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Self Report 2018

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 Commitments (1)

    • 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
    1. Highlight the concrete actions taken between 1 January – 31 December 2017 to implement the commitments which contribute to achieving this transformation. Be as specific as possible and include any relevant data/figures.

    • Ireland’s Deputy Prime Minister announced a review of Ireland's policy for international development in October 2017 which will take account of the implications and consequences of global trends, including a clear focus on policy priorities focussing on a more peaceful world.
    • Ireland increased allocations to its Stability Fund financing instrument (from € 4.4 million in 2016 to € 5.2 million in 2017).  In 2017, this instrument supported a range of NGO and multilateral partners to engage in peacebuilding, conflict prevention and civilian crisis management, including the Colombian Peace Process.  A review of the Stability Fund was commenced to ensure that the Fund enables Ireland to maximise the impact of partnerships related to peacebuilding and conflict prevention.      
    • Ireland continues to facilitate international exchange at official and civil society level to share lessons learned from the Northern Ireland peace process (in 2017, with delegations from Turkey, Ukraine, Israel and Palestine). Ireland continued to share expertise with those engaged in the Colombian peace process.
    • Ireland continued to support the work of the Dialogue Advisory Group (DAG) in 2017, a core partner in the area of conflict resolution, and gave € 200,000 in funding.  DAG visited Ireland in December 2017 to continue our engagement, using lessons learned from the Northern Ireland Peace Process to guide mediation.
    • Ireland has committed to providing € 3 million to the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund (UNPBF) from 2017-2019 in support of the work of the Fund on peacebuilding in fragile states. € 1 million was released in 2017.                                                                                                                   
    • Ireland supports the UNPBF's ongoing Youth Peace and Security Progress Study.

       

    2. A. How are you measuring progress toward achieving your commitments? Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • By applying processes/indicators developed to measure WHS commitments specifically.
    B. How are you assessing whether progress on commitments is leading toward change in the direction of the transformation?

    • Cross Government implementation of Ireland's 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, using our first PACT report as a baseline.

     

    4. Highlight actions planned for 2018 to advance implementation of your commitments in order to achieve this transformation.

    • A consultative process on the review of Ireland's policy for international development in 2018 will determine how Ireland's international development policy might respond to evolving development challenges, including protracted conflict.    
    • Ireland will continue to fund partners such as the DAG in the area of conflict resolution.
    • Ireland will seek to assess how the UNPBF is perceived on the ground in the countries where it is operating projects to determine whether greater support is warranted.

    6. List any good practice or examples of innovation undertaken individually or in cooperation with others to advance this transformation.

    Ireland continues to facilitate international exchange to share lessons learned from the Northern Ireland peace process (in 2017, with delegations from Turkey, Ukraine, Israel and Palestine). Ireland continued to share expertise with those engaged in the Colombian peace process, including by facilitating visits between the two contexts.

    Keywords

    Youth

  • 1B
    Act early

    Core Commitments (2)

    • 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
    1. Highlight the concrete actions taken between 1 January – 31 December 2017 to implement the commitments which contribute to achieving this transformation. Be as specific as possible and include any relevant data/figures.

    No individual commitments.

  • 1C
    Remain engaged and invest in stability

    Individual Commitments (2)

    • 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 Commitments (3)

    • 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
    1. Highlight the concrete actions taken between 1 January – 31 December 2017 to implement the commitments which contribute to achieving this transformation. Be as specific as possible and include any relevant data/figures.

    • Ireland remains a steadfast supporter of the New Deal principles, and they continue to guide Ireland's engagement at the multilateral and bilateral level in recognition of the need for sustained national ownership of country plans.                            
    • 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 meets on a continuous basis to ensure a coordinated approach.
    • Ireland continues to carry out joint humanitarian and development monitoring of NGO partners in receipt of both humanitarian and development multi-annual funding.
    • A concurrent application and appraisal process for development and humanitarian funding mechanisms, introduced for Ireland's NGO partners from 2017, has increased coherence between relief, recovery and development interventions in protracted crisis situations. 
    • In 2017, Ireland’s Humanitarian Programme Plan, which provides predictable funding for humanitarian interventions, moved to a multi-annual approach to facilitate longer term planning, more strategic engagement with partners and stakeholders, and greater flexibility to react appropriately to changing conditions.
    • Ireland’s monitoring visit to South Sudan in May 2017 assessed progress on how humanitarian and development funding mechanisms to NGOs interact to best effect in nutrition programming. 
    • In Ethiopia, Ireland advocated through various fora for the full integration of IDPs into the humanitarian response.

    2. A. How are you measuring progress toward achieving your commitments? Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • Through multi-stakeholder processes or initiatives (e.g. IASC, Grand Bargain, Charter for Change, etc).
    • By applying processes/indicators developed to measure WHS commitments specifically.
    B. How are you assessing whether progress on commitments is leading toward change in the direction of the transformation?

    • Cross Government implementation of Ireland's World Humanitarian Summit 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, using its first PACT report as a baseline.

    3. A. Please select no more than 3 key challenges faced in implementing the commitments related to this transformation. Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • Joined-up humanitarian-development analysis, planning, funding and/or response
    4. Highlight actions planned for 2018 to advance implementation of your commitments in order to achieve this transformation.

    • Ireland will continue its joint humanitarian and development monitoring of NGO partners.
    • Ireland’s Humanitarian Programme Plan will move to a three-year cycle for 2019-21, facilitating greater coherence between long-term development and humanitarian programmes.       
    • Ireland’s Embassy in Ethiopia will chair the Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP) donor group and the Humanitarian Resilience Donor Group (HRDG) in 2018, playing a leadership role in attempting to bridge the humanitarian development nexus in food insecure regions of the country.            

    5. What steps or actions are needed to make collective progress to achieve this transformation?

    • It is important to support country-led processes, promoting sustained national ownership and country owned plans. 

    6. List any good practice or examples of innovation undertaken individually or in cooperation with others to advance this transformation.

    • Ireland’s monitoring visit to South Sudan in May 2017 indicated how humanitarian and development funding mechanisms to NGOs interact to best effect in nutrition programming.  This provides a very useful case study which Ireland would be happy to share.

  • 1D
    Develop solutions with and for people

    Individual Commitments (2)

    • 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
    1. Highlight the concrete actions taken between 1 January – 31 December 2017 to implement the commitments which contribute to achieving this transformation. Be as specific as possible and include any relevant data/figures.

    • Ireland continues to support initiatives promoting women’s participation and empowerment working across the spectrum of fragile and conflict-affected states, including the Global Acceleration Instrument, the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, International Alert, Conciliation Resources, Crisis Management Initiative, the Gender Partnership Programme of the Inter-Parliamentary Union and International Crisis Group.
    • Ireland continues to engage with mechanisms and events promoting Women, Peace and Security (WPS), e.g. the National Focal Point Network (NAP) on WPS, which hosted a meeting for civil society on Engaging Men and Boys on gender-based violence (GBV) - the Independent Mid-Term review was published in July 2017 and widely disseminated; and the EU Informal Taskforce on the United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 which Ireland hosted in March 2017, providing a platform for sharing knowledge and lessons learned.
    • 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 open debate on WPS in October 2017 and a workshop on women mediators at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
    • Ireland’s Permanent Mission to the UN hosted a side event on the WPS agenda and civil society empowerment with the Permanent Missions of Jordan and Colombia. Ireland’s Embassy to the Holy See hosted an event on Women’s Participation in Peace Making in November 2017.
    • Ireland supported the OECD/DAC's (Development Assistance Committee) Gender and Conflict networks to review donor support for Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment in Fragile and Conflict-Affected Situations.
    • Ireland continues to support programmes that promote good democratic governance and civil society, most notably through pooled funds in Uganda, Ethiopia and Mozambique.

    2. A. How are you measuring progress toward achieving your commitments? Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • Through existing, internal systems or frameworks for monitoring, reporting and/or evaluation.
    • By applying processes/indicators developed to measure WHS commitments specifically.
    B. How are you assessing whether progress on commitments is leading toward change in the direction of the transformation?

    • Cross Government implementation of Ireland's World Humanitarian Summit (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, using Ireland's first PACT report as a baseline.

    3. A. Please select no more than 3 key challenges faced in implementing the commitments related to this transformation. Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • Strengthening national/local systems
    B. How are these challenges impacting achievement of this transformation?

    • It is challenging to report progress under the National Action Plan, fully capturing the breadth of actions being taken by statutory bodies. 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.

    4. Highlight actions planned for 2018 to advance implementation of your commitments in order to achieve this transformation.

    • Implementation of the recommendations in the Independent Mid Term review of the NAP. A final evaluation of the second NAP will commence in 2019. 
    • OECD/DAC's Gender and Conflict networks work on donor support for Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment in Fragile and Conflict-affected Situations is being advanced with the development of practical tools to assist donors to address gender equality in conflict situations. 
    • Continued financial support to strategic partners and advocacy efforts is planned in 2018.

    5. What steps or actions are needed to make collective progress to achieve this transformation?

    Women need to be seen as agents of change, not just victims, and our work needs to reflect that.

    Keywords

    Gender

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

    Individual Commitments (1)

    • 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
    1. Highlight the concrete actions taken between 1 January – 31 December 2017 to implement the commitments which contribute to achieving this transformation. Be as specific as possible and include any relevant data/figures.

    • Ireland continues to engage 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. 
    • Ireland continued to raise awareness of EWIPA through national statements and high-level interventions throughout 2017, including at the Unite Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and during the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons meeting of States Parties in Geneva, and also organised side events at international meetings.
    • Ireland supported Humanity and Inclusion (Handicap International) on a research project on the gendered impact of EWIPA on forced displacement, with a special focus on Syrian refugee women and children. This was presented in Berne, Brussels as well as at a side event on the margins of First Committee at UNGA in New York in 2017. Ireland also organised roundtables with key stakeholders, including military experts and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

     

     

     

     

     

    B. How are you assessing whether progress on commitments is leading toward change in the direction of the transformation?

    • Cross Government implementation of Ireland's World Humanitarian Summit (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, using Ireland's first PACT report as a baseline.

    3. A. Please select no more than 3 key challenges faced in implementing the commitments related to this transformation. Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • IHL and IHRL compliance and accountability
    4. Highlight actions planned for 2018 to advance implementation of your commitments in order to achieve this transformation.

    • Ireland will continue support for Humanity and Inclusion to undertake research and advocacy on EWIPA in 2018.
    • Ireland plans to continue its engagement with like-minded States and Civil Society, and will continue efforts to increase international support for a Political Declaration. Ireland plans to host and attend a series of planned workshops and events to help refine its position and reach agreement.

    5. What steps or actions are needed to make collective progress to achieve this transformation?

    It is important to build a broad coalition of support for a Political Declaration on EWIPA.

    Keywords

    Gender

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

    Individual Commitments (1)

    • 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 Commitments (2)

    • 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
    1. Highlight the concrete actions taken between 1 January – 31 December 2017 to implement the commitments which contribute to achieving this transformation. Be as specific as possible and include any relevant data/figures.

    • Irish Aid’s NGO partners are requested to set out in detail how their programmes will comprehensively address gender and protection issues in humanitarian settings when applying for humanitarian funding.
    • Through Ireland's Good Practice Portfolio funding, grants provided to five research partners are assisting them in strengthening and advancing gender and protection in humanitarian action in order to inform Irish Aid and others’ best practice. For example, Ireland's funding to ALNAP supports their guide for the evaluation of protection activities in humanitarian responses. 
    • Ireland provides dedicated funding for the provision of services to survivors of gender-based violence (GBV) in humanitarian contexts through a Strategic Partnership with the International Rescue Committee.
    • Through the Gender Standby Capacity Project/Protection Capacity Standby Project (GENCAP/PROCAP) roster, Ireland supports the strengthening of the capacity of the UN Humanitarian team on gender and protection issues.
    • All NGOs in receipt of humanitarian funding from Ireland are obliged to comply with national child protection legislation, to protect children and vulnerable adults, and to prevent any form of exploitation and abuse.     
    • Ireland's increased funding to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) 'No Lost Generation' initiative in 2016 continued to support programmes implemented in 2017.        

    B. How are you assessing whether progress on commitments is leading toward change in the direction of the transformation?

    • Cross Government implementation of Ireland's World Humanitarian Summit (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, using Ireland's first PACT report as a baseline.

    4. Highlight actions planned for 2018 to advance implementation of your commitments in order to achieve this transformation.

    • Through Ireland's good practice portfolio funding, grants provided to research partners for 2018 will assist them in strengthening and advancing gender and protection in humanitarian action in order to inform Irish Aid and others’ best practice.

    5. What steps or actions are needed to make collective progress to achieve this transformation?

    • Clear guidelines on how to evaluate protection programmes are needed in order to ensure continued funding of such programmes.
    • Continue to review investments in gender protection, building on synergies and optimising effectiveness.

    6. List any good practice or examples of innovation undertaken individually or in cooperation with others to advance this transformation.

    Through Ireland's good practice portfolio funding, grants provided to research partners is assisting them in strengthening and advancing protection in humanitarian action in order to inform Irish Aid and others’ best practice.  A revised guide on the evaluation of protection, produced by ALNAP, will issue in June. 

    Keywords

    Gender, Protection

  • 2C
    Speak out on violations

    Core Commitments (1)

    • 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
    1. Highlight the concrete actions taken between 1 January – 31 December 2017 to implement the commitments which contribute to achieving this transformation. Be as specific as possible and include any relevant data/figures.

    • Ireland regularly raises the issue of impunity for conflict-related sexual violence, including exploitation and abuse by peacekeepers, internationally including at the United Nations (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 condemned attacks on health and humanitarian workers at a Security Council Debate on the Protection of Civilians and Healthcare in Armed Conflict in May.
    • 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.
    • In its statement at the 16th session of the Assembly of States Parties to the International Criminal Court in December 2017, Ireland referred to its continued contributions to the Trust Fund for Victims (TFV) and urged others to support it.  A key principle of the TFV is to support the advancement of women’s human rights, increase the participation of women, and incorporate gender perspectives including addressing disparities and the impact of sexual and gender based violence.

     

    2. A. How are you measuring progress toward achieving your commitments? Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • Through multi-stakeholder processes or initiatives (e.g. IASC, Grand Bargain, Charter for Change, etc).
    • By applying processes/indicators developed to measure WHS commitments specifically.
    B. How are you assessing whether progress on commitments is leading toward change in the direction of the transformation?

    • Cross Government implementation of Ireland's World Humanitarian Summit (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, using Ireland's first PACT report as a baseline.

     

    3. A. Please select no more than 3 key challenges faced in implementing the commitments related to this transformation. Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    B. How are these challenges impacting achievement of this transformation?

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

    4. Highlight actions planned for 2018 to advance implementation of your commitments in order to achieve this transformation.

    • 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.

    5. What steps or actions are needed to make collective progress to achieve this transformation?

    • Ireland is strongly supportive of Security Council reform and believes that the Council needs to become more representative, more transparent and more efficient.

    Keywords

    Gender, IHL compliance and accountability, Protection, PSEA

  • 2D
    Take concrete steps to improve compliance and accountability

    Individual Commitments (4)

    • 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 Commitments (4)

    • 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
    1. Highlight the concrete actions taken between 1 January – 31 December 2017 to implement the commitments which contribute to achieving this transformation. Be as specific as possible and include any relevant data/figures.

    Gender-based violence prevention and response

    • Ireland continues to fund the Justice Rapid Response roster of experts, contributing to the implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325.
    • Through Ireland's Good Practice Portfolio funding, Ireland is supporting University College Dublin's (UCD) Centre for Humanitarian Action in the establishment of an International Summer School on gender-based violence (GBV) prevention and response (Summer 2018).
    • Ireland continues to support the Irish Consortium on Gender Based Violence (ICGBV) for Irish humanitarian workers.  In 2017 the ICGBV became an active member of GBV Area of Responsibility (AoR) Task Teams on Global Standards on the Prevention and Response of GBV in Emergencies and on GBV Guidelines and Policy and Advocacy. ICGBV provided training for member organisations on “Issues for humanitarian workers when working with people who have experienced trauma including sexual violence”.
    • Ireland supported the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in their work to build capacity on case management of GBV in emergencies for social workers in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and South Sudan.

    IHL and IHRL compliance and accountability

    • Ireland supported the development of a voluntary compact between the United Nations (UN) and troop-contributing Member States. At the UN General Assembly (GA) in September 2017, Ireland reaffirmed its commitment to hold its troops accountable for their behaviour when deployed overseas. Ireland’s Taoiseach (Prime Minister) is a member of the Circle of Leadership set up by the UN Secretary General to provide political support and engagement on this issue.
    • Irish Defence Forces personnel receive pre-deployment training, SOIT, Sexual Assault Kits, and human trafficking training to ensure that victims receive the required support while an unbiased investigation is carried out.

     

    2. A. How are you measuring progress toward achieving your commitments? Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • By reporting to, or using reports prepared for, UN principal organs, UN governing boards, or other international bodies
    • By applying processes/indicators developed to measure WHS commitments specifically.
    B. How are you assessing whether progress on commitments is leading toward change in the direction of the transformation?

    Cross Government implementation of Ireland's World Humanitarian Summit (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, using Ireland's first PACT report as a baseline.

    4. Highlight actions planned for 2018 to advance implementation of your commitments in order to achieve this transformation.

    • Ireland will continue to support the ICGBV and will maintain support to the JRR SGBV roster, and maintain advocacy on the issue of impunity.
    • In 2018 the ICGBV was invited to be a core member of the GBV AoR.
    • Ireland will continue to support the International Rescue Committee in its advocacy and capacity development work and seeks to develop this partnership further in 2018.

     

    5. What steps or actions are needed to make collective progress to achieve this transformation?

    • Continue to review Ireland's investments in gender protection, building on synergies and optimising effectiveness.

    6. List any good practice or examples of innovation undertaken individually or in cooperation with others to advance this transformation.

    Ireland partners with the IRC, supporting their documenting of good practice on the implementation of WHS and Grand Bargain (GB) commitments in the context of GBV in emergencies. Ireland is supporting the holding of an International Summer School on Gender-Based Violence Gender-Based Violence in Emergencies in Dublin.

     

     

    Keywords

    Gender, IHL compliance and accountability

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

    Joint Commitments (1)

    • 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 Commitments (1)

    • 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 Commitments (1)

    • 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
    1. Highlight the concrete actions taken between 1 January – 31 December 2017 to implement the commitments which contribute to achieving this transformation. Be as specific as possible and include any relevant data/figures.

    • Ireland was among the first countries to sign the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) when it opened for signature on the 20th of September 2017. The preparation of enabling national legislation to ratify the TPNW commenced in 2017. Ireland’s delegation to the negotiations took a prominent role in the drafting of the Treaty and many of its key provisions, including in relation to gender, disarmament education, victim assistance and environmental remediation, are based on Irish drafting proposals and compromises.
    • Ireland continued its engagement with its research project on “Nuclear Disarmament – the missing link in multilateralism” and commissioned a number of projects in the series in 2017. These included research papers on Gender, Development and Nuclear Weapons and on Nuclear Weapons and Cultural Heritage which were presented during the NPT Preparatory Committee in Vienna, May 2017, with a revised and extended version of the Cultural Heritage paper re-launched during the UN General Assembly (GA) in New York in October 2017.  
    • 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 on strengthening compliance with international humanitarian law.

    2. A. How are you measuring progress toward achieving your commitments? Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • By applying processes/indicators developed to measure WHS commitments specifically.
    B. How are you assessing whether progress on commitments is leading toward change in the direction of the transformation?

    • Cross Government implementation of Ireland's World Humanitarian Summit (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, using Ireland's first PACT report as a baseline.

    3. A. Please select no more than 3 key challenges faced in implementing the commitments related to this transformation. Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • IHL and IHRL compliance and accountability
    4. Highlight actions planned for 2018 to advance implementation of your commitments in order to achieve this transformation.

    • Ireland will seek to conclude the TPNW ratification process and will promote its universalization.
    • Ireland will present a research paper on the Environmental Impact of Nuclear Weapons Use and Testing at the NPT Preparatory Committee in Geneva in May 2018.
    • Ireland will continue to be a leader in raising the profile of gender in the disarmament discourse, both the gendered impact of weapons and the need for greater participation of women in negotiating frameworks.

    5. What steps or actions are needed to make collective progress to achieve this transformation?

    Agreement at the International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent on the establishment of an international mechanism on compliance with international humanitarian law.

    Keywords

    IHL compliance and accountability

  • 3A
    Reduce and address displacement

    Individual Commitments (3)

    • 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 Commitments (5)

    • 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
    1. Highlight the concrete actions taken between 1 January – 31 December 2017 to implement the commitments which contribute to achieving this transformation. Be as specific as possible and include any relevant data/figures.

    Refugees

    • Ireland’s non-governmental organizations (NGO) partners supported a range of education initiatives for refugee populations in response to crises, e.g. in Myanmar and the Middle East.
    • Ireland supported the government of Ethiopia’s refugee policies through the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
    • Ireland supported the UNHCR and the World Food Programme (WFP) in Uganda and advocated for the implementation of the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework.
    • By the end of 2017, 755 asylum seekers, mainly from Syria, had been relocated to Ireland under the EU Relocation Programme. In November 2017, the Minister for Justice and Equality announced a Family Reunification Humanitarian Admission Programme, which aims to admit up to 530 vulnerable family members of beneficiaries of international protection in the State over the next two years.
    • Ireland has advocated for increased burden and responsibility sharing in the context of the discussions on the Global Compact for Refugees.

    Other-3A

    • Ireland continues to use a Country Categorisation of Needs tool to prioritise crises according to vulnerability and needs. This informs decisions related to funding and is shared with NGO partners each year to guide their applications for funding.
    • Ireland’s 2nd National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security (WPS) requires Ireland to adopt a WPS-sensitive approach domestically, including migrant women, refugees and asylum seekers.
    • Ireland supports the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) under a multi-annual agreement, pledging € 4 million per annum 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.
    • Ireland contributes to the EU's Emergency Trust Fund for stability, as well as to the EU's Refugee facility for Turkey which addresses the educational needs of Syrian refugee children.
    •  

    2. A. How are you measuring progress toward achieving your commitments? Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • By applying processes/indicators developed to measure WHS commitments specifically.
    B. How are you assessing whether progress on commitments is leading toward change in the direction of the transformation?

    • Cross Government implementation of Ireland's World Humanitarian Summit (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, using Ireland's first PACT report as a baseline.

    3. A. Please select no more than 3 key challenges faced in implementing the commitments related to this transformation. Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    B. How are these challenges impacting achievement of this transformation?

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

    4. Highlight actions planned for 2018 to advance implementation of your commitments in order to achieve this transformation.

    • 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 will fulfill its commitments for the period 2016-2018 of the multi-annual agreement with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in early 2018.

     

    5. What steps or actions are needed to make collective progress to achieve this transformation?

    The agreement of global compacts on refugees and on migrants.

    Keywords

    Displacement, Education

  • 3D
    Empower and protect women and girls

    Individual Commitments (7)

    • 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 Commitments (4)

    • 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
    1. Highlight the concrete actions taken between 1 January – 31 December 2017 to implement the commitments which contribute to achieving this transformation. Be as specific as possible and include any relevant data/figures.

    • Ireland continues to fund the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to prioritise maternal health and family planning, and gave € 500,000 in 2017 in addition to its usual core funding.
    • Ireland places the role of women central to all its work on sustaining peace and conflict prevention, and continues to seek opportunities to ensure the voice of women and youth is heard.
    • Irish Aid prioritises the protection of women and girls in its appraisal of proposals from NGO partners, which impacts resource allocation decisions.
    • Since 2016, Ireland’s stockpiles of emergency relief items are gender-sensitive and protection enhancing. Family hygiene and dignity kits include sanitary items and solar lamps, addressing gender-based violence (GBV) risks. In 2017 stocks containing such kits were deployed in Sierra Leone, Somalia and South Sudan.
    • 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, three members were deployed in gender and protection roles with UN partners.
    • In Malawi, Ireland continued support for the Irish NGO consortium campaign against gender-based violence, focusing on intimate partner violence with nation-wide coverage through mass media.
    • In Uganda, Ireland continued to work with the Government to implement their joint GBV prevention and response programme in Busoga as well as mainstreaming gender in its other programmes.
    • In Ethiopia, Ireland led the ' flexing' of US$19 million of the donor health pool fund to the humanitarian response, in particular to fight a cholera outbreak which can have a high mortality rate for vulnerable and malnourished children.

    B. How are you assessing whether progress on commitments is leading toward change in the direction of the transformation?

    • Cross Government implementation of Ireland's World Humanitarian Summit (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, using Ireland's first PACT report as a baseline.
    • A number of relevant achievements are listed under 1D and 2B.

     

    3. A. Please select no more than 3 key challenges faced in implementing the commitments related to this transformation. Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • Gender and/or vulnerable group inclusion
    • Human resources/capacity
    • Strengthening national/local systems
    B. How are these challenges impacting achievement of this transformation?

    • Specialised gender and protection Rapid Responders not always available to deploy.
    • UN organisations and agencies often do not seek/request gender experts as part of their response operations.
    • Some in-country systems are too weak to support efforts to improve access to adolescent reproductive health and maternal health services.

    4. Highlight actions planned for 2018 to advance implementation of your commitments in order to achieve this transformation.

    • Continue to procure gender sensitive and protection enhancing relief items for Ireland’s stockpiles.
    • During next recruitment to the Rapid Response Corps roster, continue to have a focus on the recruitment of gender and protection experts.
    • Continue to advocate with partners on the importance of integrated gender and protection responses.
    • Ireland will take on the chair of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in 2018 and will aim to ensure that the CSW is instrumental in promoting women’s rights,

     

    5. What steps or actions are needed to make collective progress to achieve this transformation?

    • All societies need to address gender inequality and focus on the empowerment of women and girls – this has to be at the centre of all that we do.

    6. List any good practice or examples of innovation undertaken individually or in cooperation with others to advance this transformation.

    • In Malawi, Ireland continued support for the Irish NGO consortium campaign against GBV, focusing on intimate partner violence with nation-wide coverage through mass media.
    • In Uganda, Ireland continued to work with the Government to implement their joint GBV prevention and response programme in Busoga.

     

    Keywords

    Gender

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

    Individual Commitments (1)

    • 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
    1. Highlight the concrete actions taken between 1 January – 31 December 2017 to implement the commitments which contribute to achieving this transformation. Be as specific as possible and include any relevant data/figures.

    • Ireland’s Minister of State for International Development participated in dialogue on Education in Conflict sponsored by the Malala Fund and Education Cannot Wait and agreed to become a Political Champion for education in crisis situations.
    • In Tanzania, Ireland continued to respond to the Burundian refugee crisis through support to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for the construction of schools and the provision of primary health care services.
    • Through multi-annual support for Plan International and World Vision, Ireland ensures improved availability and access to quality education for thousands of children and adolescents in IDP camps in Central African Republic, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, Jordan, South Sudan, Sudan and Somalia, particularly resulting in increased girls’ attendance at school. The programmes reached 67,000 children in 2017.
    • Ireland’s NGO partners supported a range of education initiatives for refugee populations in response to crises, e.g. in Myanmar and the Middle East.
    • Ireland’s 2nd National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security (WPS) requires Ireland to adopt a WPS-sensitive approach domestically, including migrant women, refugees and asylum seekers.
    • Ireland contributes to the EU's Emergency Trust Fund for stability, as well as to the EU's Refugee facility for Turkey which addresses the educational needs of Syrian refugee children.
    • Ireland entered into a fourth multi-annual agreement with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in 2016 for 2016-2018, which allows UNRWA greater predictability and flexibility for improved delivery of basic services to 5 million registered Palestine refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

     

    2. A. How are you measuring progress toward achieving your commitments? Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • By applying processes/indicators developed to measure WHS commitments specifically.
    B. How are you assessing whether progress on commitments is leading toward change in the direction of the transformation?

    • Cross Government implementation of Ireland's World Humanitarian Summit (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, using Ireland's first PACT report as a baseline.
    • A number of relevant achievements are listed under 3A.

     

    4. Highlight actions planned for 2018 to advance implementation of your commitments in order to achieve this transformation.

    • A Policy Brief on Education in Emergencies and Protracted Crises will be finalised and will inform the development of Ireland’s new policy for international development and future education funding.
    • Ireland will advocate for the prioritising of education in humanitarian responses, taking lessons from the Syria response.

     

     

    5. What steps or actions are needed to make collective progress to achieve this transformation?

    • We need 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.

    6. List any good practice or examples of innovation undertaken individually or in cooperation with others to advance this transformation.

    • Ireland’s Minister of State for International Development participated in dialogue on Education in Conflict sponsored by the Malala Fund and Education Cannot Wait and agreed to become a Political Champion for education in crisis situations.

    Keywords

    Displacement, Education, Migrants

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

    Individual Commitments (1)

    • 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 Commitments (6)

    • 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
    1. Highlight the concrete actions taken between 1 January – 31 December 2017 to implement the commitments which contribute to achieving this transformation. Be as specific as possible and include any relevant data/figures.

    Strengthening national/local leadership and systems

     

    • Ireland advocated strongly for moving towards a scalable needs based safety net and one coherent system of social protection-humanitarian response in Ethiopia, as well as an integrated Cash- Food Plan, through the Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP) Donor Working Group and the Humanitarian Resilience Donor Group.
    • In Malawi, through the international non-governmental organization (INGO) consortium, Ireland provided cash based programming and resilience building initiatives for the humanitarian response. Ireland continued to scale up support for the National Social Cash Transfer Programme.  Ireland, in partnership with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Government of Malawi, funded a pilot scheme targeting 3,800 households with the Vertical Expansion of the Social Cash Transfers Programme as a shock responsive approach for 2017/18 humanitarian assistance.
    • Ireland joined the the World Health Organization (WHO) Universal Health Coverage Partnership in December 2017 with an incremental focus over 3 years on Mozambique, Ethiopia and Tanzania to support policy dialogue on national health policies, strategies and plans towards Universal Health Care (UHC).   

     

    Other-4A

    • Additional relevant achievements are listed under 1C.
    • Ireland continued to advocate for social protection and pro-poor expenditure.
    • Ireland remains a strong advocate for increased investment in health system strengthening in its main global health partners, namely the Global Fund, GAVI & UNAIDS.
    • Ireland continued its support for the roll out of the new Social Protection Policy in Uganda.
    • Ireland is undertaking analysis to assess how climate adaptation (and specifically response to major weather shocks) can be better mainstreamed into our support for social protection in Malawi, Mozambique and Uganda.

    2. A. How are you measuring progress toward achieving your commitments? Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • By applying processes/indicators developed to measure WHS commitments specifically.
    B. How are you assessing whether progress on commitments is leading toward change in the direction of the transformation?

    • Cross Government implementation of Ireland's World Humanitarian Summit (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, using Ireland's first PACT report as a baseline.

    3. A. Please select no more than 3 key challenges faced in implementing the commitments related to this transformation. Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • Strengthening national/local systems
    B. How are these challenges impacting achievement of this transformation?

    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. There is a need for more effective coordination between social protection and humanitarian delivery mechanisms and capacity limitations. 

    4. Highlight actions planned for 2018 to advance implementation of your commitments in order to achieve this transformation.

    • Ireland will continue to shift focus away from annual humanitarian assistance to shock responsive and resilience building interventions, with continued advocacy for social protection and pro-poor expenditure.
    • In Malawi, Ireland will continue to support the National Social Cash Transfer Programme, the Harmonised Targeting Approach and the National ID system.
    • In Ethiopia, as Co-Chair of the PSNP DWG, Ireland will step up strategic advocacy for social protection and humanitarian linkage and scalability, accountability, and evidenced-based targeting.

    5. What steps or actions are needed to make collective progress to achieve this transformation?

    • We should focus on making national systems work rather than instating new, temporary systems.

    Keywords

    Cash, Community resilience, Local action

  • 4B
    Anticipate, do not wait, for crises

    Individual Commitments (3)

    • 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 Commitments (3)

    • 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
    1. Highlight the concrete actions taken between 1 January – 31 December 2017 to implement the commitments which contribute to achieving this transformation. Be as specific as possible and include any relevant data/figures.

    • Ireland supported the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) in strengthening linkages between disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate adaptation efforts globally, and supported the development of DRR strategies nationally.
    • In Malawi, Ireland continues to support the Enhancing Community Resilience Programme. In the first phase, completed in September 2017, 1.5 million people benefited through strengthened village level warning systems.
    • In Mozambique, Ireland supported the creation of 18 local gender sensitive committees for disaster risk management. Ireland assisted the Government in advancing its gender and disaster risk management strategy through a provincial initiative including strengthening women and girls’ capacity to cope with natural disasters and climate change.
    • In Vietnam, Ireland continued to support the resilient repair and reconstruction of schools exposed to extreme weather conditions.
    • In Ethiopia, Ireland is engaged in discussions in Disaster Risk Management and building climate resilience, focusing on the most vulnerable.
    • Ireland continues to support the Least Developed Countries (LDC) group, particularly female negotiators to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Ireland supports the Mary Robinson Foundation to ensure the participation of grassroots women in international climate discussions and decision making.
    • Ireland sponsored the Community Based Adaptation Conference in Uganda in 2017, and organised a Climate Advisers training on integrating climate into development programmes. Ireland was ranked second most transparent donor globally in climate finance reporting, and continues to publish annual climate finance reports. Ireland continues to engage in Least Developed Countries Expert Group (LEG) meetings and national adaptation plans (NAP) Expos, supporting and advising on development and implementation of strong NAPs in LDCs.
    • Ireland completed Climate Risk Assessments for 6 of our focal countries to guide strategy and programming decisions.

    2. A. How are you measuring progress toward achieving your commitments? Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • By applying processes/indicators developed to measure WHS commitments specifically.
    B. How are you assessing whether progress on commitments is leading toward change in the direction of the transformation?

    • Cross Government implementation of Ireland's World Humanitarian Summit (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, using Ireland's first PACT report as a baseline.

    3. A. Please select no more than 3 key challenges faced in implementing the commitments related to this transformation. Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • Preparedness
    B. How are these challenges impacting achievement of this transformation?

    • Higher frequency and intensity of tropical cyclones diverting provincial development priorities to address post-shock reconstruction/humanitarian assistance.
    • Not enough international climate finance is reaching Least Developed Countries, who struggle with reporting requirements imposed by larger funds. Ireland will engage more actively in these discussions and with its supported partner, LDCF.

     

    4. Highlight actions planned for 2018 to advance implementation of your commitments in order to achieve this transformation.

    • Ireland will continue to provide training/capacity and strategic support to its Missions on climate mainstreaming, a strategic focus on women and girls, and resilience.
    • Ireland will continue to return data under Sendai Framework, ensuring our reporting meets international requirements and aligns with global DRR efforts.               
    • Ireland will review its support and look at opportunities where it can build and strengthen initiatives, through the design of the next climate Multi-Annual Funding Framework for 2019-21.

    5. What steps or actions are needed to make collective progress to achieve this transformation?

    • Prevention is paramount.
    • Women need to be seen as agents of change, not just victims, and our work needs to reflect that.

    6. List any good practice or examples of innovation undertaken individually or in cooperation with others to advance this transformation.

    Gender and climate justice is a policy priority in 2018, and Ireland is in the process of producing a policy paper on this in intensive consultation with its partners.

    Keywords

    Community resilience, Disaster Risk Reduction, Gender

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

    Individual Commitments (3)

    • 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 Commitments (1)

    • 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
    1. Highlight the concrete actions taken between 1 January – 31 December 2017 to implement the commitments which contribute to achieving this transformation. Be as specific as possible and include any relevant data/figures.

    Joined-up humanitarian-development analysis and planning towards collective outcomes

    • Ireland is closely following the discussions internationally on the humanitarian/development nexus, and engaging with EU pilots in Uganda and Nigeria. 
    • With others, Ireland provided input to a Scaling Up Nutrition Movement Secretariat paper linking relief and development, and for increased consideration of the application of multi-sectoral and multi-stakeholder partnerships to contexts of fragility. Through the Emergency Nutrition Network Ireland is funding research into the linkages between wasting and stunting, with implications that will inform our approach to nutrition in resilience.
    • Ireland put multi-annual funding agreements in place for both the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and multi-annual funding for humanitarian NGOs through its Humanitarian Programme Plan (HPP).

    Other-4C

    • Ireland’s stockpiles of emergency relief items are 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, three members were deployed in gender and protection roles.
    • Ireland provided € 1.3 million to the Start Fund in 2017, up from € 1 million in 2016. The Start Fund has now responded to 132 Crises in 55 countries since 2014. The time frame between alert and response is on average 66 hours.
    • In 2017, Ireland provided € 2.7 million pre-positioned humanitarian funding to six trusted humanitarian partners through its Emergency Response Fund Scheme (ERFS). The average approval time for ERFS funding requests in 2017 was two working days.
    • Ireland continues to support mechanisms that ensure timely delivery of assistance such as the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) and Country-based Pooled Funds (CBPFs).

     

    2. A. How are you measuring progress toward achieving your commitments? Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • By applying processes/indicators developed to measure WHS commitments specifically.
    B. How are you assessing whether progress on commitments is leading toward change in the direction of the transformation?

    • Cross Government implementation of Ireland's World Humanitarian Summit (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, using Ireland's first PACT report as a baseline.

    3. A. Please select no more than 3 key challenges faced in implementing the commitments related to this transformation. Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • Gender and/or vulnerable group inclusion
    • Human resources/capacity
    • Joined-up humanitarian-development analysis, planning, funding and/or response
    B. How are these challenges impacting achievement of this transformation?

    • Availability of Ireland's 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.

    4. Highlight actions planned for 2018 to advance implementation of your commitments in order to achieve this transformation.

    • During next recruitment round to the Rapid Response Corps roster, continue the focus on gender and protection experts and continue to deploy them as surge capacity to UN stand-by partners.
    • Continue to advocate with UN partners on the importance of building gender and protection into their responses and to seek relevant surge capacity when required.
    • Continue to advance collective multiannual funding in 2018, and work closely with partners, including through Grand Bargain (GB) engagement, to this aim.

    Keywords

    Humanitarian-development nexus

  • 5A
    Invest in local capacities

    Individual Commitments (1)

    • 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 Commitments (1)

    • 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
    1. Highlight the concrete actions taken between 1 January – 31 December 2017 to implement the commitments which contribute to achieving this transformation. Be as specific as possible and include any relevant data/figures.

    Country-based pooled funds

    • Ireland continues to advocate with individual Pooled Funds on the provision of funding through local actors where appropriate.
    • Ireland remains highly committed to the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), increasing its funding in 2017 to € 22 million .
    • Ireland continues to monitors the extent to which CERF and Country-based Pooled Funds (CBPFs) work together at the country level, for maximum effect.
    • Ireland continues to engage strategically with the Pooled Fund Working Group and has taken up membership of the CERF Advisory Group. Ireland provided € 32.4 million to 13 country-based pooled funds in 2017, up from € 28 million to 12 CBPFs in 2016.
    • En marge of UN Humanitarian Week in December 2017, Ireland hosted an event advocating for the use of UN Humanitarian Pooled Funds, continuing its support for these flexible and effective humanitarian financing mechanisms.

     

    Other-5A

    • Preparations for Ireland's upcoming chairmanship of the OCHA Donor Support Group are ongoing.
    • Ireland provided € 1.3 million to the Start Fund in 2017, up from € 1 million in 2016. The Start Fund has now responded to 132 Crises in 55 countries since 2014. The time frame between alert and response is on average 66 hours.
    • In 2017, Ireland provided € 2.7 million pre-positioned humanitarian funding to six trusted humanitarian partners through its Emergency Response Fund Scheme (ERFS). The average approval time for ERFS funding requests in 2017 was two working days.
    • Ireland put multi-annual funding agreements in place for both the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and multi-annual funding for humanitarian NGOs through its Humanitarian Programme Plan (HPP).

    2. A. How are you measuring progress toward achieving your commitments? Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • By applying processes/indicators developed to measure WHS commitments specifically.
    B. How are you assessing whether progress on commitments is leading toward change in the direction of the transformation?

    • Cross Government implementation of Ireland's World Humanitarian Summit (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, using Ireland's first PACT report as a baseline

    4. Highlight actions planned for 2018 to advance implementation of your commitments in order to achieve this transformation.

    • Ireland will take up a position on the Advisory Board of the Turkey Humanitarian Fund.
    • Ireland will take on the chairmanship of the OCHA Donor Support Group.

    5. What steps or actions are needed to make collective progress to achieve this transformation?

    All donors need to strive to provide reasonable levels of unearmarked/core funding. This must be a collective effort/responsibility.

    6. List any good practice or examples of innovation undertaken individually or in cooperation with others to advance this transformation.

    • Ireland remains highly committed to multi-annual funding, Country Based Pooled Funds, and the Central Emergency Response Fund

    Keywords

    Country-based pooled funds, Local action

  • 5B
    Invest according to risk

    Individual Commitments (1)

    • 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 Commitments (2)

    • 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
    1. Highlight the concrete actions taken between 1 January – 31 December 2017 to implement the commitments which contribute to achieving this transformation. Be as specific as possible and include any relevant data/figures.

    • Ireland, through a three year agreement with the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), continued to provide support to the Least Developed Countries (LDC) group in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (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.
    • Through its continued support to the LDC group, Ireland supported female negotiators to the UNFCCC in particular.
    • Ireland also supported the Mary Robinson Foundation to ensure the participation of grassroots women on frontlines of climate change in international climate discussions and decision making, including a Grassroots women farmer from Uganda on the Irish Delegation to the UNFCCC.

    2. A. How are you measuring progress toward achieving your commitments? Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • By applying processes/indicators developed to measure WHS commitments specifically.
    B. How are you assessing whether progress on commitments is leading toward change in the direction of the transformation?

    • Cross Government implementation of Ireland's World Humanitarian Summit (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, using Ireland's first PACT report as a baseline.

    3. A. Please select no more than 3 key challenges faced in implementing the commitments related to this transformation. Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • Funding modalities (earmarking, priorities, yearly agreements, risk aversion measures)
    B. How are these challenges impacting achievement of this transformation?

    • Not enough international climate finance is reaching Least Developed Countries, who struggle with reporting requirements imposed by larger funds. Ireland will engage more actively in these discussions and with its supported partner, LDCF.

    4. Highlight actions planned for 2018 to advance implementation of your commitments in order to achieve this transformation.

    • Planned initiatives include a side event at the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) on gender and climate justice, a Policy Brief on climate justice and gender for late 2018, along with a COP24 side event.
    • Ireland will review its support to these areas and look at opportunities where Ireland can build and strengthen initiatives, through the design of the next climate Multi-Annual Funding Framework for the period 2019-21.

     

    5. What steps or actions are needed to make collective progress to achieve this transformation?

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

    6. List any good practice or examples of innovation undertaken individually or in cooperation with others to advance this transformation.

    • Ireland also supported the Mary Robinson Foundation to ensure the participation of grassroots women on frontlines of climate change in international climate discussions and decision making, including a Grassroots women farmer from Uganda on the Irish Delegation to the UNFCCC.

    Keywords

    Gender

  • 5C
    Invest in stability

    Individual Commitments (1)

    • 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
    1. Highlight the concrete actions taken between 1 January – 31 December 2017 to implement the commitments which contribute to achieving this transformation. Be as specific as possible and include any relevant data/figures.

    • Humanitarian programming continues to be taken into account when drawing up Ireland's bilateral Country Strategies, thereby leading to more adaptability and flexibility in its 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 € 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. Ireland will be releasing funding for 2018 in the coming weeks which will fulfill its commitments for the period 2016-2018.
    • Under the new multi-annual Mission Strategy 2017-2020 for Vietnam and the Mekong Sub region, support will continue to be provided to Myanmar to address fragility and support transition, including strengthening food and nutrition security and livelihoods of poor farmers; mine clearance and risk education; to support ethical and responsible business; and in response to humanitarian/recovery needs in Rakhine State. This move to a multi-annual commitment will allow partners to ensure a more strategic focus and delivery of more sustainable results.

    2. A. How are you measuring progress toward achieving your commitments? Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • By applying processes/indicators developed to measure WHS commitments specifically.
    B. How are you assessing whether progress on commitments is leading toward change in the direction of the transformation?

    • Cross Government implementation of Ireland's World Humanitarian Summit (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, using Ireland's first PACT report as a baseline.

    3. A. Please select no more than 3 key challenges faced in implementing the commitments related to this transformation. Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • Field conditions, including insecurity and access
    • Joined-up humanitarian-development analysis, planning, funding and/or response
    B. How are these challenges impacting achievement of this transformation?

    • It remains challenging to assign staff to some of the more fragile environments which puts continued commitment at some risk –Ireland is actively working to address this risk.

     

    4. Highlight actions planned for 2018 to advance implementation of your commitments in order to achieve this transformation.

    • The revised process for multi-annual strategy planning will be tested in a number of countries and will be used to guide strategy planning in fragile contexts from 2018 onward.
    • Under the new multi-annual Mission Strategy 2017-2020 for Vietnam and the Mekong Sub region, support will continue to be provided to Myanmar to address fragility and support transition.

    5. What steps or actions are needed to make collective progress to achieve this transformation?

    • 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.

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

    Individual Commitments (6)

    • 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 Commitments (3)

    • 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
    1. Highlight the concrete actions taken between 1 January – 31 December 2017 to implement the commitments which contribute to achieving this transformation. Be as specific as possible and include any relevant data/figures.

    • Ireland provided € 1.3 million to the Start Fund in 2017, up from € 1 million in 2016. The Start Fund has now responded to 132 Crises in 55 countries since 2014. The time frame between alert and response is on average 66 hours.
    • In 2017, Ireland provided € 2.7 million pre-positioned humanitarian funding to six trusted humanitarian partners through its Emergency Response Fund Scheme (ERFS). The average approval time for ERFS funding requests in 2017 was two working days.
    • Ireland put multi-annual agreements for core funding in place for both the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). These follow the agreement of a multi-annual agreement for core funding agreed with the World Food Programme (WFP) in 2016.
    • Ireland put multi-annual funding for humanitarian NGOs through its Humanitarian Programme Plan (HPP) which is designed to provide predictable funding for humanitarian interventions in situations of protracted, predictable and recurring crises. This will facilitate longer term planning, more strategic engagement with partners and stakeholders, and greater flexibility to react appropriately to changing conditions.
    • Ireland provided € 32.4 million to 13 country-based pooled funds (CBPF) in 2017, up from € 28 million to 12 CBPFs in 2016.
    • The Programme Grant is Irish Aid’s largest civil society fund and is used to support long-term development interventions, and the new concurrent application and appraisal process presents an opportunity for partners to demonstrate approaches to linking relief, recovery and development.
    • A joint monitoring visit between humanitarian and development teams was undertaken to Irish Aid-funded NGO programmes.

    2. A. How are you measuring progress toward achieving your commitments? Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • By applying processes/indicators developed to measure WHS commitments specifically.
    B. How are you assessing whether progress on commitments is leading toward change in the direction of the transformation?

    • Cross Government implementation of Ireland's World Humanitarian Summit (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, using Ireland's first PACT report as a baseline.

    3. A. Please select no more than 3 key challenges faced in implementing the commitments related to this transformation. Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • Joined-up humanitarian-development analysis, planning, funding and/or response
    • Multi-stakeholder coordination
    B. How are these challenges impacting achievement of this transformation?

    • Whist there is a commitment and willingness to support more joined up humanitarian and development programming, structurally Irish Aid and our partner NGOs are set up to manage development and humanitarian funding separately, so these structures will set natural limits to how far work promoting the nexus can go (longer term challenge).

     

    4. Highlight actions planned for 2018 to advance implementation of your commitments in order to achieve this transformation.

    • Further alignment of development and humanitarian funding streams to civil society.
    • Continue joint monitoring visits to partners in receipt of both humanitarian and development funding to gather learning about the humanitarian – development nexus.
    • Building on the 2016 policy briefing paper on building resilience, Ireland is working on a paper on bridging the humanitarian-development nexus, to inform programming at country level and messaging in multilateral fora.

    Keywords

    Country-based pooled funds

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

    Core Commitments (2)

    • 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
    1. Highlight the concrete actions taken between 1 January – 31 December 2017 to implement the commitments which contribute to achieving this transformation. Be as specific as possible and include any relevant data/figures.

    • Ireland provided € 1.3 million to the Start Fund in 2017, up from € 1 million in 2016. The Start Fund has now responded to 132 Crises in 55 countries since 2014. The time frame between alert and response is on average 66 hours.
    • In 2017, Ireland provided € 2.7 million pre-positioned humanitarian funding to six trusted humanitarian partners through its Emergency Response Fund Scheme (ERFS). The average approval time for ERFS funding requests in 2017 was two working days.
    • Ireland put multi-annual funding agreements in place for both the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
    • Ireland put multi-annual funding for humanitarian NGOs through its Humanitarian Programme Plan (HPP) which is designed to provide predictable funding for humanitarian interventions in situations of protracted, predictable and recurring crises. This will facilitate longer term planning, more strategic engagement with partners and stakeholders, and greater flexibility to react appropriately to changing conditions.
    • Ireland provided € 32.4 million to 13 country-based pooled funds (CBPF) in 2017, up from € 28 million to 12 CBPFs in 2016.
    • The Programme Grant is Irish Aid’s largest civil society fund and is used to support long-term development interventions, and the new concurrent application and appraisal process presents an opportunity for partners to demonstrate approaches to linking relief, recovery and development.
    • A joint monitoring visit between humanitarian and development teams was undertaken to Irish Aid-funded NGO programmes.
    • Ireland continues to advocate strongly for increased core funding, as well as to pooled funding mechanisms such as the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF).

     

    2. A. How are you measuring progress toward achieving your commitments? Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • By applying processes/indicators developed to measure WHS commitments specifically.
    B. How are you assessing whether progress on commitments is leading toward change in the direction of the transformation?

    • Cross Government implementation of Ireland's World Humanitarian Summit (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, using Ireland's first PACT report as a baseline.

    3. A. Please select no more than 3 key challenges faced in implementing the commitments related to this transformation. Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • Funding modalities (earmarking, priorities, yearly agreements, risk aversion measures)
    B. How are these challenges impacting achievement of this transformation?

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

    4. Highlight actions planned for 2018 to advance implementation of your commitments in order to achieve this transformation.

    • Further alignment of development and humanitarian funding streams to civil society through 1) extending the funding cycle for protracted crises to three years, synchronising with the remainder of the Programme Grant cycle 2) aligning project cycle management guidelines and 3) more joint monitoring.

    Keywords

    Country-based pooled funds