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IMMEDIATE ACTIONS FOR THE (IN-COMING) CLUSTER COORDINATOR
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TO DO
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TO CONSIDER
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| Contact key informants
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Stakeholder Groups include:
- Donors
- Government
- NGOs (national and international)
- CBOs
- Red Cross / Red Crescent Movement (ICRC, IFRC, National Society)
- Other Sectors
- RC’s Office (and/or OCHA)
- Academic institutions
- Private sector
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| Meet and establish a relationship with your Government counterpart
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- It may be necessary to involve the Head of Agency and/or the RC/HC in identifying the single person within Government responsible for the sector.
- Be prepared to brief your government counterpart daily, and even consider drafting his or her presentations
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| Meet RC/HC and his/her coordination team |
- Ensure that both parties understand what to expect of the other
- Clarify who will carry out inter-cluster coordination (obtain contact details)
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| Attend security briefing |
- Mandatory for UN staff and advisable for others
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| Attend general coordination meeting
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- Be prepared to give a brief summary of what the Cluster membership is doing and what coordination mechanisms are being put in place
- Put a poster on the wall in the RC/HC’s office informing visitors how to contact you
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| Familiarise yourself with the Cluster Lead’s Emergency Preparedness Plan and the UNCT’s latest contingency plan |
- If not yet in-country, obtain these prior to departure
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| Contact and meet other Cluster Coordinators |
- Often best done informally
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| Conduct initial Who, What, Where, When (4W) assessment with Cluster partners
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- Do this by phone using ‘partner profile’ forms.
- Get partners to fill in forms by hand during coordination meetings
- Information Manager to collate information into simple ‘monitoring matrix’
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| Plan immediate priority actions |
- In accordance with the outline strategy
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| Identify Information Manager
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- Likely to be national staff in the first instance with no prior training in information management
- Put him or her in contact with the Global Cluster Lead Information Management Focal Point
- Ensure (s)he coordinates with the ICCG and/or IM working group (possibly a Humanitarian Information Centre sent by OCHA)
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Agree an initial outline strategy
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- This need not be detailed but should at least orient Cluster partners to national policies, goals, and objectives
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Visit the affected area
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- If more than a 24hr mission, make sure a deputy has been appointed to cover for your absence
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| Make sure the joint Rapid Needs Assessment is being collated |
- Don’t wait too long for joint assessment protocols and questionnaires to be developed; if necessary, go it alone
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| Ensure national and international NGOs input into the Flash Appeal (or equivalent)
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- Write the strategy yourself as this will reflect the strategy already agreed by the Cluster
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| Ensure national and international NGOs input into the Flash Appeal (or equivalent) |
- Be prepared to distil proposals into the FA format yourself and even write them yourself on behalf of a NNGO who has briefed you by phone
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