Field officers of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) need special skills to harmonize complex relief efforts; an in-house course is designed to equip them with the expertise to ensure the most efficient delivery of services to communities in crisis.
The six-month long Humanitarian Field Coordination Programme combines online distance learning with practical, field-based training. At least 220 OCHA staff have taken the course since it was launched in 2008.
"The training brings OCHA's humanitarian staff together to discuss their work and see what coordination has done for them, especially the impact this has on people affected by crisis," Julianne Di Nenna, the training programme's facilitator, told IRIN on 29 April in Mombasa, at the end of a workshop for some 30 OCHA staff from Geneva and New York headquarters and several African countries.
The course includes simulations of real-life emergencies, with participants playing roles such as UN and NGO workers, as well as military commanders and internally displaced persons, to emphasize the need for competencies such as negotiation, communication, empathy and accountability.
"When they complete the course, the participants will be more skilled and knowledgeable about what it takes to do humanitarian coordination and have more confidence to do their coordination work,” said Denny Hamilton, a trainer with a background in counselling and psychology.
Idrissa Conteh, who heads OCHA’s sub-office in Maradi, Niger’s second largest city, said the course had been especially useful in equipping him with the skills to improve his relations with the country’s military government.
"I have fine-tuned my coordination skills and I am going back with improved partnership-building abilities, maintaining neutrality in mediating meetings,” he said. “The course has given me a clearer picture of some of the challenges we face as OCHA field staff when negotiating for things such as access to vulnerable communities.”
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The six-month long Humanitarian Field Coordination Programme combines online distance learning with practical, field-based training. At least 220 OCHA staff have taken the course since it was launched in 2008.
"The training brings OCHA's humanitarian staff together to discuss their work and see what coordination has done for them, especially the impact this has on people affected by crisis," Julianne Di Nenna, the training programme's facilitator, told IRIN on 29 April in Mombasa, at the end of a workshop for some 30 OCHA staff from Geneva and New York headquarters and several African countries.
The course includes simulations of real-life emergencies, with participants playing roles such as UN and NGO workers, as well as military commanders and internally displaced persons, to emphasize the need for competencies such as negotiation, communication, empathy and accountability.
"When they complete the course, the participants will be more skilled and knowledgeable about what it takes to do humanitarian coordination and have more confidence to do their coordination work,” said Denny Hamilton, a trainer with a background in counselling and psychology.
Idrissa Conteh, who heads OCHA’s sub-office in Maradi, Niger’s second largest city, said the course had been especially useful in equipping him with the skills to improve his relations with the country’s military government.
"I have fine-tuned my coordination skills and I am going back with improved partnership-building abilities, maintaining neutrality in mediating meetings,” he said. “The course has given me a clearer picture of some of the challenges we face as OCHA field staff when negotiating for things such as access to vulnerable communities.”
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This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
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