On Sunday November 9th a meeting between thirteen international NGOs and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) took place in NCCI’s Erbil office. OCHA reached out to the NGO Coordination Committee for Iraq to facilitate a meeting with its members to discuss what improvement NGOs would like to see in coordination processes/activities in Iraq.

As the humanitarian situation in Iraq evolved quickly over the past few months, there is an urgent need to review the coordination mechanisms in place in Iraq. This review will be conducted by the Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) to ensure a proper implementation of the Strategic Response Plan (SRP). During Sunday’s meeting,OCHA requested feedback from NGOs on the proposed review process, input on the major issues and suggestions on the best ways forward.

During the meeting participants worked together to look for ways to effectively include different partners, such as donors and governments, in the coordination process and to enhance NGOs’ participation in coordination. Special attention was given to the important role of national NGOs in the current humanitarian response and to the importance of including these NGOs in the current coordination system.