 1. CAR - Central African Republic CARIBBEAN South Sudan 2. DRC - Democratic Republic of the Congo Panamá, Panama Cameroon Somalia 3. DPR of Korea - Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Ecuador WEST AND CENTRAL 4. OPT - Occupied Palestinian Territory 2 SOUTHERN AND AFRICA DRC 5. Syrian AR - Syrian Arab Republic Burundi EASTERN AFRICA 6. IR Iran - Islamic Republic of Iran Dakar, Senegal Nairobi, Kenya Indonesia 7. Regional Office for the Syria Crisis, Amman, Jordan Peru 8. Operational coordination team Office of the Pacific Islands Zimbabwe Madagascar The designations employed and the presentation of material on this map do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Mozambique 3 OCHA 2020 YEAR IN REVIEW Global Humanitarian Response Plans 1.3M monthly to help vulnerable people in the fight users in against COVID-19 ReliefWeb 56 country Partnerships with businesses to 18k data sets in operations strengthen humanitarian response Humanitarian in Humanitarian Data Exchange Response.info Steps to protect vulnerable groups including older people, women & girls, 381 maps and people with disabilities Strengthened local response: 1,643 infographics 140 MORE THAN IN 2019 Deployments by surge mechanism 30 Deployments from headquarters 23 countries and 3 regions IN 7 DIFFERENT including 12 Core Team deployments used the online Situation Reports LANGUAGES United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination deployments Joint Environment Unit deployments* Deployments from country offices, including 14 from the Country Office Surge Pool UN Economic and Social Council’s Humanitarian Affairs Segment Deployments by location Health challenges in humanitarian contexts Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus 51 Preventing sexual and gender-based violence Middle East and North Africa Durable solutions for internally displaced persons 1 Anticipatory approach to COVID-19 & other crises Asia and the Pacific 32 12 Under-Secretary-General advocacy Latin America Southern and and the Caribbean Eastern Africa Supported pandemic relief 4 West and & vaccines for the world’s poorest countries Central Africa Highlighted the impact of climate, conflict *Of these, one mission (Mauritius) was a JEU-only mission, two in conjuction with UNDAC. Note: The above figures do not reflect all of the deployments that occurred across country & the pandemic on food security and regional offices or remote support. Sounded the alarm on the impact of locusts Underlined support for people in the Central Sahel Conducted virtual missions to meet affected communities CERF CBPFs & local NGOs in Burkina Faso & South Sudan B Spotlighted gender-related issues/gender-based violence $1.02 $909M $836M $848M Assistant Secretary-General advocacy M 18 countries Mission to Afghanistan to highlight pandemic $538 $501M reached through & climate impact on people pooled funds Data responsibility in humanitarian action Inclusive approach in humanitarian action 2018 2019 2020 4 Contents 6 FOREWORD 8 MAKING LIVES BETTER 9 RESPONDING TO THE PANDEMIC’S IMPACT 13 GEARING UP FOR COVID-19 19 FIELD OFFICES 55 PROMOTING GENDER EQUALITY AND THE EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN AND GIRLS 58 INFORMATION MANAGEMENT, A CRITICAL OCHA FUNCTION 59 OCHA’S ROLE IN THE INTER-AGENCY STANDING COMMITTEE 64 HUMANITARIAN FINANCING 73 TRANSFORMING HUMANITARIAN ACTION 79 FUNDING 88 ANNEXES 89 ACRONYMS 90 OCHA ORGANIZATION CHART 92 FINANCIAL TABLES OCHA in action 12 REAL-LIFE HEROES HONOURED IN WORLD HUMANITARIAN DAY CAMPAIGN 14 WEST AFRICA OFFICE SUPPORTS HURRICANE RESPONSE 16 INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SUPPORTS COVID-19 DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS 16 REMOTE SUPPORT EXPERIENCE 18 STANDBY PARTNERS’ SUPPORT 21 TECHNICAL SUPPORT FOR OIL SPILL IN MAURITIUS 41 DEPLOYMENTS TO HURRICANE-HIT CENTRAL AMERICA 44 BUSINESSES PARTNER TO STRENGTHEN HUMANITARIAN RESPONSES 45 HUMANITARIAN PARTNERSHIPS WEEK 52 SUPPORT FOR BEIRUT 54 PEERS PROVIDE VIRTUAL SUPPORT 65 TRANSPARENCY AND FUNDING FOR OCHA 67 CERF INNOVATES IN RESPONSE TO PANDEMIC-RELATED NEEDS 68 OCHA HELPS ROLL OUT ANTICIPATORY ACTION 70 VENEZUELA HUMANITARIAN FUND & REGIONAL POOLED FUND FOR CENTRAL AND WEST AFRICA ESTABLISHED 71 ADDRESSING CHRONICALLY UNDERFUNDED AREAS 83 OCHA DONOR SUPPORT GROUP 5 In January 2020, the UN humanitarian chief, Mark Lowcock, Foreword visited the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan, home to 2020 was a year like no other. New and pro- (CERF) allocated $490 million to respond over 76,000 women, tracted conflicts and a mounting climate to the COVID-19 crisis. This funding ena- children and men. crisis had already generated record-high hu- bled the World Food Programme and part- He met with Syrian manitarian needs. Then came the COVID-19 ners to expand logistics services, including families and the aid pandemic. It upended the entire world, but the transportation of supplies and emer- agencies helping its secondary impacts hit vulnerable coun- gency workers. them. Credit: OCHA tries hardest. CERF piloted new ways of working in re- The pandemic closed schools, strained sponse to the pandemic. They included health systems, disrupted food imports, providing more flexible funding to UN triggered a surge in gender-based violence agencies and more direct funding to NGOs and triggered a global economic downturn responding on the front lines; earmarking a that sharpened inequality. Poverty rates are portion of resources for women-led organi- rising, and decades of progress are at risk. zations to respond to gender-based violence; increasing support for cash programming; In response to the pandemic, OCHA and its and allowing for more flexibility to adjust partners in the Inter-Agency Standing Com- projects in light of so much uncertainty. mittee launched the Global Humanitarian Response Plan for COVID-19. It called for Humanitarian organizations adapted US$9.5 billion to boost health, food, pro- their programmes to respect social dis- tection, livelihoods and education services, tancing guidelines. OCHA shifted staff to and to ensure continued support for existing work remotely wherever possible, and it humanitarian programmes in 63 countries. boosted support to field teams across Cen- By the year’s end, donors had provided tral and South America and Southern and $3.8 billion. Eastern Africa. The Country-Based Pooled Funds (CBPFs) The pandemic heightened pre-existing hun- and the Central Emergency Response Fund ger levels, leaving 270 million people facing 6 starvation by the year’s end. At the sharpest flooding to many parts of the world, in- end were communities in the Central Sahel, cluding the Sahel and Horn of Africa regions. the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South