Regional IAWG on RH in Crisis
Middle East and North Africa
Olivia Hill, MSF
Co-Chairs
Mollie Fair, UNFPA ASRO
Ali Shaar, UNFPA OPT
Members of the Steering Committee
14th Annual IAWG Conference, Kuala Lumpar 2013
Middle East North Africa Region
Situation…
 Diverse region that suffers from a
variety of emergencies affecting a
large number of states
 Political unrest & armed conflict
(Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Syria,
Yemen, Sudan, South Sudan)
 Prone to natural disasters (ie.
floods, droughts, earthquakes)
 Displacement & Migration
(refugees, IDPs, migration from
rural to urban areas)
MENA established December 2008
1st Regional Meeting for MENA (Cairo July 2009) and
Regional MISP Training of Trainers: A course for SRH
coordinators (Cairo December 2009)
Developed MENA Action plan…
Focused on 4 priorities:
Capacity building

Develop team of trained RH Coordinators
through MISP TOT and echo trainings.
Adaptation of MISP ToTs.
Technical assistance

Develop roster of experts & identify good tools
Coordination and information sharing

Enhanced communication, expanded network, information sharing
Advocacy and awareness raising

Develop advocacy tools and strategies to integrate SRH preparedness
into national emergency preparedness plans
2010 – 2011 MENA Activities
MISP ToT Manual Translated into Arabic
MISP ToT echo trainings held in country
Jordan :28 participants from Jordan, 5 from
Syria, + 1 Advocacy Day, Drafted RH Emergency
plan for integration into Jordan MOH National
Health Strategy Plan for Disaster Preparedness
Palestine: 2 echo MISP ToT trainings
Sudan: Multiple MISP ToT trainings held in
Darfur and South Sudan
Lebanon: MISP ToT planned for North, South
and Bekaa regions
Yemen: MISP ToT
Libya: MISP trainings, CSSAS, EmOC
Coordination: MENA WG emails exchanged
during onset of Egypt and Libya crisis Jan/Feb
2011
Advocacy: meetings with MoH at country level
MISP TOT: echo training Participants, Jordan
2012 MENA Activities
2nd Regional IAWG (19-21st March 2012, Cairo, Egypt)
Over 60 participants representing 12 countries and 28 organizations
Aim: build a regional network of agencies to support country level coordinated
SRH preparedness and response interventions in crisis with particular focus on
women and young girls, and adolescents.
Strategies: the group continued working on the 4 priority areas for its work:

Capacity building

Technical Assistance

Knowledge Management

Advocacy
Facilitation: MSF-Spain, UNHCR, OCHA, IMC, IPPF, Save the Children, Ibis,
and WHO have volunteered to be members of the Steering Committee
UNFPA agreed to continue to serve as Secretariat for the Group.
All presentations are available at http://www.iawg.net/
MENA Action Plan for 2009 - 2013
Summary Terms of Reference submitted to IAWG
January 2009 and updated 2013:
1.1 Identify gaps and challenges in reproductive health and rights for populations in
crisis settings in the MENA region.
1.2 Provide a platform to share information and lessons learned across projects in
the region and enable partnerships to minimize duplication of efforts and to fill
gaps in order to facilitate effective and coordinated SRH response in emergencies
in the region.
1.3 Improve access to information, services and support partnerships to encourage
capacity building of actors providing reproductive health services in the region.
1.4 Advocate and implement the MISP in the region through support of the SPRINT
initiative and by seeking efforts to continue to mainstream MISP into humanitarian
response.
1.5 Advocate for response to unmet needs in reproductive health in countries facing
crisis in the region.
MENA updates for (Feb 2013)


Briefing by OCHA on the Minimum Preparedness Package (MPP)
mapping exercise for MENA region;

present the current MPP presentation prepared by OCHA ROMENA
for the region and its challenges

briefing on the process to update the MPP mapping exercise in the
region in order to have a clear picture about the MPP status in the
region, the gaps and challenges
Update on Current Crises in the Region and brainstorming on joint
activities/action
Egypt’s response to influx of Syria refugees
UNHCR has carried out several assessments related to the influx of Syrians
into Egypt; UNHCR, UNICEF, IOM and Partners joint assessments in
Egypt's Damiette and Alexandria will be uploaded in the web portal
http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/regional.php

UNCT in Egypt will develop the SRRP for June-January
MENA priorities and challenges

Reminder of Priorities

Need for concerted efforts to build capacities (UN, NGO's, etc. for
MISP)

Strengthen advocacy efforts to ensure RH is recognized as a priority in
crisis situations

Improve and share information to build off lessons learnt (MSF,
UNFPA)
Challenges
(1) No organization has staff fully dedicated to IAWG activities-- it is an
add on to existing responsibilities and portfolios; therefore, to some
degree it is voluntary in nature which makes it difficult in terms of
accountability; we are looking into getting an intern to help support some
activities
(2) We have no budget
(3) Expectations of working group may not match dedicated resources
