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Self Report 2017

The self-report on WHS Commitments below is organized according to the 24 transformations of the Agenda for Humanity. It is based on commitments pledged at the time of report submission. Click on the 'Expand' symbol to expand each section and read the reporting inputs by transformation.

1D
Develop solutions with and for people

Individual Commitment

  • What led your organization to make the commitment?

    UNFPA worked on youth engagement for many years to understand their needs and address them. UNFPA worked with member states such as Jordan and others before WHS to put youth participation at the heart of humanitarian action. The participation and leadership of young people in humanitarian action, and priority attention to protect the rights and address the specific needs of young people are critical in emergency settings, particularly as they relate to protection and health, including sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights. UNFPA wants to ensure that the humanitarian system works for young people by engaging them ...

  • Achievements at a glance

    UNFPA is supporting efforts to bolster young people’s resilience, their role in humanitarian crises, and in building sustainable peace, drawing on UNFPA’s comparative advantage of working with and for young people in development and humanitarian settings. This is in line with UNFPA’s commitment to the Compact for Young People in Humanitarian Action, which was agreed to at the World Humanitarian Summit. UNFPA is a member of the Inter-Agency Working Group on Young People’s Participation in Peacebuilding and is co-leading, with the Peacebuilding Support Office, the secretariat of the Global Progress Study on Youth Peace and Security. UNFPA is also member of the Steering Committee for the Interagency Working Group for reproductive health in crisis setting which works to address sexual and reproductive health issues in crisis, including for youth and adolescents.

  • How is your organization assessing progress

    UNFPA will measure to which extent the key actions of the Compact for Young People in Humanitarian Action have been institutionalized in UNFPA’s humanitarian operations. In particular UNFPA will assess how its humanitarian response addressed the specific needs of adolescent and youth and enables the participation of young people in decision-making. UNFPA will strive to systematically use the age and gender marker in its programmes .

  • Next step to advance implementation in 2017

    As co-lead of the Compact for Young People in Humanitarian Action, UNFPA has initiated a number of task forces to advance the five action areas of the Compact.
    A second face-to-face meeting with the technical focal point of the Compact members is planned for April 2017 to review progress of the task forces and agree upon a workplan for 2017 and 2018.

  • If you had one message for the annual report on what is most needed to advance the transformation 'Develop solutions with and for people', what would it be

    The momentum of the WHS has carried the implementation of the Compact since the Summit. Continued commitment and engagement at the highest level of each member entity is required to ensure that the principles of the Compact are well reflected in the humanitarian work of the 50 member agencies.

  • Cross cutting issues

    Accountability to affected people People-centred approach

  • Specific initiatives

    The Compact for Young People in Humanitarian Action The Peace Promise

  • Other related Agenda for Humanity transformations

    3F - Enable adolescents and young people to be agents of positive transformation

2B
Ensure full access to and protection of the humanitarian and medical missions

Individual Commitment

Core Commitment

  • What led your organization to make the commitment?

    UNFPA witnessed over the recent years the escalation of violence against women and girls and has documented increased hindrance to reach areas and populations especially women and girls affected by conflicts in parts of Syria, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, Gaza, Iraq, Yemen. UNFPA wants to change the situation and ensure that women and girls have access to humanitarian assistance and that human rights, humanitarian law and refugee laws are respected. UNFPA observed and documented, along with other UN agencies, the amount of attacks against humanitarian and healthcare workers and health facilities.

  • Achievements at a glance

    UNFPA had increased its effort to advocate and reach additional communities in hard to reach areas in Syria, Iraq and Nigeria and we were able to reach around half million people with humanitarian assistance for the period of this reporting. Although more needs to be done, we were able to document the population we were able to access. Advocacy with other agencies to condemn attacks against humanitarian and health workers was undertaken through many press releases and publications.

  • How is your organization assessing progress

    We are monitoring on a monthly basis reports from country offices and country operations about areas of hindered access. We also report to the UN Security Council on delivery of humanitarian assistance to hard to reach areas inside Syria and across borders from Jordan and Turkey. We also monitor the amount of people reached with humanitarian assistance.

  • Challenges faced in implementation

    Security challenges are the main challenge we face, particularly the security of staff and partners.

  • Next step to advance implementation in 2017

    More sustained advocacy, funding and security is needed to ensure that women and girls and population affected by conflict are reached with humanitarian assistance. UNFPA is working with other agencies to look at innovative ways and alternative programming to identify risks and address how to improve the response to the needs of the population, especially of women and girls.

  • If you had one message for the annual report on what is most needed to advance the transformation 'Ensure full access to and protection of the humanitarian and medical missions', what would it be

    A need for a Security Council resolution or a binding compact that will support providing cover to humanitarian organizations to ensure full access to and protection of the humanitarian and medical missions.

  • Cross cutting issues

    Humanitarian principles

  • Specific initiatives

    The Peace Promise

  • Other related Agenda for Humanity transformations

    2C - Speak out on violations

2D
Take concrete steps to improve compliance and accountability

Individual Commitment

Core Commitment

  • What led your organization to make the commitment?

    Gender-based violence (GBV) is a life-threatening, global health and human rights issue that violates international human rights law and the principles of gender equality. It is also a threat to lasting peace and an affront to our common humanity. UN Member States have called for urgent action to end GBV in emergencies, recognizing that in crises, the risk of GBV is heightened, particularly for women and adolescent girls. As a strategic priority, UNFPA is committed to scaling up our humanitarian response and enhancing our efforts to prevent and respond to gender-based violence promoting high standard through services delivery.

  • Achievements at a glance

    In January 2017, UNFPA will assume sole leadership of the GBV Area of Responsibility. In addition to being the lead agency to coordinate GBV sub-clusters in the field, UNFPA also chairs the UN Gender Theme Groups at country level. Moreover, UNFPA co-chairs the Inter-Agency Violence Against Women Task Force and is a founding member of UN Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict. As of the end of 2016, nearly 80% of UNFPA-led GBV inter-agency coordination bodies in the field were rated as functioning. In 2016, UNFPA’s Minimum Standards for Prevention and Response to Gender-Based Violence in Emergencies (GBViE MS) were included as an official policy document in UNFPA’s Policies and Procedures Manual. The GBViE MS guides all work of the Fund in this area. The GBV AoR Core Competencies have been fully integrated in the job descriptions of GBV programme managers, information managers, and coordinators that deployed as surge capacity...

  • How is your organization assessing progress

    Progress is mainly assessed through UNFPA's internal reporting mechanisms such as the Strategic Information System (SIS) that captures progress through a comprehensive system of milestones and indicators. Progress related to specific activities is also tracked by managers throughout their supervision work, in line with the Humanitarian Results Framework.

  • Challenges faced in implementation

    Working on gender based violence especially in emergencies is particularly challenging for a variety of factors:
    i) limited knowledge and understanding of the concept of GBV as well as causes and consequences of it;
    ii) sensitivity of the topic in many cultures;
    iii) the wrong perception that gender based violence is not a priority compared to other sectors especially in emergencies;
    iv) the extremely shallow pool of GBV specialists that are qualified to work in emergencies;
    v) limited data on GBV especially in emergencies that limits the possibility of supporting programme and advocacy development;
    vi) providing care to women...

  • Next step to advance implementation in 2017

    For 2017 UNFPA will invest in:
    - Enhancing GBV interagency coordination to better support preventive and response interventions in humanitarian and fragile contexts through the deployment of qualified GBV coordinators as well as development and rollout of guidance and tools to enhance quality and standards of coordination;
    - Supporting GBV programming in emergencies, through the provision of technical support to country offices as well as the continuous rollout of key publications and policies such as the Minimum Standards of Prevention and Response to Gender Based Violence in Emergencies as well as the IASC Guidelines ...

  • If you had one message for the annual report on what is most needed to advance the transformation 'Take concrete steps to improve compliance and accountability', what would it be

    The most sustainable way to address GBV lies in the diversity of the stakeholders engaged in this domain. UNFPA would like to provide support for GBV specific coordination and programming that fully supports participation, accountability, transparency, and communication to all as well as pledging to hold ourselves accountable ...

  • Cross cutting issues

    Gender Social protection

  • Specific initiatives

    The Peace Promise

  • Other related Agenda for Humanity transformations

    3D - Empower and protect women and girls

3A
Reduce and address displacement

Individual Commitment

Core Commitment

  • What led your organization to make the commitment?

    UNFPA's work in population data and demographics indicates that countries and governments with large young populations are facing difficulties in addressing their needs for meaningful employment, providing education opportunities and health care which are the leading root causes of displacement and forced displacement. In addition to poverty and unemployment, climate change is exacerbating the situation further and leading to displacement of many of the young people.

  • Achievements at a glance

    UNFPA is increasing working with governments to strengthen the capacity and leadership for a 2020 housing and population census. The strategy had been formulated and ready for execution. To strengthen the capacity of national statistical systems to produce and disseminate high quality, timely and disaggregated census data and deliver socio-demographic intelligence that informs subnational, national, regional and global development agendas.

  • How is your organization assessing progress

    The UNFPA strategy identified key actions and progress will be assessed in relation to these:
    • Prioritize the use of census data for development;
    • Provide technical guidance in census planning, operations, use and dissemination;
    • Advocate for adoption of innovative census technologies and methodologies (relevant to country contexts);
    • Leverage institutional partnerships at all levels;
    • Mobilize resources for census.

  • Challenges faced in implementation

    The main challenges would be in the area of leveraging additional resources and partnerships for the census.

  • Next step to advance implementation in 2017

    The census is among the most complex and massive peacetime exercises a nation undertakes. It requires mapping the entire country, mobilizing and training a large number of enumerators, conducting a massive public campaign, canvassing all households, collecting individual information, compiling vast amounts of data in paper or electronic form, and analyzing and disseminating the data. By definition, a population and housing census is an enumeration of the total population of a country and provides data on numbers of people, their spatial distribution, age and sex structure, their living conditions and other key socioeconomic characteristics. Such data are critical ...

  • Cross cutting issues

    IDPs

  • Specific initiatives

    Risk and Vulnerability Data Platform

  • Other related Agenda for Humanity transformations

    4A - Reinforce, do not replace, national and local systems

3D
Empower and protect women and girls

Individual Commitment

Core Commitment

  • What led your organization to make the commitment?

    UNFPA works in more than 150 countries and territories that are home to the vast majority of the world’s population. Its mission is to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person’s potential is fulfilled. Therefore, UNFPA needs to address the humanitarian, development and peacebuilding nexus. UNFPA needs to transcend this divide and be fit for purpose.

  • Achievements at a glance

    UNFPA reached 11.4 million people with SRH and GBV services in humanitarian settings in 55 countries. UNFPA organized the first technical meeting of the Compact for Young People in Humanitarian Action and led the establishment of a governing structure of the Compact. The Compact is now fully functional, key deliverables have been agreed upon and some resources have been identified. The GBV team within the humanitarian branch commit to provide technical support to field operations and country offices in order to ensure a quality and timely GBV response. Moreover, UNFPA is committed to scale up capacities as well as resources through capacity development initiatives as well as surge deployment. Among the 46 priority countries of UNFPA, almost 50% have experienced recently humanitarian situations (natural or manmade disasters). UNFPA's Supplies Programme support the main Global Commodity Facility for Inter Agency Emergency RH kits in humanitarian settings.

  • How is your organization assessing progress

    In order to report and assess progress, UNFPA monitors its action and have established an accountability for affected population framework. We have a tagging monitoring tool and system in place to track prorgamming progress and achievements and identify gaps. There is an evaluation policy on programmes in place and UNFPA continues to monitor the commitments that the organization makes. UNFPA is signatory to transparency and sharing data publicly. The organizational documents and reports are available on the UNFPA website.

  • Challenges faced in implementation

    The challenges the organization is facing include the potential threat of being cut from contributions based on mandated areas for addressing sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights. Rise in conservatism and potential of the gag rule.

  • Next step to advance implementation in 2017

    UNFPA wants to reach more than 38 million people in 2017 including 5.6 million pregnant women in more than 56 countries. UNFPA is accelerating work to address all the commitments made at the Word Humanitarian Summit and to reach the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals. It is a work in progress.

  • If you had one message for the annual report on what is most needed to advance the transformation 'Empower and protect women and girls', what would it be

    Protection of women and girls are at the center of UNFPA work and mandate; therefore commitments by UNFPA go beyond commitment to transformation. UNFPA works on addressing the needs and changing lives to build long-term resilience . UNFPA is committed to leave no one behind in new Strategic Plan...

  • Cross cutting issues

    Accountability to affected people Gender

  • Specific initiatives

    Commitment to Action: Transcending the humanitarian - development divide The Compact for Young People in Humanitarian Action

  • Other related Agenda for Humanity transformations

    3F - Enable adolescents and young people to be agents of positive transformation

3F
Enable adolescents and young people to be agents of positive transformation

Individual Commitment

  • Achievements at a glance

    In 2016, UNFPA reached 11.4 million people with SRH and GBV services in humanitarian settings in 55 countries. UNFPA is working closely with partners under the platform of the Secretary General Strategy on accelerating implementation of Every Woman, Every Neonatal, Every Child, Every Adolescent Every Where. UNFPA organized the first technical meeting of the Compact for Young People in Humanitarian Action and led the establishment of a government structure of the Compact. The Compact is now fully functional, key deliverables have been agreed upon and some resources have been identified. The GBV team within the humanitarian branch commits to provide technical support to field operations and country offices in order to ensure a quality and timely GBV response. Moreover, UNFPA is committed to scale up capacities as well as resources through capacity development initiatives as well as surge deployment.

  • How is your organization assessing progress

    UNFPA has put in place a reporting system that can assess the progress on the World Humanitarian Summit commitments. UNFPA is implementing a strategic information system that tracks progress of the organization on a quarterly basis.

  • Challenges faced in implementation

    Resources and partnerships need to be strengthened in order to implement. Some commitments are operational in nature and therefore require additional time, effort and capacity.

  • Next step to advance implementation in 2017

    UNFPA is planning to reach 38 million people with Sexual and Reproductive Health Services, with a focus of 5.6 million pregnant women in 56 countries. UNFPA is working on the development of new Strategic Plan ( 2018 -2021) and within the plan UNFPA is mainstreaming humanitarian and resilience throughout the organizational outputs to address leaving no one behind.

  • If you had one message for the annual report on what is most needed to advance the transformation 'Enable adolescents and young people to be agents of positive transformation', what would it be

    The Compact of Young People in humanitarian action is the way forward. So is expanding partnerships and working with all the different stakeholder including the affected population ...

  • Cross cutting issues

    Gender People-centred approach

  • Specific initiatives

    The Compact for Young People in Humanitarian Action

  • Other related Agenda for Humanity transformations

    2D - Take concrete steps to improve compliance and accountability 3D - Empower and protect women and girls

4B
Anticipate, do not wait, for crises

Individual Commitment

Core Commitment

  • What led your organization to make the commitment?

    Commitment to disaster risk reduction was not adequately reflected in the organizational documents.

  • Achievements at a glance

    UNFPA is committed to strengthen disaster risk reduction and to the Sendai Framework. Addressing women and girls through disaster risk reduction will be reflected in the new strategic plan for 2018 -2021.

  • How is your organization assessing progress

    A Strategic Information System is in place and can track progress towards commitments within the organization programmes. New tagging will be introduced in 2018 that will be able to track commitments on the Sendai Framework.

  • Challenges faced in implementation

    Monitoring government commitments on the Sendai Framework and working with government stakeholders to implement disaster risk reduction strategies that can strengthen resilience and early warning and early action.

  • Next step to advance implementation in 2017

    The work in 2017 will be focused on incorporation of disaster risk reduction and the Sendai Framework into UNFPA's new strategic plan (2018-2021). Work will also focus on mainstreaming disaster risk reduction into country level development frameworks and strengthen capacities and building resilience. It is important to analyze the risks that are associated with different hazards.

  • If you had one message for the annual report on what is most needed to advance the transformation 'Anticipate, do not wait, for crises', what would it be

    Identify risks and incorporate risk analysis into UN Development Assistance Frameworks in order to support countries to anticipate and not wait for crises.

  • Cross cutting issues

    Disaster Risk Reduction

  • Specific initiatives

    Risk and Vulnerability Data Platform

4C
Deliver collective outcomes: transcend humanitarian-development divides

Individual Commitment

Core Commitment

  • Achievements at a glance

    UNFPA’s Strategic Plan (SP) 2018-2021 is focused on improved outcomes, mainstreaming humanitarian work throughout the SP in order to achieve resilience through UNFPA programmes. In line with Outcome 4 in UNFPA's Humanitarian Results Framework, which focuses on increased national capacity for resilience building, UNFPA is working to ensure that vulnerable populations are included in decision-making; evidence, collected before the onset of a crisis, informs decision-making; health facilities are rehabilitated; and adequate risk mitigation measures are in place to lessen the impact of a crisis. Regarding point 2, UNFPA supports the continued leadership of OCHA in efforts on the ground to lead assessments and will continues to support this with the provision of technical expertise specifically when it relates to the protection of women and girls and sexual and reproductive health. An examples is the initial rapid assessment conducted in Greece in relation to migrants and the refugee crisis...

  • How is your organization assessing progress

    Progress will be assessed by utilizing the strategic information system and tagging actions so they can respond to outputs and to outcomes. With the new strategic plan, new additional tagging and tracking of the progress will take place on a quarterly basis, semi-annually and annually.

  • Challenges faced in implementation

    Overcoming the cultural divide between humanitarian and development actors takes times and investment in capacity building and bringing the different stakeholders (humanitarian and development actors) together to support identification of risks and joint analysis and strategic articulation of what needs to be in place to transcend the humanitarian and development nexus.

  • Next step to advance implementation in 2017

    UNFPA is engaged with the IASC, UNDG and Peacebuilding bodies to address how agencies can work together better - New Way of Working - and how the 3 pillars can work together better.

  • If you had one message for the annual report on what is most needed to advance the transformation 'Deliver collective outcomes: transcend humanitarian-development divides', what would it be

    It is a common responsibility and it is important that all agencies commit to address this issue. UNFPA is committed to work across humanitarian, development and peacebuilding nexus through application of the New Way of Working.

  • Cross cutting issues

    Disaster Risk Reduction People-centred approach

  • Specific initiatives

    New Way of Working The Peace Promise

  • Other related Agenda for Humanity transformations

    4A - Reinforce, do not replace, national and local systems

5A
Invest in local capacities

Individual Commitment

Core Commitment

  • What led your organization to make the commitment?

    UNFPA was one of the first UN agencies that signed and implemented "The Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness" and "The Accra Agenda for Action"
    1. Ownership: Developing countries set their own strategies for poverty reduction, improve their institutions and tackle corruption.
    2. Alignment: Donor countries align behind these objectives and use local systems.
    3. Harmonisation: Donor countries coordinate, simplify procedures and share information to avoid duplication.
    4. Results: Developing countries and donors shift focus to development results and results get measured.
    5. Mutual accountability: Donors and partners are accountable for development results.
    6. Inclusive Partnerships
    7.Delivering results
    8. Capacity Development

  • Achievements at a glance

    As per the Grand Bargain commitments, UNFPA has accelerated efforts to delivering on the aggregate target of 25 per cent of humanitarian funding to national and local responders as directly as possible. UNFPA efforts in this respect have been well recognized, with the NGO Local to Global Protection (L2GP) highlighting UNFPA as an example of ‘good practice’ in reference to its effective and efficient collaboration with local actors: “UNFPA is faster, flexible, and very active.”

  • How is your organization assessing progress

    UNFPA is one of the UN agencies with a lot of it is programming delivered through national executions and implemented through national partnerships with governments, civil society, national academia, faith based organizations and community level networks.

  • Challenges faced in implementation

    Accountability for resources that work with local partners requires, which means that additional human resources would be needed in order to conduct national execution.

  • Next step to advance implementation in 2017

    UNFPA committed at the World Humanitarian Summit to provide 25 per cent of humanitarian funding to local and national responders by 2020, and is making progress reaching this target.

  • If you had one message for the annual report on what is most needed to advance the transformation 'Invest in local capacities', what would it be

    Investment in local capacities is long term investment and it can not be a one time event. Therefore it is long term and for several years and can not be ad hoc events.

  • Cross cutting issues

    Gender

  • Specific initiatives

    Grand Bargain

  • Other related Agenda for Humanity transformations

    4A - Reinforce, do not replace, national and local systems

5E
Diversify the resource base and increase cost-efficiency

Individual Commitment

Core Commitment

  • What led your organization to make the commitment?

    Estimates indicate that only 0.4 per cent of official development assistance was spent on disaster prevention and preparedness. Funding that focuses on peacebuilding remains scarce, inconsistent and unpredictable and while it can reap the greatest returns, funding for conflict prevention is small. Funding is not equitable and based on need or the greatest areas of risk, with high-profile crises often diverting resources and attention away from protracted and recurrent crises. This continual crisis response mode and “funding flight” toward peaks of crisis is highly detrimental to our collective ability to build disaster resilience and sustainability ...

  • Achievements at a glance

    As per the Grand Bargain commitments, UNFPA has accelerated efforts to delivering on the aggregate target of 25 per cent of humanitarian funding to national and local responders as directly as possible. UNFPA efforts in this respect have been well recognized, with the NGO Local to Global Protection (L2GP) highlighting UNFPA as an example of ‘good practice’ in reference to its effective and efficient collaboration with local actors: “UNFPA is faster, flexible, and very active.” Humanitarian action is central to UNFPA’s work, from emergency preparedness to response, recovery and sustainable development.

  • How is your organization assessing progress

    A monitoring system is put in place by UNFPA to assess progress and to keep an eye on spending that is tagged by action.

  • Challenges faced in implementation

    More capacity building and innovation are needed in order to meet Grand Bargain commitments under the World Humanitarian Summit.

  • Next step to advance implementation in 2017

    UNFPA will increase investment in terms of capacity building and diversified donor base. UNFPA is looking at its 2018-2021 Strategic Plan to make the case for in-country investment and identifying new partnerships with the private sector and strengthen humanitarian action within UNFPA at country, regional and global levels and becoming more cost efficient in conducting humanitarian action. It will maximize on programming cost by utilizing and supporting funding for development and humanitarian to maximize and invest in resilience, preparedness and system strengthening...

  • If you had one message for the annual report on what is most needed to advance the transformation 'Diversify the resource base and increase cost-efficiency', what would it be

    Diversification of resources and increased efficient management will benefit humanitarian action.

  • Specific initiatives

    Grand Bargain

  • Other related Agenda for Humanity transformations

    5A - Invest in local capacities