The GPC’s coordination and collaboration in the next 5 years: Webinar recording available now

On Tuesday, 26 November, PHAP organized a webinar in partnership with the Global Protection Cluster (GPC) on the current state of protection coordination and how the coordination role of the GPC could be improved over the coming five years. After having explored the role of the GPC and humanitarian protection in the humanitarian-development-peace-security nexus and its potential protection role in climate change preparedness and response, this event concluded the series of events organized to gather the views of practitioners globally to help shape and refine the GPC’s new Strategic Framework for 2020-2024. 

To help inform the discussions and allow for practitioners to provide their input on this topic and to the GPC’s Strategic Framework, PHAP and GPC organized a pre-event survey where event registrants were asked about their views on the GPC’s role on coordination and collaboration for humanitarian protection.

Humanitarian practitioners and others interested from 62 countries took part in the live webinar to provide their views and to hear from our panel of experts on their perspectives and different experiences related to protection coordination. First out was Claudia Nicoletti, Protection Cluster Coordinator in  Erbil, Iraq, who briefed participants on the complex coordination role of the protection cluster in Iraq, where they are working to overcome accountability challenges together with the four operational sub-clusters: Child Protection; Gender-Based Violence; Mine Action; and Housing, Land and Property (HLP). 

In his recorded presentation, Daniel Aldrich, Professor of Political Science and Director of the Security and Resilience Studies Program at Northeastern University, shared his extensive research on coordination in emergencies from over 18 different disaster contexts. He named three types of factors that led to more friction in coordination: uncoordinated top-down and bottom-up approaches; lower economic costs of disasters; and pre-existing logistical infrastructure and planning challenges. 

Charles Deutscher, Policy Adviser at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), emphasized the significance of trust in coordination, within the ICRC and in external relationships such as with the GPC. Panos Moumtzis, Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Syria Crisis, discussed the three levels needed to ensure well-coordinated protection work: building a strong foundation of the cluster’s strategy analysis and vulnerability work; mainstreaming to consider vulnerability and the use of protection analysis practically; and finally, the significance of leadership protection. 

Participants had the opportunity to hear from Kathrine Starup, Head of Protection Unit, Danish Refugee Council (DRC), who highlighted some challenges faced by NGOs working with the protection cluster such as − the capacity gap in the functioning of national protection clusters; lack of data sharing, proper analysis and strategy; lack and politicisation of localisation; and the lack of clarity of how national protection clusters manoeuvre within the nexus. Rebecca Skovbye, Protection Specialist with a long experience working on protection with the World Food Programme, shared her views on the engagement of non-mandated actors in the coordination on protection.

If you missed the event, video recordings and an audio podcast version of the event are now available on the event page.