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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.

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1A
Demonstrate timely, coherent and decisive political leadership

Individual Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Commitment Type
  • Core Responsibility
  • Ireland commits to contributing in a strategic manner to the promotion of international peace, security and reconciliation by sharing lessons learned, as appropriate, from the experience of conflict, conflict resolution and reconciliation on Ireland.
  • Policy
  • Political Leadership to Prevent and End Conflicts

  • What led your organization to make the commitment?

    Ireland’s commitment to contribute to international peace and security is a key commitment of our foreign policy. Ireland's development cooperation policy also contains a commitment to intensify a focus on ‘fragile states’ as one of seven priority areas for action for the Irish Aid programme.

  • Achievements at a glance

    • Ireland sustained allocations to its Stability Fund financing instrument (EUR 4.9 million both in 2015 and 2016), designed to fund activities such as mediation, conflict prevention and resolution, international peacebuilding, disarmament and non-proliferation, prevention of torture. The contribution further support's Ireland’s contribution to the implementation of UNSC Resolution 1325 on Women Peace and Security. Ireland intends to maintain this level of support in 2017.
    • Ireland continues to facilitate international exchange at official and civil society level to share lessons learned from the Northern Ireland peace process (since WHS, with delegations from Turkey, Ukraine, Israel and Palestine). We have also shared expertise with those engaged in the Colombian peace process.
    • Ireland has supported the work of the Dialogue Advisory Group using lessons learned from the Northern Ireland Peace Process to guide mediation in 4 different countries, with a particular focus to ensure sustainable peace through the greater involvement of women in peace-making.

  • How is your organization assessing progress

    The process of collating input for our first PACT report has provided us with a baseline against which to measure progress in future years. Cross Government implementation of our WHS commitments is led by Irish Aid and focuses on Ireland’s priorities of accountability, gender and protection, protracted and forgotten crises, resilience and appropriate funding approaches.

  • Next step to advance implementation in 2017

    • Ireland will double its annual contribution to the UN Peacebuilding Fund in 2017 and maintain this level of support until at least 2019 (EUR 500,000 in 2016 to EUR 1 million annually for 2017-19).
    • Ireland will also continue implementation of the initiatives highlighted and coherent foreign and development policy approaches and instruments that include diplomacy; conflict prevention programmes; humanitarian and development assistance; peacekeeping, conflict resolution, mediation and peace-building initiatives; long term development planning, which includes a particular focus on good governance and state-building; and sharing lessons learned from our own national experience of conflict.

  • Other related Agenda for Humanity transformations

    ☑5C - Invest in stability

1B
Act early

Core Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Core Responsibility
  • Commit to act early upon potential conflict situations based on early warning findings and shared conflict analysis, in accordance with international law.
  • Political Leadership to Prevent and End Conflicts
  • Commit to make successful conflict prevention visible by capturing, consolidating and sharing good practices and lessons learnt.
  • Political Leadership to Prevent and End Conflicts

1C
Remain engaged and invest in stability

Individual Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Commitment Type
  • Core Responsibility
  • Ireland commits to deepening its focus on forgotten crises, fragile states and targeting investment in state-building and peacebuilding priorities. Applying the New Deal principles for engaging at national level, it will work towards strengthening and using national systems and local institutions for conflict prevention, state-building and economic empowerment.
  • Operational
  • Political Leadership to Prevent and End Conflicts

  • Ireland commits to ensuring that its support to conflict-affected countries through both bilateral and multilateral channels - addresses the root causes of conflict and that a more joined up approach to humanitarian and development funding will support conflict prevention and the development of inclusive, peaceful societies.


  • Financial
  • Political Leadership to Prevent and End Conflicts Invest in Humanity

Core Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Core Responsibility
  • Commit to improve prevention and peaceful resolution capacities at the national, regional and international level improving the ability to work on multiple crises simultaneously.
  • Political Leadership to Prevent and End Conflicts
  • Commit to sustain political leadership and engagement through all stages of a crisis to prevent the emergence or relapse into conflict.
  • Political Leadership to Prevent and End Conflicts
  • Commit to address root causes of conflict and work to reduce fragility by investing in the development of inclusive, peaceful societies.
  • Political Leadership to Prevent and End Conflicts

  • What led your organization to make the commitment?

    Ireland is committed to implementing a coherent, “whole-of-government” approach to conflict and fragility. This includes a cross-Foreign Ministry Conflict and Fragility Team, which brings together stakeholders including programme teams and policy makers in the field of humanitarian engagement, development and conflict resolution with a view to supporting resilience-building and stability in the countries where we work through context specific, targeted long-term engagement. Ireland committed in 2011 to support the Peacebuilding and Statebuilding Goals of the New Deal and continues to recognize that the New Deal remains the unifying framework for engagement in fragile states.

  • Achievements at a glance

    • Ireland’s Palestine Strategy (2015-2018) provides a coherent and strategic multi-annual approach, combining political, development and humanitarian work. A cross-Department of Foreign Affairs Working Group was established in 2016 to support implementation of the Strategy, ensuring a coordinated approach to engagement with Palestine.
    • Ireland’s 2016/17 country strategy for Sierra Leone and Liberia aligns with New Deal principles, supporting country owned and country-led processes towards peacebuilding, preventing conflict and progress on pathways out of fragility including supporting electoral cycle processes.
    • Ireland’s country strategy for Uganda (2016-20) links development and humanitarian approaches to support vulnerable individuals and households to prepare for, withstand and recover from acute shocks and stresses.
    • A concurrent application and appraisal process for development and humanitarian funding mechanisms has been introduced for Ireland's NGO partners from 2017, with a view to increasing coherence between relief, recovery and development interventions in protracted crisis situations (many due to conflict) - all context-appropriate.

  • How is your organization assessing progress

    The process of collating input for our first PACT report has provided us with a baseline against which to measure progress in future years. Cross-Government implementation of our WHS commitments is led by Irish Aid and focuses on Ireland’s priorities of accountability, gender and protection, protracted and forgotten crises, resilience and appropriate funding approaches.

  • Challenges faced in implementation

    The need to support country-led processes, promoting sustained national ownership and country owned plans.

  • Next step to advance implementation in 2017

    • Humanitarian and development teams will carry out joint monitoring of NGO partners in receipt of both humanitarian and development funding.
    • A policy document outlining Ireland’s approach to conflict and fragility will also be finalized.
    • Irish Aid aims to build consensus around strategic priorities for implementing SDG 16, particularly the entry points for work in fragile and conflict affected countries.
    • Ireland will use engagement with multilateral partners to ensure more responsive and joined up approaches to humanitarian and development planning and funding as well as to highlight the importance of SDGs mainstreaming.
    • Ireland is closely following discussions on the New Way of Working.

  • Other related Agenda for Humanity transformations

    ☑4C - Deliver collective outcomes: transcend humanitarian-development divides

1D
Develop solutions with and for people

Individual Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Commitment Type
  • Core Responsibility

  • In recognition of the essential role that women play in building sustainable peace, Ireland commits to promoting the empowerment, participation and representation of women in decision making, both internationally and domestically, through our National Action Plan on Women Peace and Security.


  • Advocacy
  • Political Leadership to Prevent and End Conflicts Leave No One Behind

  • Ireland commits to promote the empowered participation of women in strengthening national governance processes and systems, in particular in situations of fragility and protracted crises.


  • Advocacy
  • Political Leadership to Prevent and End Conflicts Leave No One Behind

  • What led your organization to make the commitment?

    The government of Ireland prioritises the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda in its agenda for government. Ireland is in the process of implementing a 2nd National Action Plan (NAP) on WPS (launched in 2015), which has four pillars (prevention, participation, protection and promotion) and emphasizes women’s empowerment and participation in decision-making. The 2nd NAP is notable in including a substantial number of commitments to domestic implementation.

  • Achievements at a glance

    Ireland finances and supports initiatives promoting women’s participation and empowerment in fragile and conflict-affected states, including supporting the Global Acceleration Instrument and the Gender Partnership Programme of the IPU, and partners such as the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, International Alert, Conciliation Resources, Crisis Management Initiative, ICG.
    In 2016, Ireland hosted the first ever meeting between gender advisors of regional peacekeeping organisations (attended by EU, UN, NATO) to share best practice on implementation of the WPS agenda.
    Ireland continues to promote the empowerment and participation of women in decision-making through interventions in international fora, e.g. Ireland’s national statement at the Security Council Open Debate on WPS in October 2016, and Ireland’s national statement at UNGA in September 2016.
    Ireland continues to engage with mechanisms and events promoting WPS, e.g. the National Focal Point Network on WPS, the EU Informal Taskforce on UNSCR 1325.
    Ireland continues to provide core support to UNWomen.

  • How is your organization assessing progress

    The process of collating input for our first PACT report has provided us with a baseline against which to measure progress in future years. Cross Government implementation of our WHS commitments is led by Irish Aid and focuses on Ireland’s priorities of accountability, gender and protection, protracted and forgotten crises, resilience and appropriate funding approaches.

  • Challenges faced in implementation

    It remains challenging to frame progress reporting under the National Action Plan in a way which fully captures the breadth of actions being taken by statutory bodies in furtherance of the WPS commitments. There is also a need for ongoing learning and improvement around strategies to promote awareness of the 2nd National Action Plan commitments among broader stakeholder networks in Ireland.

  • Next step to advance implementation in 2017

    • An independent Midterm Review of NAP progress will provide recommendations for implementation. A separate Analysis of Indicators Report will provide the basis for the improved effectiveness and adequacy of indicators.
    • Irish Aid's conflict and fragility approach will mainstream the WPS approach.
    • A second meeting of gender advisors to regional peacekeeping organisations is planned.
    • Ireland will host a Workshop of the Informal EU Task Force on UNSCR 1325 and sit on a specially created Informal Working Group for revision of the Comprehensive Approach to EU Implementation of UNSCRs 1325 and 1820.
    • Financial support to strategic partners and advocacy efforts will continue.

2A
Respect and protect civilians and civilian objects in the conduct of hostilities

Individual Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Commitment Type
  • Core Responsibility
  • Ireland will continue active engagement to ensure compliance with international humanitarian law regarding the use of explosive weapons with wide area effects in populated areas. This will include raising awareness of the secondary and tertiary effects of the use of these weapons, as well as the question of gender impacts.
  • Advocacy
  • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity

  • What led your organization to make the commitment?

    To build on our ongoing commitment to adherence to international humanitarian law and to progressing disarmament.

  • Achievements at a glance

    • Ireland has engaged closely with like-minded States and Civil Society to draw attention to civilian harm caused by use of explosive weapons in populated areas (EWIPA), with a view to the development of a Political Declaration on this matter.
    • Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Charles Flanagan, has made a number of high-level interventions on EWIPA, including in his speech to UNGA in September 2016 and at the First Committee in October. The matter was also addressed at the Convention on Conventional Weapons Review conference in December 2016.
    • Ireland has supported Handicap International on an inclusive research project on victim assistance provisions in any future EWIPA Declaration. The findings from this project were presented at a well-attended side event hosted by Ireland at the Convention on Cluster Munitions annual meeting in September 2016.

  • How is your organization assessing progress

    The process of collating input for our first PACT report has provided us with a baseline against which to measure progress in future years. Cross Government implementation of our WHS commitments is led by Irish Aid and focuses on Ireland’s priorities of accountability, gender and protection, protracted and forgotten crises, resilience and appropriate funding approaches.

  • Next step to advance implementation in 2017

    • Funding is being provided to Article 36, the civil society coordinator on EWIPA, to assist with core costs of hosting a meeting of military experts in April 2017.
    • Discussions are currently ongoing with Handicap International to develop a research project on possible gendered impacts of EWIPA.

  • Cross cutting issues

    ☑Disability

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

Individual Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Commitment Type
  • Core Responsibility
  • Ireland commits to prioritising protection in all of the humanitarian programming that it supports.
  • Operational
  • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity

Core Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Core Responsibility
  • Commit to ensure all populations in need receive rapid and unimpeded humanitarian assistance.
  • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity
  • Commit to promote and enhance efforts to respect and protect medical personnel, transports and facilities, as well as humanitarian relief personnel and assets against attacks, threats or other violent acts.
  • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity

  • What led your organization to make the commitment?

    Ireland’s aim to foster an ongoing commitment to protection particularly in the context of today’s many complex conflicts where adherence to the international humanitarian principles are at risk.

  • Achievements at a glance

    • For the first time in 2016, Ireland provided funding to UN OCHA’s Protection Capacity Standby Project initiative to support the deployment of protection specialists to the field to ensure protection is a key element of the coordinated humanitarian response. This compliments Ireland's continued and increased support to OCHA’s Gender Standby Capacity Project (GenCap) initiative for the deployment gender experts to emergencies.
    • In 2016, Ireland increased its funding to UNICEF under the 'No Lost Generation' (NLG) initiative, which focuses on Education and Protection for Syrian children and youth affected by the Syria crisis.
    • In the new multi-annual funding approach, Irish Aid’s NGO partners are requested to set out in detail how their programmes will comprehensively address gender and protection issues in protracted humanitarian settings when applying for humanitarian funding.

  • How is your organization assessing progress

    The process of collating input for our first PACT report has provided us with a baseline against which to measure progress in future years. Cross Government implementation of our WHS commitments is led by Irish Aid and focuses on Ireland’s priorities of accountability, gender and protection, protracted and forgotten crises, resilience and appropriate funding approaches.

  • Next step to advance implementation in 2017

    • Protection will be a focus of a number of monitoring trips in 2017 in order to create better evidence on what is being achieved by our partners.
    • Through our good practice portfolio funding, grants provided to five research partners will assist them in strengthening and advancing gender and protection in humanitarian action in order to inform Irish Aid and others’ best practice. For example, our funding to ALNAP will help them promulgate a guide for the evaluation of protection activities in humanitarian responses.

  • Cross cutting issues

    ☑Gender

  • Other related Agenda for Humanity transformations

    ☑3D - Empower and protect women and girls

2C
Speak out on violations

Core Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Core Responsibility
  • Commit to speak out and systematically condemn serious violations of international humanitarian law and serious violations and abuses of international human rights law and to take concrete steps to ensure accountability of perpetrators when these acts amount to crimes under international law.
  • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity

  • What led your organization to make the commitment?

    This commitment is in line with Ireland’s position as an active member of the Accountability, Coherence and Transparency (ACT) group, and as a supporter of the ACT Security Council Code of Conduct and the France/Mexico initiative calling on permanent members of the UN Security Council to voluntarily forgo the use of their veto in cases of mass atrocity. Inclusion of this commitment in Ireland’s WHS commitments is an opportunity to reiterate our support for this objective and to raise the profile and momentum of the initiative. This information also relates to commitment 1.3. (see also 2D).

  • Achievements at a glance

    • Ireland regularly raises the issue of impunity for conflict-related sexual violence, including exploitation and abuse by peacekeepers, internationally including at the UN.
    • Ireland is a member of the ACT group, which launched a ‘Code of Conduct regarding Security Council action against genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes’ in 2015, and has spoken on behalf of ACT in UN fora.
    • Ireland has called for an end to impunity for conflict-related sexual violence, e.g. in South Sudan and Burundi, and for the elimination of instances of sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) by peacekeepers, during Security Council open debates, and has called for policies for accountability at national and UN level.
    • Ireland has participated in specific calls on the UN Security Council to act appropriately to prevent mass atrocities including in Syria, including co-sponsoring a draft Resolution on the use of chemical weapons in February 2017 which was ultimately not adopted.

  • How is your organization assessing progress

    The process of collating input for our first PACT report has provided us with a baseline against which to measure progress in future years. Cross Government implementation of our WHS commitments is led by Irish Aid and focuses on Ireland’s priorities of accountability, gender and protection, protracted and forgotten crises, resilience and appropriate funding approaches.

  • Challenges faced in implementation

    Ireland is strongly supportive of Security Council reform and believes that the Council needs to become more representative, more transparent and more efficient. We have been frustrated with many of the blockages on the Council which have had very negative consequences for the resolution of conflicts in various parts of the world.

  • Next step to advance implementation in 2017

    Continuing to seek out opportunities to advocate for timely and decisive UN action against crimes of mass atrocity including through contributions to Security Council open debates.

  • Other related Agenda for Humanity transformations

    ☑2D - Take concrete steps to improve compliance and accountability

2D
Take concrete steps to improve compliance and accountability

Individual Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Commitment Type
  • Core Responsibility
  • Ireland commits to address the issue of impunity for conflict-related sexual violence in national and international legal systems.
  • Operational
  • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity
  • Ireland commits to promote systematic learning and capacity development of Irish humanitarian actors through continued active engagement in, support for and promotion of both the Irish Consortium on Gender Based Violence and the Call to Action, and building excellence in training and research in gender based violence to contribute to a coordinated global response.
  • Capacity
  • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity
  • Ireland commits to using its active membership position within the United Nations to advocate for timely and decisive UN action against crimes of mass atrocity. This involves working in partnership with likeminded states to call on all members of the Security Council, but in particular the P5, to refrain from voting against credible draft resolutions on action to end the commission of genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes, including conflict-related sexual violence.
  • Policy
  • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity
  • Ireland will ensure that Irish personnel deployed on overseas peacekeeping missions operate to the highest standards in accordance with international humanitarian and human rights law, and will ensure that they are accountable in relation to any failure which would amount to a crime under international law. Irish personnel deployed on overseas peacekeeping missions will seek to ensure the security and protection of civilians in accordance with their mission mandates and rules of engagement.
  • Operational
  • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity

Core Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Core Responsibility
  • Commit to promote and enhance respect for international humanitarian law, international human rights law, and refugee law, where applicable.
  • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity
  • Commit to speak out and systematically condemn serious violations of international humanitarian law and serious violations and abuses of international human rights law and to take concrete steps to ensure accountability of perpetrators when these acts amount to crimes under international law.
  • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity
  • Implement a coordinated global approach to prevent and respond to gender-based violence in crisis contexts, including through the Call to Action on Protection from Gender-based Violence in Emergencies.
  • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity
  • Fully comply with humanitarian policies, frameworks and legally binding documents related to gender equality, women's empowerment, and women's rights.
  • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity Leave No One Behind

  • What led your organization to make the commitment?

    To build on and sustain important work already started in this area and to ensure on-going, effective engagement with the Irish Consortium on GBV.

  • Achievements at a glance

    • Irish Aid provides funding to the Irish Consortium on Gender Based Violence (ICGBV), supporting learning and capacity building of Irish humanitarian workers, and engages at strategic and operational levels.
    • In 2017, Ireland entered into a two-year partnership with the International Rescue Committee (IRC) focusing on prevention of and response to GBV in emergencies and capturing learning from field level to inform international policy and advocacy efforts.
    • Ireland supports training and deployment of the Justice Rapid Response roster of SGBV experts deployed to gather evidence on alleged SGBV cases in conflict situations for use in national and international legal prosecutions, and provide capacity building support to national systems handling cases of SGBV in situations of conflict.
    • Irish Defence Forces personnel receive pre-deployment training, SOIT, Sexual Assault Kits, and human trafficking training to ensure that the victim receives the required support whilst an unbiased investigation is carried out.
    • See also reporting under 2C

  • How is your organization assessing progress

    The process of collating input for our first PACT report has provided us with a baseline against which to measure progress in future years. Cross Government implementation of our WHS commitments is led by Irish Aid and focuses on Ireland’s priorities of accountability, gender and protection, protracted and forgotten crises, resilience and appropriate funding approaches.

  • Next step to advance implementation in 2017

    • Irish Aid will continue to support capacity building of Irish humanitarian actors through the ICGBV, including through joint learning sessions, for example with the IRC (February 2017).
    • Funding provided under Irish Aid’s Good Practice Portfolio to University College Dublin’s Centre for Humanitarian Action will support the establishment of an International Summer School on GBV in 2017, aiming to promote and build capacity of international humanitarian actors on GBV prevention and response.
    • Ireland will maintain support to the JRR SGBV roster, maintain advocacy on the issue of impunity
    • Continue to ensure that quality training is provided to Irish Defence Forces deployees.

  • Cross cutting issues

    ☑Gender

  • Other related Agenda for Humanity transformations

    ☑3D - Empower and protect women and girls

2E
Uphold the rules: a global campaign to affirm the norms that safeguard humanity

Joint Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Commitment Type
  • Core Responsibility
  • Ireland commits to support and actively engage in the process set by the 31st International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent and extended by the 32nd Conference, and facilitated by the ICRC and Switzerland, to improve compliance with international humanitarian law by establishing a forum for regular meetings of States on IHL.
  • Partnership
  • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity
Partners: ICRC, Switzerland

Individual Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Commitment Type
  • Core Responsibility
  • Ireland commits to promote enhanced awareness and understanding of nuclear disarmament as an interconnected issue, which impacts on a range of policy commitments and objectives, and to work towards the integration of nuclear disarmament as a global governance issue.
  • Advocacy
  • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity

Core Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Core Responsibility
  • Commit to promote and enhance respect for international humanitarian law, international human rights law, and refugee law, where applicable.
  • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity

  • Achievements at a glance

    • Ireland commissioned a research paper on Nuclear Disarmament – the missing link in multilateralism focusing on nuclear weapons as a global governance issue with cross-cutting affects from climate change to public health to cybersecurity. This was presented as a working paper to the 2016 Open Ended Working Group on Nuclear Disarmament. A revised and extended version of the paper was launched at UNGA in New York in October 2016.
    • Ireland has commissioned research on Nuclear War & Cultural Heritage; and separately on Gender, Development and Nuclear Weapons which discusses the relationship between nuclear weapons and gender, framed in terms of impact, discourse and representation. This research was launched at a side event at First Committee at the UN General Assembly in October 2016.
    • Ireland continues to engage actively in the ongoing follow-up in Geneva to resolution 2 of the 32nd International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent.

  • How is your organization assessing progress

    The process of collating input for our first PACT report has provided us with a baseline against which to measure progress in future years. Cross Government implementation of our WHS commitments is led by Irish Aid and focuses on Ireland’s priorities of accountability, gender and protection, protracted and forgotten crises, resilience and appropriate funding approaches.

  • Challenges faced in implementation

    Challenges in terms of establishing an international mechanism on compliance with IHL.

  • Next step to advance implementation in 2017

    • A UN-mandated Diplomatic Conference to negotiate a treaty to prohibit Nuclear Weapons leading to their total elimination in NY in March came about as a result of a UN Resolution brought forward by Ireland with a core group of MS. It is our view that the negotiations will provide a solid basis for progress on nuclear disarmament.
    • Research on Nuclear War & Cultural Heritage and Gender, Development and Nuclear Weapons will be launched at a side event in Vienna at the first PrepCom for the 2020 Review Conference of the Parties to the NPT.

3A
Reduce and address displacement

Individual Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Commitment Type
  • Core Responsibility
  • Ireland acknowledges the vital role played by countries which host displaced people, in providing a place of safety in times of conflict and upheaval. Ireland commits to targeting support to host countries and communities, including assistance which enhances services and opportunities for both refugees and host communities. It will take account of the longer-term investments needed in such contexts.
  • Financial
  • Leave No One Behind

  • Ireland commits to ensuring that its humanitarian support reaches both internally displaced people and refugees, conscious that of the more than sixty million people displaced worldwide, the large majority are displaced within their own countries, and are in need of support to rebuild their lives. It will provide humanitarian funding on the basis of need rather than status, and will advocate with its partners to ensure that they do so also.


  • Operational
  • Leave No One Behind

  • Ireland commits to providing support for greater educational and livelihood opportunities for displaced people, particularly those affected by the Syria crisis, as a contribution to their dignity and self-reliance, and to enable displaced people to make their valuable contributions to the societies in which they live.


  • Advocacy
  • Leave No One Behind

Core Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Core Responsibility
  • Commit to a new approach to addressing forced displacement that not only meets immediate humanitarian needs but reduces vulnerability and improves the resilience, self-reliance and protection of refugees and IDPs. Commit to implementing this new approach through coherent international, regional and national efforts that recognize both the humanitarian and development challenges of displacement. Commit to take the necessary political, policy, legal and financial steps required to address these challenges for the specific context.
  • Leave No One Behind
  • Commit to promote and support safe, dignified and durable solutions for internally displaced persons and refugees. Commit to do so in a coherent and measurable manner through international, regional and national programs and by taking the necessary policy, legal and financial steps required for the specific contexts and in order to work towards a target of 50 percent reduction in internal displacement by 2030.
  • Leave No One Behind
  • Acknowledge the global public good provided by countries and communities which are hosting large numbers of refugees. Commit to providing communities with large numbers of displaced population or receiving large numbers of returnees with the necessary political, policy and financial, support to address the humanitarian and socio-economic impact. To this end, commit to strengthen multilateral financing instruments. Commit to foster host communities' self-reliance and resilience, as part of the comprehensive and integrated approach outlined in core commitment 1.
  • Leave No One Behind
  • Commit to collectively work towards a Global Compact on responsibility-sharing for refugees to safeguard the rights of refugees, while also effectively and predictably supporting States affected by such movements.
  • Leave No One Behind
  • Commit to actively work to uphold the institution of asylum and the principle of non-refoulement. Commit to support further accession to and strengthened implementation of national, regional and international laws and policy frameworks that ensure and improve the protection of refugees and IDPs, such as the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol or the AU Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa (Kampala convention) or the Guiding Principles on internal displacement.
  • Leave No One Behind

  • What led your organization to make the commitment?

    Ireland wishes to foster a stronger focus on the issue of displacement, while also recognising the burden carried by refugee hosting countries.

  • Achievements at a glance

    • Ireland increased support to the No Lost Generation initiative, which puts education and child protection at the heart of the Syria refugee response (EUR 1 million in 2015 to EUR 2.428 million in 2016).
    • Irish Aid’s NGO partners supported a range of education initiatives for refugee populations in response to crises.
    • Ireland’s 2nd National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security requires Ireland to adopt a WPS-sensitive approach domestically, including migrant women, refugees and asylum seekers.
    • Irish Aid‘s Country Categorisation of Needs tool prioritizes crises according to vulnerability and needs. This informs funding decisions and guides NGO partners’ applications.
    • Ireland contributes to the EU's Emergency Trust Fund for stability, as well as to the EU's Refugee facility for Turkey, which specifically addresses the educational needs of Syrian refugee children.
    • With support from Ireland, UNICEF, WFP, and the RRM Consortium provided critical emergency assistance to displaced people fleeing military operations in Iraq.

  • How is your organization assessing progress

    The process of collating input for our first PACT report has provided us with a baseline against which to measure progress in future years. Cross Government implementation of our WHS commitments is led by Irish Aid and focuses on Ireland’s priorities of accountability, gender and protection, protracted and forgotten crises, resilience and appropriate funding approaches.

  • Challenges faced in implementation

    The process of elaboration of the new compacts on refugees and on migrants will hopefully clarify some definitional issues, particularly around different categories of migrants and the protections afforded to them. In an evolving space, the roles and responsibilities of some UN actors with regard to, variously, refugees and other displaced persons, needs to be further clarified.

  • Next step to advance implementation in 2017

    • Ireland, as a member of the Steering Committee for the Turkey Refugee Facility, will continue to monitor its implementation and to ensure that the Facility is used in a way which respects the human rights of all concerned.
    • Ireland entered into a fourth multi-annual agreement with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in 2016, pledging EUR 4 million per annum to the Programme Budget over 2016-2018, which allows UNRWA greater predictability and flexibility for improved delivery of basic services to some 5 million registered Palestine refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

  • If you had one message for the annual report on what is most needed to advance the transformation 'Reduce and address displacement', what would it be

    We need to better understand and analyse the statistics on displacement.

  • Cross cutting issues

    ☑Gender ☑ IDPs ☑ Refugees

  • Other related Agenda for Humanity transformations

    ☑3B - Address the vulnerabilities of migrants and provide more regular and lawful opportunities for migration ☑ 3E - Eliminate gaps in education for children, adolescents and young people

3D
Empower and protect women and girls

Individual Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Commitment Type
  • Core Responsibility

  • In recognition of the essential role that women play in building sustainable peace, Ireland commits to promoting the empowerment, participation and representation of women in decision making, both internationally and domestically, through our National Action Plan on Women Peace and Security.


  • Advocacy
  • Political Leadership to Prevent and End Conflicts Leave No One Behind
  • Ireland commits to allocating its humanitarian funding strategically so as to increase the attention paid by implementing partners to the different needs and capacities of women and men, and boys and girls, in humanitarian crises. It will work with other donors for a more coordinated approach on gender issues and women's participation in humanitarian action.
  • Financial
  • Leave No One Behind
  • Ireland commits to ensuring issues of maternal and infant mortality, and the promotion of universal access to reproductive healthcare, including ante-natal care and family planning services are included in our humanitarian response. This will include promoting the full integration of UNFPA's Minimum Initial Service Package as part of our healthcare related humanitarian responses and to include this in all related humanitarian funding appraisals.
  • Operational
  • Leave No One Behind

  • Ireland commits to promote the empowered participation of women in strengthening national governance processes and systems, in particular in situations of fragility and protracted crises.


  • Advocacy
  • Political Leadership to Prevent and End Conflicts Leave No One Behind
  • Ireland commits to working with its partners to increase support to local women's groups in order for them to participate meaningfully in humanitarian action.
  • Operational
  • Leave No One Behind

  • Ireland will ensure that gender equality and women's empowerment are fully integrated into Ireland's humanitarian programme through application of internationally recognised standards and best practice. Ireland will progressively increase the proportion of Ireland's humanitarian funding directed towards gender responsive programming.


  • Operational
  • Leave No One Behind

  • Ireland will ensure that its prepositioned stockpiles of emergency relief supplies are gender sensitive and protection enhancing, and will continue to maintain a rapid response roster of gender/protection specialists as stand-by surge capacity for UN partners.


  • Operational
  • Leave No One Behind Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need

Core Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Core Responsibility
  • Empower Women and Girls as change agents and leaders, including by increasing support for local women's groups to participate meaningfully in humanitarian action.
  • Leave No One Behind
  • Ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights as agreed in accordance with the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and the Beijing Platform for Action and the Outcome documents of their review conferences for all women and adolescent girls in crisis settings.
  • Leave No One Behind
  • Ensure that humanitarian programming is gender responsive.
  • Leave No One Behind
  • Fully comply with humanitarian policies, frameworks and legally binding documents related to gender equality, women's empowerment, and women's rights.
  • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity Leave No One Behind

  • What led your organization to make the commitment?

    To ensure an ongoing and strengthened commitment to the issue of gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls in line with Ireland’s longstanding commitment to this area.

  • Achievements at a glance

    • Ireland provides core funding to UNFPA, UN Women and UNAIDS
    • Irish Aid prioritises the protection of women and girls in its appraisal of proposals from NGO partners, which impacts resource allocation decisions, and will continue to urge and support partners to strengthen gender and protection capacities and focus.
    • Since 2016, Ireland’s stockpiles of emergency relief items are gender-sensitive and protection enhancing. Family hygiene & dignity kits include sanitary items, reusable menstrual pads and solar lamps, addressing GBV risks.
    • Ireland’s Rapid Response Corp, a roster of specialised personnel who deploy as surge capacity into emergency situations, includes specialised gender and protection expertise. In 2016, six members were deployed in gender and protection roles with UN partners.
    • In Malawi, Ireland’s Embassy and NGO partners participated in a campaign for 16 Days of Activism against GBV, focusing on the local humanitarian response.
    • A number of related achievements are listed under 1D

  • How is your organization assessing progress

    The process of collating input for our first PACT report has provided us with a baseline against which to measure progress in future years. Cross Government implementation of our WHS commitments is led by Irish Aid and focuses on Ireland’s priorities of accountability, gender and protection, protracted and forgotten crises, resilience and appropriate funding approaches.

  • Challenges faced in implementation

    • The availability of specialised gender and protection Rapid Responders to deploy can be a challenge.
    • UN organisations and agencies – with which Ireland has stand-by partnerships for the provision of surge capacity - often do not seek/request gender experts as part of their response operations.

  • Next step to advance implementation in 2017

    • Continue to procure gender sensitive and protection enhancing relief items for Ireland’s stockpiles.
    • During next recruitment round to the Rapid Response Corps roster, continue to have a focus on the recruitment of gender and protection experts.
    • Continue to deploy gender and protection experts as surge capacity to UN stand-by partners on a needs basis.
    • Continue to support members of the RRC roster to up-skill and build capacity on gender and protection in emergencies.
    • Continue to advocate with UN partners to which we deploy surge capacity of the importance of integrated gender and protection responses and to seek surge capacity.

  • 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

    Addressing gender inequality and focusing on the advancement of women and girls has to be at the centre of all that we do.

  • Cross cutting issues

    ☑Gender

3E
Eliminate gaps in education for children, adolescents and young people

Individual Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Commitment Type
  • Core Responsibility

  • Ireland commits to providing support for greater educational and livelihood opportunities for displaced people, particularly those affected by the Syria crisis, as a contribution to their dignity and self-reliance, and to enable displaced people to make their valuable contributions to the societies in which they live.


  • Advocacy
  • Leave No One Behind

  • Achievements at a glance

    • Ireland increased support to the No Lost Generation initiative, which puts education and child protection at the heart of the Syria refugee response (EUR 1 million in 2015 to EUR 2.428 million in 2016).
    • Irish Aid’s NGO partners supported a range of education initiatives for refugee populations in response to crises.
    • Ireland commenced support for the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework in Uganda – which integrates refugee livelihoods and education and sees host communities benefiting from improved services (EUR 3,314,000 in 2016).
    • Ireland’s 2nd National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security requires Ireland to adopt a WPS-sensitive approach domestically, including migrant women, refugees and asylum seekers.
    • Irish Aid uses a Country Categorisation of Needs tool to prioritise crises according to vulnerability and needs. This informs decisions related to funding and the deployment of Rapid Response and is shared with NGO partners to guide their applications for funding.

  • How is your organization assessing progress

    •The process of collating input for our first PACT report has provided us with a baseline against which to measure progress in future years. Cross Government implementation of our WHS commitments is led by Irish Aid and focuses on Ireland’s priorities of accountability, gender and protection, protracted and forgotten crises, resilience and appropriate funding approaches.

  • Challenges faced in implementation

    To get the balance right between our commitment to unearmarked core support to our partners and ensuring sufficient support to this targeted area of supporting livelihoods and educational opportunities for displaced people.

  • Next step to advance implementation in 2017

    Ireland entered into a fourth multi-annual agreement with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in 2016, pledging EUR 4 million per annum to the Programme Budget over 2016-2018, which allows UNRWA greater predictability and flexibility for improved delivery of basic services to some 5 million registered Palestine refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

  • Cross cutting issues

    ☑IDPs ☑ Refugees

  • Other related Agenda for Humanity transformations

    ☑3A - Reduce and address displacement

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

Individual Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Commitment Type
  • Core Responsibility
  • Ireland will seek to support and build flexible and responsive national systems, such as health systems and social protection systems, that can strengthen targeting and entitlement for citizens based on need and can be scaled up or adjusted in times of greater need. It will continue to advocate with its partners for the increased use of cash programming in humanitarian crises where it is appropriate, and to invest in national registration systems.
  • Operational
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need

Core Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Core Responsibility
  • Commit to a new way of working that meets people's immediate humanitarian needs, while at the same time reducing risk and vulnerability over multiple years through the achievement of collective outcomes. To achieve this, commit to the following: a) Anticipate, Do Not Wait: to invest in risk analysis and to incentivize early action in order to minimize the impact and frequency of known risks and hazards on people. b) Reinforce, Do Not Replace: to support and invest in local, national and regional leadership, capacity strengthening and response systems, avoiding duplicative international mechanisms wherever possible. c) Preserve and retain emergency capacity: to deliver predictable and flexible urgent and life-saving assistance and protection in accordance with humanitarian principles. d) Transcend Humanitarian-Development Divides: work together, toward collective outcomes that ensure humanitarian needs are met, while at the same time reducing risk and vulnerability over multiple years and based on the comparative advantage of a diverse range of actors. The primacy of humanitarian principles will continue to underpin humanitarian action.
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
  • Commit to reinforce national and local leadership and capacities in managing disaster and climate-related risks through strengthened preparedness and predictable response and recovery arrangements.
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
  • Commit to increase investment in building community resilience as a critical first line of response, with the full and effective participation of women.
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
  • Commit to ensure regional and global humanitarian assistance for natural disasters complements national and local efforts.
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
  • Commit to increase substantially and diversify global support and share of resources for humanitarian assistance aimed to address the differentiated needs of populations affected by humanitarian crises in fragile situations and complex emergencies, including increasing cash-based programming in situations where relevant.
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need Invest in Humanity
  • Commit to empower national and local humanitarian action by increasing the share of financing accessible to local and national humanitarian actors and supporting the enhancement of their national delivery systems, capacities and preparedness planning.
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need Invest in Humanity

  • What led your organization to make the commitment?

    Ireland has had a long term commitment to working through national systems and supporting our partner Governments in countries where we work. That said, there is a still a need for considerable advancement in ensuring that national social protection systems can be scaled up at time of crisis to ensure that those in most need have access to resources. It is an area that Ireland still needs to develop its understanding on.

  • Achievements at a glance

    • Our new Uganda Country Strategy Paper supported the adoption of a new Social Protection Policy in Uganda, which integrates humanitarian responses, and is supportive of the WFP cash transfer initiative for South Sudanese refugees.
    • In Malawi, through the INGO consortium, Ireland provided cash based programming for the humanitarian response.
    • In Zambia, we worked in a pooled funding mechanism with government and other donors to support social protection. Emergency social cash transfer for El Nino affected districts was piloted.
    • Ireland remains a strong advocate for increased investment in health system strengthening by our main global health partners, namely the Global Fund, GAVI & UNAIDS.
    • Ireland provided EUR 10.4 million to Ethiopia's Productive Safety Net Programme in August 2016. PSNP is the first line of defence to safeguard the livelihoods of the poorest people in drought-affected areas. Ireland's priorities within the PSNP are systems strengthening including the interphase between humanitarian and social protection.

  • How is your organization assessing progress

    The process of collating input for our first PACT report has provided us with a baseline against which to measure progress in future years. Cross Government implementation of our WHS commitments is led by Irish Aid and focuses on Ireland’s priorities of accountability, gender and protection, protracted and forgotten crises, resilience and appropriate funding approaches.

  • Challenges faced in implementation

    The global economic crisis and the effects of El Nino has further stressed already weak economies, making it difficult for developing countries to maintain investment levels in social sectors. A need for more effective coordination between social protection and humanitarian delivery mechanisms.

  • Next step to advance implementation in 2017

    • Continued advocacy for social protection and pro-poor expenditure.
    • In Malawi in 2017 we will extend our funding for social cash transfers. We will also support the roll out of the national registration and ID card scheme.
    • Through a new partnership with the ILO we are supporting the global objective of universal access to Social Protection (SP) by 2030. Our new Social Protection (SP) strategy recognises the challenge of financing SP programmes in developing countries and there is a strong advocacy component included in our planned work.
    • Ireland will continues to support the Global Health Workforce Network, which targets human resources for health.

  • If you had one message for the annual report on what is most needed to advance the transformation 'Reinforce, do not replace, national and local systems', what would it be

    We should focus on making national systems work rather than creating new, temporary systems or parallel systems.

  • Cross cutting issues

    ☑Cash ☑ Social protection

  • Other related Agenda for Humanity transformations

    ☑5A - Invest in local capacities

4B
Anticipate, do not wait, for crises

Individual Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Commitment Type
  • Core Responsibility
  • Ireland is increasingly integrating a resilience approach in its bilateral programmes with the full and effective participation of women. It will continue to support international sharing of best practice on community based adaptation, its integration into local and national adaptation plans and initiatives to strengthen accountability for climate investments.
  • Operational
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
  • Ireland will integrate natural disaster and climate change risk management and vulnerability assessments when planning and implementing all its bilateral country programmes. This will include increasing investment in multi-hazard risk analyses, early warning systems, preparedness and disaster risk reduction across its portfolio, with measures to ensure that the specific needs and capacities of women and children are considered.
  • Operational
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
  • Ireland will integrate natural disaster and climate change risk management and vulnerability assessments when planning and implementing its bilateral country programmes. This will include investment in multi-hazard risk analyses, early warning systems, preparedness and disaster risk reduction, with measures to ensure that the specific needs and capacities of women and children are considered.
  • Operational
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need

Core Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Core Responsibility
  • Commit to a new way of working that meets people's immediate humanitarian needs, while at the same time reducing risk and vulnerability over multiple years through the achievement of collective outcomes. To achieve this, commit to the following: a) Anticipate, Do Not Wait: to invest in risk analysis and to incentivize early action in order to minimize the impact and frequency of known risks and hazards on people. b) Reinforce, Do Not Replace: to support and invest in local, national and regional leadership, capacity strengthening and response systems, avoiding duplicative international mechanisms wherever possible. c) Preserve and retain emergency capacity: to deliver predictable and flexible urgent and life-saving assistance and protection in accordance with humanitarian principles. d) Transcend Humanitarian-Development Divides: work together, toward collective outcomes that ensure humanitarian needs are met, while at the same time reducing risk and vulnerability over multiple years and based on the comparative advantage of a diverse range of actors. The primacy of humanitarian principles will continue to underpin humanitarian action.
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
  • Commit to accelerate the reduction of disaster and climate-related risks through the coherent implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, as well as other relevant strategies and programs of action, including the SIDS Accelerated Modalities of Action (SAMOA) Pathway.
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need Invest in Humanity
  • Commit to improve the understanding, anticipation and preparedness for disaster and climate-related risks by investing in data, analysis and early warning, and developing evidence-based decision-making processes that result in early action.
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need

  • What led your organization to make the commitment?

    Ireland advocates for and supports international efforts to seize opportunities to build resilience at individual, community and national level, even while saving lives in times of crisis. Forging stronger links between relief, rehabilitation and development to build resilience was a priority area of focus during Ireland’s Presidency of the European Union in 2013, and remains a key policy objective.

  • Achievements at a glance

    • A three year agreement to provide EUR 1.5 million to UNISDR was signed in November 2016.
    • In Malawi Ireland supports the Enhancing Community Resilience Programme building capacities of local communities in the areas of early warning and disaster risk reduction.
    • In Mozambique we are assisting the creation, training and equipment of local committees for disaster risk management.
    • In Vietnam we are providing funding for the repair and reconstruction in a more resilient way of schools exposed to extreme weather conditions.
    • We undertook a thorough risk management and vulnerability assessment in advance of finalising our new Country Strategy Paper for Uganda.
    • Ireland sponsored the Community Based Adaptation conference in Dhaka in 2016.
    • A three year funding agreement was signed with the UNFCCC in October 2016 to support training for LDCs on National Adaptation Planning.
    • To strengthen accountability Ireland published 8 country climate action reports in September 2016.

  • How is your organization assessing progress

    The process of collating input for our first PACT report has provided us with a baseline against which to measure progress in future years. Cross Government implementation of our WHS commitments is led by Irish Aid and focuses on Ireland’s priorities of accountability, gender and protection, protracted and forgotten crises, resilience and appropriate funding approaches.

  • Challenges faced in implementation

    • Ireland is still to appoint a focal point for the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, which has led to some challenges in implementation.
    • Difficulty in managing the volume of data required to meet international reporting requirements to assure accountability.

  • Next step to advance implementation in 2017

    • Discussions on future UNISDR work programmes during the Global Platform in Cancun in May.
    • In Zambia, we are finalizing a case study that aims to integrate climate change considerations through experimental learning by farmers, especially the climate risks affecting smallholder farmers.
    • We aim to build linkages between Community based adaptation and National Adaptation Planning through a joint LEG-Regional NAP Expo and CBA11 Conference in Kampala in June 2017.
    • We are in the design stage of a project with UN FAO to scope out barriers to women's land rights as part of the implementation of Sierra Leone's National Land Policy.

  • 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

    Prevention is paramount; invest in prevention and act before crisis strikes!

  • Other related Agenda for Humanity transformations

    ☑5B - Invest according to risk

4C
Deliver collective outcomes: transcend humanitarian-development divides

Individual Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Commitment Type
  • Core Responsibility

  • Ireland commits to ensuring timely, appropriate and needs-based humanitarian assistance including through innovative mechanisms such as the Start Fund.


  • Financial
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need Invest in Humanity

  • Ireland will ensure that its prepositioned stockpiles of emergency relief supplies are gender sensitive and protection enhancing, and will continue to maintain a rapid response roster of gender/protection specialists as stand-by surge capacity for UN partners.


  • Operational
  • Leave No One Behind Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
  • Ireland will seek to identify multi-annual country level outcomes to guide engagement in protracted crises. These outcomes, dictated by need, context and gender sensitivity, will allow for longer term planning and maximise the impact of the financial, human and political resources at our disposal. One example of a longer term outcome for collective action that it will promote is improved nutrition in all contexts.
  • Operational
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need

Core Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Core Responsibility
  • Commit to a new way of working that meets people's immediate humanitarian needs, while at the same time reducing risk and vulnerability over multiple years through the achievement of collective outcomes. To achieve this, commit to the following: a) Anticipate, Do Not Wait: to invest in risk analysis and to incentivize early action in order to minimize the impact and frequency of known risks and hazards on people. b) Reinforce, Do Not Replace: to support and invest in local, national and regional leadership, capacity strengthening and response systems, avoiding duplicative international mechanisms wherever possible. c) Preserve and retain emergency capacity: to deliver predictable and flexible urgent and life-saving assistance and protection in accordance with humanitarian principles. d) Transcend Humanitarian-Development Divides: work together, toward collective outcomes that ensure humanitarian needs are met, while at the same time reducing risk and vulnerability over multiple years and based on the comparative advantage of a diverse range of actors. The primacy of humanitarian principles will continue to underpin humanitarian action.
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need

  • What led your organization to make the commitment?

    One of the four key policy objectives in Ireland’s humanitarian assistance policy is to link Ireland’s humanitarian and development approaches so as to prevent, prepare for, support recovery from, and build resilience to, man-made crises and natural disasters.

  • Achievements at a glance

    • Ireland is closely following discussions on the humanitarian/development nexus, including under the Grand Bargain workstream and is engaging with follow up to the 2016 QCPR to ensure increased collaboration across the UN Development system.
    • Ireland’s stockpiles of emergency relief items are now gender-sensitive and protection enhancing.
    • Ireland’s Rapid Response Corps includes specialised gender and protection expertise. Ireland continues to ensure that gender and protection expertise is targeted in each recruitment round to the stand-by roster. In 2016, six members of the Corps were deployed as surge capacity in gender and protection roles.
    • A review has been conducted of Ireland’s engagement in South Sudan in order to inform our approach to working in fragile and conflict-affected countries and promote coherence between humanitarian and development aid. Our work in Sierra Leone is shifting focus from treatment to prevention of malnutrition, in support of Sierra Leone's National Nutrition Programme.

  • How is your organization assessing progress

    The process of collating input for our first PACT report has provided us with a baseline against which to measure progress in future years. Cross Government implementation of our WHS commitments is led by Irish Aid and focuses on Ireland’s priorities of accountability, gender and protection, protracted and forgotten crises, resilience and appropriate funding approaches.

  • Challenges faced in implementation

    • Availability of our gender and protection stand-by personnel to deploy.
    • UN organisations and agencies – with which Ireland has stand-by partnerships for the provision of surge capacity - often do not seek/request gender experts as part of their response operations.

  • Next step to advance implementation in 2017

    • During the next recruitment round to the Rapid Response Corps (RRC) roster, continue to have a focus on the recruitment of gender and protection experts.
    • Continue to deploy gender and protection experts as surge capacity to UN stand-by partners.
    • Continue to advocate with UN partners on the importance of building in gender and protection into their responses and to seek relevant surge capacity as and when required.
    • We are committed to advancing the issue of collective multi-annual funding in 2017, and will work closely with partners, including through Grand Bargain engagement, to this aim.

  • Cross cutting issues

    ☑Gender

  • Specific initiatives

    ☑Grand Bargain

  • Other related Agenda for Humanity transformations

    ☑3D - Empower and protect women and girls ☑ 5E - Diversify the resource base and increase cost-efficiency

5A
Invest in local capacities

Individual Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Commitment Type
  • Core Responsibility
  • Ireland commits to working with others to strengthen delivery mechanisms for humanitarian funding, and bring decision-making closer to affected people, including through investing in funding mechanisms which are most accessible to local and national humanitarian actors. It will maintain its strong support to Country-Based Pooled Funds, and support efforts to make them even more responsive, transparent, and accessible to those organisations which are best able to deliver assistance on the ground.
  • Financial
  • Invest in Humanity

Core Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Core Responsibility
  • Commit to empower national and local humanitarian action by increasing the share of financing accessible to local and national humanitarian actors and supporting the enhancement of their national delivery systems, capacities and preparedness planning.
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need Invest in Humanity

  • What led your organization to make the commitment?

    Ireland has been prominent in the humanitarian reform process and a supporter of the Transformative Agenda in both policy and financial terms. Ireland’s provision of funding to the UN Common Humanitarian Funds supports protracted and forgotten humanitarian crises, and seeks to ensure that funding is accessible to those on the ground and who are best placed to act, including local and national actors. Ireland is active in ensuring effective oversight of the management of these funds, and has chaired the UN Pooled Funds Working Group since 2015.

  • Achievements at a glance

    • Ireland continues to co-chair the Pooled Funds Working Group and to advocate for their use as a funding modality which allows timely action by local actors.
    • Ireland also remains highly committed to CERF, increasing its funding in 2017 to EUR 13 million.

  • How is your organization assessing progress

    The process of collating input for our first PACT report has provided us with a baseline against which to measure progress in future years. Cross Government implementation of our WHS commitments is led by Irish Aid and focuses on Ireland’s priorities of accountability, gender and protection, protracted and forgotten crises, resilience and appropriate funding approaches.

  • Next step to advance implementation in 2017

    We will take up a position on the advisory board for the Jordan Pooled Fund later this year. Ireland is examining options for increasing the proportion of funding to local actors, including through our support to pooled funds and the Start Fund.

  • 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

    The Country Based Pooled Funds are proving to be a success in humanitarian financing – let’s continue to strengthen them!

  • Cross cutting issues

    ☑Central Emergency Response Fund ☑ Country-based pooled funds

  • Other related Agenda for Humanity transformations

    ☑5E - Diversify the resource base and increase cost-efficiency

5B
Invest according to risk

Individual Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Commitment Type
  • Core Responsibility
  • Ireland will advocate for increased access to international climate finance for least developed countries, fragile and conflict-affected states and support least developed countries in their negotiating capacity within the UNFCCC process.
  • Financial
  • Invest in Humanity

Core Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Core Responsibility
  • Commit to accelerate the reduction of disaster and climate-related risks through the coherent implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, as well as other relevant strategies and programs of action, including the SIDS Accelerated Modalities of Action (SAMOA) Pathway.
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need Invest in Humanity
  • Commit to invest in risk management, preparedness and crisis prevention capacity to build the resilience of vulnerable and affected people.
  • Invest in Humanity

  • What led your organization to make the commitment?

    Ireland is strongly aware that Least Developed Country's (LDCs) are the countries that are most vulnerable to climate change, with climate change exasperating and complicating further the stresses that they are already suffering.

  • Achievements at a glance

    • Through the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) support was provided to the LDC group in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). A new three year agreement with IIED was signed in August 2016 and assures continued support for the LDC Group in the UNFCCC.
    • To strengthen LDC women's participation additional support is provided for a number of women delegates from LDCs to attend the UNFCCC as part of their government's delegations.
    • Ireland is providing EUR 1 million annually to the LDC Fund.

  • How is your organization assessing progress

    The process of collating input for our first PACT report has provided us with a baseline against which to measure progress in future years. Cross Government implementation of our WHS commitments is led by Irish Aid and focuses on Ireland’s priorities of accountability, gender and protection, protracted and forgotten crises, resilience and appropriate funding approaches.

  • Challenges faced in implementation

    Continuity of women's participation as those selected to attend the LDC group tend to change from year-to-year.

  • Next step to advance implementation in 2017

    The identification of additional women candidates to the UNFCCC from Ireland's key partner countries for support in 2017.

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

    Donors should assign resources according to risk and vulnerability in the contexts in which they are working.

  • Cross cutting issues

    ☑Gender

  • Other related Agenda for Humanity transformations

    ☑3D - Empower and protect women and girls ☑ 4B - Anticipate, do not wait, for crises

5C
Invest in stability

Individual Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Commitment Type
  • Core Responsibility
  • Ireland will adapt its development funding to fragile, at-risk and crisis affected countries, through multi-annual support where feasible, recognising and supporting national leadership, ownership and country owned plans.
  • Financial
  • Invest in Humanity

  • What led your organization to make the commitment?

    Ireland recognises that humanitarian action is only one component of the international community’s broader support for addressing needs in a fragile situation. Ireland has made progress in articulating a vision and an approach to working in fragile states and situations which is aligned with the concepts of the New Deal for Engagement in Fragile States, founded on the idea of national ownership and on a relationship between partner countries and donors based on trust and mutually agreed goals.

  • Achievements at a glance

    • Humanitarian programming is now taken into account when drawing up our bilateral Country Strategies, thereby leading to more adaptability and flexibility in our programming. In Q1 2017, a revised process for multi-annual strategy planning was approved. The process will support the preparation of results-oriented, context-specific programmes of engagement.
    • Ireland entered into a fourth multi-annual agreement with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in 2016, pledging EUR 4 million per annum to the Programme Budget over 2016-2018, which allows UNRWA greater predictability and flexibility for improved delivery of basic services to some 5 million registered Palestine refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
    • Our new Country Strategy Paper for Uganda provided EUR 3,314,000 support for humanitarian responses in 2016, mainly targeted at the South Sudan inflow of refugees. The Paper has included an annual amount for the humanitarian response.

  • How is your organization assessing progress

    The process of collating input for our first PACT report has provided us with a baseline against which to measure progress in future years. Cross Government implementation of our WHS commitments is led by Irish Aid and focuses on Ireland’s priorities of accountability, gender and protection, protracted and forgotten crises, resilience and appropriate funding approaches.

  • Challenges faced in implementation

    • It remains challenging for us to assign staff to some of our more fragile environments which puts our continued commitment at some risk – we are actively working to address this risk.
    • Increasing funds to humanitarian support risks reducing focus on actions to increase resilience through longer term programming but is vital for life saving measures in the short term. A balance between these imperatives is required.

  • Next step to advance implementation in 2017

    • The new planning process will be tested in a number of countries over the course of 2017 and will be used to guide strategy planning in fragile contexts from 2018 onward.
    • One example: Under a new multi-annual strategy 2017-2020 for Vietnam & the sub-region, support will be provided to Myanmar through partners to address fragility and support transition. Funding support will be provided, inter alia, in response to humanitarian/recovery needs in an underfunded crisis in Rakhine State. This new strategy represents a step-change for Irish Aid support in Myanmar in terms of committing to multi-annual funding to partners.

  • Other related Agenda for Humanity transformations

    ☑1C - Remain engaged and invest in stability

5D
Finance outcomes, not fragmentation: shift from funding to financing

Individual Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Commitment Type
  • Core Responsibility

  • Ireland commits to ensuring that its support to conflict-affected countries through both bilateral and multilateral channels - addresses the root causes of conflict and that a more joined up approach to humanitarian and development funding will support conflict prevention and the development of inclusive, peaceful societies.


  • Financial
  • Political Leadership to Prevent and End Conflicts Invest in Humanity

  • Ireland commits to ensuring timely, appropriate and needs-based humanitarian assistance including through innovative mechanisms such as the Start Fund.


  • Financial
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need Invest in Humanity
  • Ireland commits to increasing the predictability of its humanitarian funding, including by exploring the benefits of multi-annual partnerships with key partners, as a contribution to their efforts for greater efficiency and speed of response. It commits to developing multi-annual agreements in respect of at least 20% of its humanitarian funding by 2018.
  • Financial
  • Invest in Humanity

  • Ireland is determined to provide its humanitarian funding as flexibly as possible, so as to ensure that its partners are empowered to use it where it is needed most. It commit to providing at least 30% of its humanitarian funding as non-earmarked funding, starting from 2016. Ireland has been among the ten biggest donors to the UN's Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) since it was established, and it commits to maintaining strong support for the CERF, to ensure the immediate availability of humanitarian funding in the aftermath of global crises and for under-funded emergencies.


  • Financial Contribution
  • Invest in Humanity
  • Ireland is placing increased emphasis on building resilience in both its development and humanitarian funding to NGOs and multilateral organisations. Greater coherence across funding mechanisms and the provision of multi-annual funding for humanitarian programming in protracted crises will facilitate a more effective approach to building resilience, particularly at community level which is often the focus of NGO engagement.
  • Financial
  • Invest in Humanity

  • Ireland will strengthen coherence and coordination across its development and humanitarian funding, working towards joint analysis and collective outcomes in its support to NGOs, the multilateral system and in its bilateral programmes.


  • Financial
  • Invest in Humanity

Core Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Core Responsibility
  • Commit to enable coherent financing that avoids fragmentation by supporting collective outcomes over multiple years, supporting those with demonstrated comparative advantage to deliver in context.
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need Invest in Humanity
  • Commit to promote and increase predictable, multi-year, unearmarked, collaborative and flexible humanitarian funding toward greater efficiency, effectiveness, transparency and accountability of humanitarian action for affected people.
  • Invest in Humanity
  • Commit to broaden and adapt the global instruments and approaches to meet urgent needs, reduce risk and vulnerability and increase resilience, without adverse impact on humanitarian principles and overall action (as also proposed in Round Table on "Changing Lives").
  • Invest in Humanity

  • What led your organization to make the commitment?

    Ireland’s humanitarian engagement with NGOs and multilateral organisations gives us a significant ‘footprint’ already in a number of fragile and conflict affected contexts. Such engagement is driven by humanitarian priorities and guided by humanitarian principles. We are increasingly seeking out opportunities to develop longer term approaches in these contexts by linking humanitarian assistance with longer term development support and ensuring that support for recovery and resilience adopts a longer term approach to anticipating, preventing and addressing conflict and fragility.

  • Achievements at a glance

    • Ireland has established a Conflict and Fragility Team to support the building of resilience and stability through context specific, targeted long-term engagement with countries.
    • Our Country Strategy Paper for Uganda links development and humanitarian response.
    • New Deal principles are at the centre of our development programmes in Sierra Leone and Liberia, supporting the countries’ own development and sustaining peace efforts, including the use and strengthening of country systems.
    • Ireland’s Palestine Strategy comprises a combined focus on political action and humanitarian/development support.
    • Humanitarian funding to NGOs in protracted situations is multi-annual from 2017, and preparations are underway to move to a multi-annual approach for core funding to some multilateral partners – e.g. OCHA and ICRC.
    • In July 2016 Irish Aid approved a new policy briefing paper on building resilience. The paper provides our working definition of resilience and highlights the potential of a resilience approach to bridge the humanitarian-development divide.

  • How is your organization assessing progress

    The process of collating input for our first PACT report has provided us with a baseline against which to measure progress in future years. Cross Government implementation of our WHS commitments is led by Irish Aid and focuses on Ireland’s priorities of accountability, gender and protection, protracted and forgotten crises, resilience and appropriate funding approaches.

  • Challenges faced in implementation

    Although not an immediate challenge for Ireland, we recognise that co-financing collective outcomes across humanitarian and development actors is challenging for many, due to differing structures and institutional mandates.

  • Next step to advance implementation in 2017

    • Concurrent application and appraisal processes for Ireland's development and humanitarian funding mechanisms for NGO partners, from 2017, will strengthen the linkages between these mechanisms and link relief, recovery and development in protracted crisis situations.
    • It is intended that joint monitoring visits will be undertaken to partners in receipt of both humanitarian and development funding during this funding cycle.
    • The inclusion of strong poverty and vulnerability and political economy analysis in future country strategy papers will increase coherence and co-ordination across our development and humanitarian work.
    • A number of other relevant actions are listed under 5E

  • Other related Agenda for Humanity transformations

    ☑4C - Deliver collective outcomes: transcend humanitarian-development divides ☑ 5E - Diversify the resource base and increase cost-efficiency

5E
Diversify the resource base and increase cost-efficiency

Core Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Core Responsibility
  • Commit to increase substantially and diversify global support and share of resources for humanitarian assistance aimed to address the differentiated needs of populations affected by humanitarian crises in fragile situations and complex emergencies, including increasing cash-based programming in situations where relevant.
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need Invest in Humanity
  • Commit to promote and increase predictable, multi-year, unearmarked, collaborative and flexible humanitarian funding toward greater efficiency, effectiveness, transparency and accountability of humanitarian action for affected people.
  • Invest in Humanity

  • What led your organization to make the commitment?

    Although Ireland’s individual commitments in this area were assigned to transformation 5D, Ireland is extremely committed, building on existing good humanitarian practice, to ensure flexibility and predictability in our humanitarian funding, going forward.

  • Achievements at a glance

    Humanitarian funding to NGO partners working in protracted crises is multi-annual from 2017, and preparations are underway to move to a multi-annual approach for core funding to some multilateral partners.

  • How is your organization assessing progress

    The process of collating input for our first PACT report has provided us with a baseline against which to measure progress in future years. Cross Government implementation of our WHS commitments is led by Irish Aid and focuses on Ireland’s priorities of accountability, gender and protection, protracted and forgotten crises, resilience and appropriate funding approaches.

  • Challenges faced in implementation

    A challenge for Ireland will be if other donors move away from flexible funding.

  • Next step to advance implementation in 2017

    • Discussions are ongoing with a number of multilateral organisations on moving to multi-annual funding for 2017-18.
    • Ireland is on-track to provide at least 30% of humanitarian funding as unearmarked in 2017.

  • Other related Agenda for Humanity transformations

    ☑5D - Finance outcomes, not fragmentation: shift from funding to financing