Fig. 2 Example Education Programme Commitment
Education sector strategic result
Girls and boys access safe and secure education and
critical information for their own well-being.
Commitments
Benchmarks
Commitment 1: Effective leadership
is established for education cluster/
inter-agency coordination (with co-lead
agency), with links to other cluster/sector
coordination mechanisms on critical intersectoral issues.
Benchmark 1: Coordination mechanism
provides guidance to all partners on
common standards, strategies and
approaches, ensuring that all critical
education gaps and vulnerabilities are
identified, and provides information on
roles, responsibilities and accountability to
address all gaps without duplication.
Commitment 2: Children, including
preschool-age children, girls and other
excluded children, access quality education
opportunities.
Benchmark 2: Schools are reopened, and
child- and adolescent-friendly emergency
non-formal programmes, including play
and early learning for young children, are
established for affected communities.
Commitment 3: Safe and secure learning
environments that promote the protection
and well-being of students are established.
Benchmark 3: Schools are safe and free
from violence, and children, including
girls, can safely move between home and
school.
Commitment 4: Psychosocial and health
services for children and teachers are
integrated in educational response.
Benchmark 4: All education-related
humanitarian response integrates
appropriate psychosocial, health and
nutritional interventions.
Commitment 5: Adolescents, young
children and caregivers access appropriate
life skills programmes and information
about the emergency, and those who
have missed out on schooling, especially
adolescents, receive information on
educational options.
Benchmark 5: Relevant education
programmes are implemented, including
for adolescents and young children.
This complements the full Core Commitments for Children in Humanitarian Action (CCCs),
available on UNICEF’s website at: http://www.unicef.org/emerg/index_commitments.html.
Strategic Result
Commitments – the first commitment in
each sector refers to coordination or cluster
lead (when relevant) aligning UNICEF’s
commitments in humanitarian reform with
the CCCs.
Core Commitments
for Children in
Humanitarian Action
Benchmarks – aligned with globally accepted
standards including Sphere and INEE
For further information on the CCCs, or UNICEF’s work in humanitarian action and postcrisis recovery, please contact: Christine Knudsen, Chief of Interagency and Humanitarian
Partnership Section (Geneva), [email protected], or Genevieve Boutin, Chief of
Humanitarian Policy Section (New York), [email protected].
© United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
2010
WHAT ARE THE CCCs?
WHAT RESULTS DO THE CCCs SET FORTH
The Core Commitments for Children
The CCCs are based on global
in Humanitarian Action – the CCCs
standards and norms for humanitarian
– are UNICEF’s central humanitarian
action. UNICEF’s scope of action will
policy to uphold the rights of children
be adapted depending on context.
affected by humanitarian crisis. They
UNICEF’s role may include promoting
are a framework for humanitarian
the CCCs through advocacy, leadership,
action, around which UNICEF seeks
cluster roles, or within humanitarian
to engage with partners. The updated
country teams. In some contexts, and
CCCs continue to promote predictable,
in sectors and geographic areas where
effective and timely collective
UNICEF has a comparative advantage,
humanitarian action, and to clearly
UNICEF’s humanitarian response may
outline the areas in which UNICEF
expand beyond the CCCs. UNICEF
can best contribute to results. Initially
is also committed to ensuring that
developed in 1998 and reviewed in 2004, humanitarian action is undertaken with
the current revision brings UNICEF’s
all rights of children and women being
overarching humanitarian policy up
considered as per the CRC and CEDAW.
to date with changes in the context
Fig. 1 Programme and Operational
in which humanitarian action takes
Commitments
place, including new evidence and
(Cluster accountabilities are framed within
best practices, as well as humanitarian
each Programme Commitment)
reform, in particular the Cluster
Approach.
Rapid Assessment, Monitoring and Evaluation
The CCCs are guided by international
human rights law, in particular the
Convention on the Rights of the
Child and, in the case of complex
emergencies, also by international
Operational Commitments
humanitarian law. The CCCs reaffirm
that advocacy to protect the rights
Media
Finance
Information and
Human
Resource
of children and women is an integral
communications
Security
and
and
resources
mobilization
technology
communication
management
part of humanitarian action.
The CCCs guide UNICEF’s work with
partners not only in humanitarian
response, but also emphasizing
reliable preparedness and early
recovery. The CCCs recognize
that prioritizing sustainability and
ownership in humanitarian response
can speed up a transition from lifesaving intervention to recovery and
can support self-initiated recovery
actions by affected populations.
Programme Commitments
Nutrition
Health
WASH
Child
protection
HIV and AIDS
Advocacy
Communication for Development
Supply
Education
UNICEF recognizes the importance of
collaborative partnerships in fulfilling
and protecting the full spectrum of
children’s rights. UNICEF cannot achieve
the CCCs alone. The CCCs reaffirm
UNICEF’s Cluster commitments as
country Cluster Lead Agency and Cluster
member.
WHAT ARE THE UNDERLYING PRINCIPLES?
Human rights principles and global
standards for humanitarian action
are at the core of the CCCs across all
phases of humanitarian action. The
CCCs incorporate a Human Rights
Based Approach to Programming, which
ensures that human rights principles
are translated into practice, including
through an emphasis on marginalized
and excluded populations. This requires
that:
•
ender analysis informs
G
decisions based on the different
needs and capacities of girls,
boys, women and men.
•
ffected populations, including
A
children, actively participate as
early as possible and throughout
all stages of the humanitarian
response, recognizing the
varying needs of specific
population groups.
•
umanitarian action includes
H
efforts to build the capacity of
rights holders to make claims,
and of duty bearers to meet their
obligations.
The CCCs are fully grounded in
the Principles of Partnership, with
the recognition that strengthening
partnership and collaboration is a
key to success in humanitarian action
and improved results for children and
women.
WHAT IS UNICEF COMMITTING TO?
UNICEF recognizes that the ability to
fulfil the CCCs is clearly linked to its
partners’ ability to deliver on the ground.
For its own external accountability,
UNICEF commits to:
I.Ensure the situation of children
and women is monitored, so that
all humanitarian emergencies are
detected, including slow onset
emergencies.
II.Respond within defined
programme sectors to contribute
to the sectoral results and
activities, to the extent that
funding and presence of partners
allow.
III.Advocate on behalf of
children and women with
government and other partners
in humanitarian situations to
ensure that the benchmarks
are achieved, through UNICEF
programmes or other means.
This means UNICEF and the
CCCs are relevant in contexts
where UNICEF and IASC partners
have limited programmes.
IV.Ensure a minimum emergency
preparedness in each of the CCC
sectors and clusters, as well as
within UNICEF.
The CCCs bring a stronger results
focus to UNICEF humanitarian action
for children, from a strategic level of
engagement with partners through to
more specific programme actions.
The CCCs establish strategic results by
sector, programmatic commitments
and corresponding benchmarks
derived from global standards in the
respective programme areas (see
Fig. 2 for Education example). This
includes Sphere and INEE* as well as
consultations with the global cluster in
the case of child protection. A technical
justification is provided for each sector.
Programme actions have been identified
within preparedness, response and early
recovery. In some country contexts, the
activities may be different but will be
designed to effectively contribute to the
benchmarks.
*
Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies.
Realizing these results entails close
collaboration among partners,
governments, civil society organizations,
non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
– both national and international – UN
agencies and donors. UNICEF will
work with the national authorities,
the Humanitarian Coordinator and
donors to advocate and to mobilize the
necessary resources for an adequate
and appropriate response.
UNICEF is currently developing
tools and a strategy to strengthen
performance monitoring, in line with
the CCCs. The performance monitoring
system will track UNICEF performance
including in relation to its cluster
commitments as well as programme
performance with partners. This work
focuses on strengthening resultsfocused monitoring and contributing to
stronger humanitarian action by UNICEF
and its operational and cluster partners.