Position on ICVA's Involvement in the Humanitarian Reform Process,
in Particular with Regards to the Cluster Approach

On the occasion of the
133rd ICVA Executive Committee Meeting

6 April 2006

Recognising that, in today's world, many humanitarian needs remain unmet, the International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA) welcomes the current efforts to improve global humanitarian response. ICVA shares the view that the capacity, coordination, and resources of humanitarian organisations, together with the essential conditions of unimpeded access and safety and security for humanitarian staff, must be strengthened in order to improve the response. For more than 10 years, NGOs have also advocated for the need to increase the quality of humanitarian assistance according to agreed standards and to strengthen the accountability of humanitarian organisations, in particular vis-à-vis those for whom and with whom they are working.

The cluster approach, launched by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, Jan Egeland in 2005, represents one effort that aims to combine several of these elements (inter alia capacity, coordination, and accountability) that are necessary to improve humanitarian response. ICVA has demonstrated a keen interest in discussing the development of the cluster approach. Bearing in mind the differences between member organisations in terms of their missions, methodologies, and their attitudes vis-à-vis the UN system, the ICVA membership has a diversified approach with regards to participating in the clusters. While some members have expressed reservations with regards to the approach and, therefore, their participation in the clusters, others have taken an active role in cluster meetings. Many members have questions with regards to the exact definition of the cluster concept, the added-value on the ground, and the implications for their organisations and their work.

Representing this diversity, the ICVA Secretariat's role is to ask questions in order to contribute to the development, clarification, and implementation of the cluster approach. In order to help member organisations decide if and how they should participate, the ICVA Secretariat is circulating information on the cluster process among the membership. The Secretariat has, for example, created a special section on the ICVA website that contains many documents relating to the process in the Inter-Agency Standing Committee and the different clusters. The ICVA Secretariat is also in regular contact with several of the NGO focal points, who, on behalf of ICVA and the other NGO consortia, participate in the clusters. Together with some of them, ICVA is looking for flexible ways that would help to ensure that NGO expertise and knowledge is better capitalised on in the context of the clusters.

It must be kept in mind, however, that NGO participation in the clusters will largely depend on the quality of the relationship between the UN agencies and NGOs. In order to develop a better dialogue between the UN and non-UN agencies, ICVA and SCHR, together with InterAction, will be hosting an event on 12 and 13 July in Geneva to discuss means by which to enhance the effectiveness of humanitarian action. The meeting will aim to establish better relations between humanitarian actors both at the global and operational levels.