In October the second phase of the Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) for 2016 will commence. After concluding the Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO) in September, the clusters will now start with defining the key elements of the cluster strategies. Based on these cluster strategies NGOs and other humanitarian partners will then develop their HRP projects, which will be uploaded using the Online Project System (OPS). The OPS will open on 14 October, with 26 October as the deadline for uploading projects. The OPS is an online database containing projects which are part of a humanitarian response in a major crisis like the current situation in Iraq. The OPS aims to coordinate the humanitarian response by collecting the projects of humanitarian actors…

On the 30th of September a high-level side meeting on Iraq was held as a side event of the 70th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) meeting. This side-event was co-convened by the government of the United States of America, the Organisation for Islamic Cooperation and UN OCHA in New York. NCCI’s Advocacy Working Group prepared the brief which was included in the briefing pack of the event. As Iraq is the sole country in the world dealing with two emergencies classified as L3 by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC), this briefing note attempted to draw more attention to the humanitarian crisis in Iraq which is too often forgotten in light of the security crisis raging in the country. The briefing…

In early September the timeline for the Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) for 2016 was presented by the Humanitarian Coordinator. The HRP is a strategic plan that will guide the humanitarian response in Iraq for the year of 2016 and also acts as a tool to mobilize resources and funding for humanitarian operations in the country. The first phase of the HRP is the Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO), which is being executed through the cluster system and will be finished by the end of September. The HNO aims to assess the expected needs for the coming year to inform the drafting of the HRP, which will start in early October with defining the strategic guidelines and cluster strategies. Throughout October NGOs…

The NGO Coordination Committee for Iraq (NCCI) is the primary coordination body for NGOs operating in Iraq. NCCI however is only one element of the overall humanitarian coordination structure, which includes OCHA, other UN agencies the cluster system and the central government and the Kurdish regional government. As the coordination structure is going through a number of changes, NCCI has been supporting this evolution to a more efficient system adapted to the situation in the field. On the 27th of August NCCI hosted a meeting between NGOs and Humanitarian Coordinator (HC) Lise Grande. During the meeting the HC addressed a number of concerns raised by NGOs on the reformed coordination structure and the relocation of it to Baghdad. Other subjects…

As the humanitarian situation in Iraq rapidly changes, the NGO Coordination Committee for Iraq (NCCI) regularly organizes meetings to share information between its members and the other humanitarian actors in the country. On the 25th of August NCCI held a meeting at its Erbil office with nine, mostly local NGOs attending. At the meeting the local NGOs described the challenges emerging in liberated areas in Ninewa and Kirkuk like revenge attacks, sectarian and ethnic polarization, unsafety and damaged infrastructure and property. The attendants also put forward a number of recommendations to enable a safe return of IDPs to these areas. These recommendations included documenting events of genocide and persecution and increasing the awareness of both the population and government officials…

Coordinating NGO operations is the core mission of the NGO Coordination Committee for Iraq (NCCI). This mission includes coordination between NGOs and other humanitarian actors such as UN agencies and donors, but also encompasses liaising between NGOs and government. To ensure an effective humanitarian response, coordination and cooperation between NGOs and the government is crucial, but in crisis situations such as now this cooperation is often hindered by rapidly changing circumstances and communication gaps. During the past two weeks NCCI supported the Directorate of NGOs (DNGO), the Department of Foreign Relations (DFR) and the Ministry of Interior of the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) in their attempts to increase communication between NGOs and the regional government in the Kurdistan Region of…