STRATEGIC Framework...STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK 2012-2014 A. OVERVIEW 1. The Global Protection Cluster (GPC) brings together UN agencies, NGOs and international organizations1 working on

2012-2014

FrameworkSTRATEGIC

GPC-Strategy.indd 1GPC-Strategy.indd 1 20. 2. 2012 10:46:3820. 2. 2012 10:46:38


GLOBAL PROTECTION CLUSTER

STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK 2012-2014

A. OVERVIEW

1. The Global Protection Cluster (GPC) brings together UN agencies, NGOs and international

organizations1 working on protection-related themes in humanitarian response, including

those working on human rights and in child protection, gender-based violence, mine action

and housing, land and property rights2. These last four areas of work are organized in Areas

of Responsibility, led by designated agencies working in concert with the broader cluster.

2. In view of the evolution of the cluster approach and the challenges in ensuring that global

clusters are responsive to the needs of the field, a “visioning” exercise was initiated at the

beginning of 2011 to re-orient the GPC towards a strengthened operational support. The “vi-

sioning” revisited the scope and focus of the GPC to ensure that support is better targeted

to the needs of the field, that the GPC capitalizes on its wide participation, that it is leaner

in structure and quicker in responding to the field and that this informs priority setting at the

global level. It took place at the same time as a re-orientation of the cluster approach in gen-

eral: the IASC Principals3 have made a number of recommendations with regards to clusters,

including a return to the original purpose of the clusters, refocusing them on strategic and

operational gaps analysis, planning, assessment and results.

3. As an outcome of the visioning exercise, in November 2011, the Global Protection Cluster

agreed that it needs to develop the present strategy to set out the broad framework under

which it should operate and to highlight the overarching objectives of its work. It provides

an overview of protection concerns, the cluster’s agreed strategic priorities in response and

the approach the cluster intends to take over the coming three years. In addition, the GPC

agreed that it should develop an action plan with indicators to show how time bound con-

crete tasks and outcomes to implement the strategy translate into practice4, with further ar-

eas elaborated in the work-plans of the Child Protection, GBV, Mine Action and HLP AORs.

These work-plans should converge to strengthen the agreed priorities of the GPC as a whole

and will be annexed to this document.

B. GPC VISION

“A World in which boys, girls, women and men affected

or threatened by humanitarian crises are fully protected in

accordance with their rights”.5

1 Including the International Committee of the Red Cross as an observer

2 Lead agencies for these Areas of Responsibility have equivalent accountability to cluster leads, including as provider

of last resort for their area.

3 Revised Action Points of the IASC Principals Meetings, 13 December 2011, PR/1112/3946/7

4 Report of the GPC visioning meeting, November 2011

5 Report of the GPC visioning meeting, June 2011

Strategy Framework 2012-2014 3


C. GPC MISSION

4. States have the primary responsibility to protect all persons within their jurisdiction in line

with international human rights law, international humanitarian law and refugee law. In this

context, the mission of the GPC is to facilitate a more predictable, accountable and effec-

tive response by humanitarian, human rights and development actors to protection concerns

within the context of humanitarian action in complex emergencies, disasters and other such

situations. Established primarily to support the implementation of the cluster approach, the

GPC is also ready, within the limits of its capacity, to support protection coordination mech-

anisms and country teams in all complex emergencies, disasters and other such situations.

D. LEADERSHIP AND PARTICIPATION

5. As Global Lead of the Protection Cluster, UNHCR is responsible for ensuring protection

sector-wide preparedness and technical capacity to respond to emergencies and for ensur-

ing greater predictability and more effective inter-agency responses in protection activities

that the GPC’s participants carry out.

6. The GPC is guided by the Principles of Partnership, which underscore that participants

respect each other as equal partners, undertake tasks with transparency, adopt a results

oriented approach, show responsibility in the implementation of activities, and ensure com-

plementarity of participants’ activities.

E. SITUATION ANALYSIS

7. Some one billion people, including about 340 million of the world’s extreme poor, are es-

timated to live in fragile states.6 Fragile states are often characterized by ongoing violence

and insecurity, a legacy of conflict, weak governance and the inability to deliver the efficient

and equitable distribution of public goods. Fragile states are behind in meeting all the Millen-

nium Development Goals and fragility most negatively affects the poorest and most margin-

alized in society, including women and children, people with disabilities and older persons.

8. In countries affected by conflict, civilians continue to face insecurity and serious risk to their

lives. Civilian loss of life due to conflict is of serious concern in many contexts around the

world. For example, in Afghanistan 3,021 people lost their lives in 2011 as a result of con-

flict. Countries falling behind in their development achievements are also more vulnerable

to natural disasters. Countries with low GDP and weak governance tend to have drastically

higher mortality risks than wealthier countries with stronger governance.7 As a global aver-

age, 387 disasters were reported each year between 2000-2009. In 2010, disasters killed

6 DfID Topic Guide on Fragile States, October 2010;

7 IPCC, 2012: Summary for Policymakers. In: Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate

Change Adaptation [Field, C.B., V. Barros, T.F. Stocker, D. Qin, D.J. Dokken, K.L. Ebi, M.D. Mastrandrea,K.J. Mach, G.-K.

Plattner, S.K. Allen, M. Tignor, and P.M. Midgley (eds.)]. A Special Report of Working Groups I and II of the Intergovernmental

Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, and New York, NY, USA, pp. 1-19.

4 Global Protection Cluster


more than 297,000 people worldwide and affected over 217.0 million others,8 including over

42 million people who were displaced from their homes by sudden-onset natural disasters.9

9. There are several cases where without action to tackle the causes of displacement -perse-

cution, violence, authoritarian rule, failures of governance, economic collapse and natural

disasters- people remain in ever more protracted displacement, while at the same time the

patterns of displacement are changing and the scale of displacement is also growing.10 At

the end of 2010, 27.5 million people were displaced internally, experiencing insecurity, hu-

man rights violations and discrimination in access to services, including access to justice.

Urban displacement is a growing trend as is the number of people in protracted displace-

ment.11

10. It is against this background that the humanitarian system is called upon to support states

when these are overwhelmed by the challenges confronting them. Humanitarian crisis, both

conflicts and natural disasters, almost invariably result in or exacerbate human rights con-

cerns. At the same time, it is also true that pre-existing human rights concerns often either

trigger or exacerbate the impact of the crisis on the affected population-“Humanitarian ac-

tion is no substitute for development that alleviates poverty; but it is unconscionable to fail

to act to save lives and to help people regain decent living conditions in any cases, whether

the root causes of a crisis come from extreme chronic vulnerabilities and accumulated

stresses or a sudden extraordinary event”.12 Most conflicts are characterized by large scale

or systematic international humanitarian law and human rights violations. . Experience has

also shown human rights challenges to be widespread in natural disaster situations, while

relatively less attention to the need for human rights protection has been given to responses

in these contexts. Natural hazards are not disasters, in and of themselves. They become

disasters depending on the elements of exposure, vulnerability and resilience, all factors that

can be addressed by human action. A human rights based approach must be fully integrated

by different clusters in planning, preparedness, response and recovery efforts for all crises.

11. While a crisis can affect any country at any time there are situations of chronic instability,

which even over several decades have not improved. At the same time, increasingly diverse

and unexpected situations requiring intervention have been noted, with unpredictability

becoming the name of the game At the beginning of 2012, there were 33 countries with

Humanitarian Coordinators and 120 where inter-agency contingency plans have been devel-

oped to respond to potential crisis. In the field, 28 protection clusters are currently active,13

19 in complex emergencies –characterized by extensive violence and loss of life, displace-

ment, widespread damage to social and economic life, the need for large-scale, multi-fac-

eted assistance and the hindrance of assistance, including risk to relief workers- and nine in

natural disaster situations. In these countries, the right to life, the right to security of person,

the enjoyment of economic and social rights, constraints on humanitarian access and space

coupled with a lack of local protection response capacity, displacement and the protection

of civilians in conflict are all significant concerns.

8 Guha-Sapir D, Vos F, Below R, with Ponserre S. Annual Disaster Statistical Review 2010: The Numbers and Trends.

Brussels: CRED; 2011.”

9 IDMC. Displacement due to naturalhazard-induceddisasters: Global estimates for 2009 and 2010, June 2011

10 Statement of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to the Security Council, New York, 23 November 2011

11 IDMC Global Overview of Trends and Developments in 2010, Geneva, March 2011

12 Humanitarian Appeal 2011, New York, November 2010

13 Figure correct as of February 2012



12. Looking to the future, three megatrends have been identified as likely to shape humanitarian

action: changes in the dynamics and means of conflict, urbanisation and climate change.14

To this, others have added economic crises, the serious humanitarian consequences of situ-

ations of violence other than armed conflict15 and population shifts.16

F. STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES

13. The GPC adopts the IASC definition of protection which states that protection is ‘’all activi-

ties aimed at ensuring full respect for the rights of the individual in accordance with the letter

and spirit of the relevant bodies of law (i.e. human rights law, international humanitarian law

and refugee laws).”

14. While noting that an analysis of cluster strategies in the field17 reveals that recurrent themes

cover a range of human rights issues, protection of civilians in conflict, response to gender-

based violence and child protection the GPC will always aim for a comprehensive protec-tion response.

15. With that aim, the GPC adopts as strategic objectives over the period of this framework:

1. increased support to the field

2. global engagement on protection issues

Strategic Objective 1: increased support to the field

16. Field protection clusters and coordinators have certain key responsibilities for example as-

sessment and analysis, strategy development and implementation; performance monitoring

and evaluation; advocacy; training, technical assistance and local capacity strengthening;

information management and contingency planning. It is the GPC’s role to ensure that the

field has the necessary support and capacity to implement those responsibilities in a timely

and comprehensive manner. However, its role in this respect has been uneven and in some

cases not felt at all. To increase the effectiveness and relevance of its support to the field the

GPC will:

• Develop and disseminate a Protection Cluster Toolbox to include such key essential

tools as contingency planning and protection assessment tools.

• Establish a GPC help desk to consist of a team of technical experts to provide guid-

ance and assistance to protection actors in the field, particularly focussed on special-

ised areas.

• Strengthen rapid deployment capacity by building on existing available standby ar-

rangements, including those within the AORs.

• Strengthen training of Cluster Coordinators and protection cluster members on co-

ordination skills and technical aspects of protection.

14 The Politics of Protection, Elizabeth G. Ferris, Brookings Institution Press, 2011

15 Also noted by the IDMC in its Global Overview of Trends and Developments in 2010, Geneva, March 2011 and in

Armed Non-State Actors and Displacement, IDMC & Geneva Call, Geneva, June 2011

16 International Crisis Group’s Strategic Framework 2011-2014, Brussels, May 2011

17 ProCap analysis of protection cluster strategies, UNHCR IDP Operations Consultations, October 2011



Strategic Objective 2: global engagement on protection issues

17. Advocacy is an identified responsibility of global cluster lead agencies and clusters,18 and is

seen as a priority for the GPC in the future. Advocacy is among the activities recently iden-

tified by the IASC Principals as critical to improving the humanitarian system as a whole.

Independent of advocacy in specific complex emergencies, protracted situations and natural

disasters, in New York, Geneva, Addis Ababa and elsewhere, policy discussions on humani-

tarian action have implications for protection in the field and the GPC must engage in them,

specifically to bring operational perspectives on protection to bear. To increase global en-

gagement on protection issues the GPC will:

• Clarify the role of the GPC in engaging with donors, as well as States more broadly,

and map issues, outcomes and stakeholders for this engagement.

• Undertake global level advocacy to highlight key protection concerns with an empha-

sis on neglected or marginalised groups and context specific advocacy in support of

field protection actors.

• Mainstream protection in the humanitarian response is the responsibility of all clus-

ters. The GPC will support Protection Clusters in the field to carry out advocacy with

the humanitarian community and provide advice to ensure this is done at field level. To

this end the GPC will also work with other global clusters to further this objective.

G. COMMITMENT TO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE STRATEGY

18. All GPC partner agencies, which include the Cluster Lead Agency and the AOR Focal Point

Agencies, commit to the implementation of this strategy and the highest standard of col-

laboration and coordination to ensure efficient use of resources, greater accountability and

transparency and, as a result, a more effective provision of operational support to field

based protection actors. All GPC partner agencies have common responsibilities to each

other and the cluster to reach the objectives contained in this strategy, to this end, each

partner agency commits itself to undertake measurable actions pursuant to its implementa-

tion and in accordance with agreed workplans.

19. UNHCR, as the Cluster Lead Agency, has a responsibility , actively supported by all GPC

partner agencies, to ensure the strongest possible leadership and coordination of the GPC,

including the provision of core capacity in the Operations Cell. UNHCR’s contribution to the

Operations Cell will be complemented by that of AOR focal point agencies and other GPC

partner agencies.

20. All GPC partner agencies will demonstrate an understanding of the duties and responsibili-

ties of the cluster, as defined through the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Terms

of References and Guidance Notes and any guidance specific to the GPC itself. All GPC

partner agencies will also demonstrate capacity and willingness to concretely contribute and

18 IASC Guidance Note on Using the Cluster Approach to Strengthen Humanitarian Response, Geneva, 24 November

2006.

19 The IASC Guidance Note on Using the Cluster Approach to Strengthen Humanitarian Response (November 2006).



participate in activities within the GPC and commitment to consistently engage in the clus-

ter’s work. This commitment will also include willingness to take on lead responsibilities on

activities to ensure equitable and decentralised responsibility sharing in the implementation

of the priority focus area activities.

Implementation

21. In order to achieve the strategic objectives identified above and in line with the Principles of

Partnership, the GPC will implement a number of changes to its structural organization and

working methods:

• Ensure greater integration of and coordination between constituent parts of the GPC.

• Establish a GPC Operations Cell to act as a catalyst and provide traction for key GPC

activities and ensure secretariat functions l:

• Revise structure of the GPC to be commensurate with tasks: all existing GPC task

forces20 will be reviewed against stated deliverables and work within the GPC will be

reorganized around the key outputs that have been identified under the strategic objec-

tives and taken up by task team. The Rule of Law AOR has been phased out already

and rule of law issues will be taken up directly within the GPC with the support of key

agencies.

• Improve coordination through strategy, work-plan, communication and meetings: communication and information flow within the GPC will be improved by more strategic

use of meetings and electronic communication, including a well-functioning website

and social media.

H. MONITORING AND IMPACT EVALUATION

22. In order to monitor performance and measure the impact of its work in meeting the strategic

objectives outlined above, the GPC will hold more regular monthly meetings at which action

points will be taken and reported and participants, AORs and task forces will report on the

achievement of time-bound tasks.

23. Field clusters will call into the monthly meetings and operational support will be considered

as the priority agenda item. A survey will be undertaken among field clusters to assess the

impact of the GPC’s work in supporting them.

24. The GPC, including its AORs and task forces will report in a “traffic-lights” format on

progress in implementing work-plans. The GPC Coordinator will produce an annual report

on the progress of the GPC.

25. The strategic objectives set out in this framework will be revisited at appropriate intervals to

ensure continuing relevance.

20 GPC task forces include: learning, protection mainstreaming, good practices, information management, and natural

disasters.





Documents

STRATEGIC Framework...STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK 2012-2014 A. OVERVIEW 1. The Global Protection Cluster (GPC) brings together UN agencies, NGOs and international organizations1 working on