Background
NGOs and their partners are increasingly exposed to complex political emergencies and conflict environments. In each emergency, a variety of different stakeholders are involved at various levels, giving humanitarian protection and relief. Each of these actors operates in accordance with their own principles and specific mandate. Furthermore, civil society and the UN are increasingly aware of the growing presence of international military forces in crisis areas.

Having different actors working towards a common goal will help preventing duplication of work and the risk that work might fall in between chairs. A balance of a variety of organisations with their particularities, different priorities and actions and of a coordinated and coherent strategy with a common goal where all parts know their roles and the donors contribute to this coordinated action is strived for. Moreover, coordination should be implemented in manners that help strengthening local capacity and local structures.

Purpose
The purpose of the course is to highlight why humanitarian coordination is needed and how it can strengthen response capacity, efficiency, predictability and accountability among actors.

Diverse aspects and levels of coordination among different actors in different humanitarian settings, i.e. both natural disasters and conflicts settings, will be addressed at the training. Furthermore, the different levels of communication, both from a practical and policy point of view will be assessed; including the UN-system (Resident Coordinators, Humanitarian Coordinators, the role of OCHA, the Cluster approach etc.), NGOs coordination, the military and the Red Cross Movement. Different roles and abilities, difficulties and limitations in supporting coordination efforts etc. will be presented and discussed. Evidences of a successful coordination will be presented as well as examples of when coordination doesn’t give an added value.

Issues with regard to funding and how coordination can be cost effective will also be covered in the training. Donors and how money is distributed dictates the conditions. When is pool funding a good option?

How can humanitarian agencies coordinate efforts in conflict or disaster areas in order to be more efficient and accountable in humanitarian action, while at the same time maintain their mandate and avoid endangering fundamental humanitarian principles?

Participants will discuss how humanitarian agencies can continue to function in accordance with their mandate within a coordinated system. It will be debated if and how civil-military cooperation can be achieved without jeopardizing fundamental humanitarian principles and values such as impartiality and neutrality and independence.

Content and approach
Sessions are designed according to an interactive model and include a coordination meeting as a role play exercise, and a coordination exercise with a natural disaster scenario. Participants are expected to contribute with experiences from their own organisation and will be encouraged to discuss, actively contribute and take part in the training.

The training curriculum will cover four main aspects:

1. The framework of;
- an international perspective,
- the UN General Assembly, Resolutions and Guidelines for coordination,
- civil military co-operation, roles of humanitarian actors and the military,
- cost-benefit analyses.

2. Different levels of coordination including;
- the UN, Red Cross, NGOs, clusters of coordination,
- different mandates for actors and groups of actors.

3. The organisation’s accountability to their own organisation, to the population and to the donors, including questions of funds and the complexity of the problems that arise.

4. The ideal image of coordination - a challenge we all strive towards
- the difficult task to coordinate
- the complexity for the target group
- evidences of successful coordination as well as bad examples
- where coordination is not relevant
- geographic division (cluster)
- organisations participating in coordination meetings without sharing information
- coordination is not necessarily to gather all actors but to choose the relevant ones
- military and civil coordination

Specially selected resource persons with expertise in the area, and experience in working with humanitarian coordination in the field, will conduct the training.

Application
Professional affiliation with an organization or institution is a requisite for participation in the course. Thus individuals interested in applying to the course are asked to submit applications in conjunction with their employing or sponsoring organization.

Selection of course participants will be based on qualifications related to professional experience and interest in the sphere of humanitarian action, as indicated on the application form. A selection will be made in order to ensure a diverse and wide a range of participants.

Contact and Inquiries
Questions concerning the content of the course should be addressed to Maja Edfast, ATHA Project Coordinator, e-mail: maja.edfast@sida.se, phone:+46 (0)8-698 40 71. Administrative questions concerning lodging, venue, meals etc should be addressed to Sara Hurtig, Course Administrator,
e-mail: sara.hurtig@sida.se, phone +46 (0)8-698 40 44.

Register for course here: http://www.atha.se/course-application