Urban Emergencies: Defining and Setting the Agenda
Organized by UN-Habitat & UNICEF
17th October 2012, IFRC Compound, Nairobi
Background
Globally, the humanitarian trends show growing number of disasters and conflicts in urban areas. The probability of
crises in urban areas is growing, demanding agencies and sectors to rethink traditional relief approaches to
humanitarian response and their relevance for an urban context. The growing engagement of humanitarian WASH
actors in urban areas puts unique pressures on humanitarian agencies and partners delivering WASH programming
in a complex urban environment. Majority of response approaches, assumptions and tools are geared towards rural
and camp settings and lack connectivity to broader urban processes and stakeholders. Traditionally, emergency
response for all sectors has been designed for camps with rural assumptions.
UNICEF and UN-Habitat will convene a one day multi stakeholder dialogue on Urban Emergencies: Setting and
Defining the Agenda in Nairobi to generate discussion and reflection amongst WASH stakeholders on the
opportunities and challenges that arise from humanitarian response in urban settings.
It is suggested that the day seeks to reach consensus on the following:
“Do traditional WASH humanitarian agencies have a role to play in urban settings and
what can they contribute to the wider urban response beyond temporary lifesaving
facilities?”
Summary of key urban humanitarian challenges:
Humanitarian agencies and IASC organizations have traditionally been engaged in primarily rural settlements and
have acquired expertise and skills in camp management and rural response except a few actors. The urban context
is still very new to most organizations as witnessed in Haiti Earthquake response in 2010, where urban expertise,
planning and coordination proved to be a major challenge. Haiti earthquake in the capital city amplified the gaps
difficulties in operating in urban contexts. However, many other urban contexts offer insights into how response and
recovery strategies for urban disasters and conflicts can be improved- e.g Philippines, Chile, Indonesia, Afghanistan,
Kenya, OPt, Sudan and Somalia, all complex humanitarian settings.
Urban context is placing new demands on humanitarian agencies to develop knowledge, expertise and skills in
responding to urban humanitarian crises and develop methodologies and practices to work in cities with and connect
to an umbrella network of national, municipal and broader variety of urban stakeholders. This places pressures on
adapting and changing the basic humanitarian toolkit or approaches pre-dominantly based on non-urban settings and
camps to an urban settlements context. WASH actors invest significant resources in emergency and temporary
WASH, and their impact and connectivity to urban response efforts needs to be reexamined and strengthened. These
approaches can be made more sustainable, one that promotes return and rehabilitation in an integrated manner.
Secondly, humanitarian agencies and partners have not been used to coordination in urban contexts which involves
national and local Government such well as city, community/neighborhood level actors and structures In addition,
urban areas host a range of institutions, national Government and various urban instructors, service providers,
community networks and partners, particularly development actors. Coordination among and between the
stakeholders is critical to rebuild cities.
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Urban areas need to be looked at as settlements than separate rural and urban models. Similarly, the linkage
between relief, recovery and long term reconstruction and development becomes more important for urban contexts
after crises. Humanitarian actors need to develop an understanding to design strategies leveraging investment in the
emergency and recovery phases into the longer term rehabilitation and reconstruction in urban contexts. One of the
major gap is sectoral isolation of each sector, and the disconnect between planning, shelter, land and National and
urban municipal authorities, service providers, local urban-based organizations.
Lastly, urban contexts demand an understanding of how cities function, how services are delivered, what capacities
exist, which regulations, decision-makers and institutions form the basis of cities. An effective response needs to
understand basic urban facts of the affected city. As witnessed in recent humanitarian crises, urban water and
sanitation infrastructure rehabilitation is a major challenge. Traditional relief approaches do not analyze capacities
and existing structures of service delivery, coordination, and institutions adequately. Humanitarian interventions in
urban need to reinforce restore and strengthen national and municipal capacity to lead response and recovery
interventions. It should be supported by technical assistance, leveraging, stakeholder coordination and dialogue,
standards and rehabilitation of critical infrastructure and services where possible. Lastly, previously rural responses
were simpler as compared to urban, where less sophisticated knowledge, techniques and processes were required.
This global trend demands adaptation and new ways of doing WASH responses in urban settings.
Session Objectives
UN-HABITAT & UNICEF will convene a one day multi-stakeholder dialogue to:
a)
b)
c)
d)
Analyze the broader urban context in which humanitarian response is taking place and highlight learning
from recent urban humanitarian crises
Define what role traditional humanitarian actors have in urban humanitarian context and how coordination,
partnerships, funding and expertise can be improved for responding effectively in cities
Identify issues, gaps and solutions in urban responses and particularly WASH responses in urban settings
through country presentations from Gaza, Libya, Haiti, the Philippines, Sierra Leone, and Zimbabwe.
Define future strategic priorities and next steps on urban emergencies
Additional Documents:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Meeting Agenda
Country presentation guidelines
Country presentations by humanitarian agencies/donors (DFID, ICRC, UNICEF, IFRC)
Urban presentations by UN-Habitat
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