1. MULTISECTORAL ASSESSMENTS
RRM in CAR
Humanitarian WATCH
RRM
NFI/Shelter/CCCM
Health
Nutrition
Child protection
WASH
INTERVENTIONS
Education
Food security
The Rapid Response Mechanism is guided by the humanitarian imperative and the rights of children. It enables a shared vision of needs and priorities within the humanitarian community and provides a platform to advance UNICEF’s core commitments to children in humanitarian action (CCCs). These oblige UNICEF to ensure that a predictable, timely and effective response is undertaken to meet the humanitarian needs of children in emergencies.
In March 2014, UNICEF and WFP initiated the Integrated Rapid Response Mechanism – IRRM, designed to assess and respond to rapidly changing needs on the ground. Working as a multi-sector joint mechanism, the WFP-UNICEF RRM triggers immediate action to address critical gaps in humanitarian coverage and meet the needs of those that are beyond reach of other aid delivery modalities in ‘hard to reach’ deep field locations. Using the food security and nutrition situation as the key benchmark to prioritize interventions, the RRM started to deploy mobile teams with dedicated specialists. The team usually includes Nutrition, Food Security, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, Health, Child Protection and Education—together with Coordination, Logistics and Security support staff.
Unprecedented levels of food insecurity, coupled with continued escalation of conflict, consequent displacement and lack of access in 2017, justified the continuation of the RRMs in order to reach otherwise inaccessible populations with urgent, life-saving interventions. Given the increasing protection concerns across country, the current criteria of IRRM, largely based on food insecurity/nutrition; accessibility; and timeframes for return and re-registration of population, are being revised to potentially include protection indicators in order to make the IRRM more inclusive with different triggers to meet the needs of the most vulnerable population.
Despite the RRM being an immediate-term mechanism, there will be increased focus on monitoring and follow-up missions considering the shrinking humanitarian space particularly after the 2016 July crisis. More efforts will be put on building the capacity of community based partners and strengthening collaboration with mobile and static partners so as to begin developing more sustainable programming in locations where possible.
MULTISECTORAL ASSESSMENTS
RRM coordination– UNICEF PFP

2. COORDINATION OVERVIEW Inter Cluster Coordination (ICC)
Country level
Regional level
Humanitarian Country Taskforce (HCT)
Food security Cluster
Protection Cluster
Nutrition Cluster
Inter Cluster Coordination (ICC)
Health Cluster
Education Cluster
Operational partners
OCHA
Sub-WASH Clusters
WASH Cluster
NFI/Shelter/CCC M Cluster
Sub- NFI/Shelter/CCCM Clusters
Operational partners
RRM Strategic Committee
COORDINATION
UNICEF bases
UNOCHA is the main coordinating body in humanitarian actions and facilitates the coordination mechanisms with all clusters. UNICEF and WFP liaise with UNOCHA and Inter-Cluster Working Group (ICWG) to understand the needs present in the target locations prior to the missions and update them on the progresses and outcomes of the IRRM missions. The IPC data, assessments by agencies/partners, WFP vulnerability analysis and mapping data, Initial Rapid Assessment (IRNA) are used to decide priority locations and time frame of the missions to be served by IRRM. Security risk assessments and regular monitoring of the sites are normally done by WFP and UNDSS. WFP undertakes access negotiation with central and local authorities, UNDSS supports by obtaining air assets’ clearance and flight assurance and the Logistic cluster remains an integral part of RRM for staff travel and transportation of supplies.
Further, UNICEF programme sections liaise with UNICEF-led WASH and Nutrition clusters, as well as those of Health, Education clusters and the Child Protection sub-cluster whenever an IRRM is organised in order to ensure harmonization and complementarity of assistance with partners. UNICEF also shares IRRM reports with OCHA to be circulated with networks including clusters. Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) is updated on IRRM deliveries time to time.
PARTENAIRES
Operational RRM partner’s bases
Operational RRM partner’s bases
Operational RRM partner’s bases

3. RRM Coordination Functions
WASH and NFI clusters
Coordination with regional clusters and NFI and WASH partners
RRM partners
1. Humanitarian WATCH
2. MEX/MSA*
3. NFI distributions
4. WASH interventions
5. RRM national and regional coordination
OCHA
Coordination with other clusters/
ICC/
HCT
UNICEF
1. RRM coordination with NFI and WASH national clusters
2. UNICEF field bases
In advance of a mission, WFP conducts access negotiations with both Government and opposition forces to ensure safety and security of RRM staff deployed from WFP, UNICEF and partners. WFP leads and finances this critical function to secure access for RRM missions and frequently deploys its Field Security Officers to provide security support for all agencies’ staff part of the response team. Working principles, such as how to engage with the community; crowd control etc. are shared, so the field security function can also be covered by UNICEF and WFP.
For flight safety assurances, OCHA and WFP’s United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) also takes part in negotiations. UNHAS and WFP’s own air assets are equally essential in the delivery of WFP components of the RRM—particularly considering the volume of supplies needed for general food distributions. OCHA also supports, through its dedicated access team which undertakes negotiations on behalf of clusters members/partners ahead and after RRM missions.
At the field level, team leaders from UNICEF and WFP remain in constant contact with local authorities so that activities can be carried out as planned in a safe and secure environment for the affected population and staff.
Both WFP and UNICEF Country Offices mobilise their internal management mechanisms for the RRM. UNICEF’s Emergency Specialist, under the guidance of Chief of Field Operations, provides supervision. There is a dedicated RRM Coordinator who manages the daily operations and liaises with different actors including the clusters - food security, nutrition, health, WASH, and child protection. When IRRMs are organised in field locations, the respective Chief of Field Offices (CFOs) are informed and involved in the process. Technical specialists from field offices also take part in RRM missions depending on the flight schedules and time frame of the missions.
The Regional Office provides guidance and oversight in regards to policy development, documentation and advocacy with WFP, UNOCHA and donors. The RRM is one of the central tenants of strategic collaboration between WFP and UNICEF at regional level in ESAR and is a major implementation modality in an L3 crisis with global significance for both agencies. To this avail, the Regional Director is personally involved and engaging with SSCO to ensure the effective implementation and scale up of RRM missions according to the needs on the ground, as part of her key roles as GEC for the L3 crisis.
Logistics and security staff from both agencies are also always part of RRM deployments, with WFP fielding communications staff and enumerators to carry out registration, radio operators and drop-zone coordinators to prepare locations for air drops and clear space for helicopter rotations. For UNICEF, the Logistics Cluster is an essential and critical partner as it provides a significant portion of the logistical infrastructure and assets underpinning the RRM implementation as a viable option to reach more communities and expand coverage. Working together under the joint RRM mechanism, UNICEF and WFP collaborate both at the technical and management level, and the RRM is integrated into the Cluster Coordination system.
UNOCHA, UNICEF and WFP had earlier established an Operational Working Group (OWG) that provided a forum for technical discussions on appropriate programme interventions to be delivered through the RRM missions, and work as a platform to align targeting and planning of different partner responses. However, the forum is no longer functional as UNICEF, WFP and OCHA meet and communicate bilaterally as needed.
* Exploratory mission / Multisectoral assessment