Iasc cluster approach evaluation, 2nd phase april 2010

Executive Summary
Introduction
Method
Background
Findings
Conclusions
Recommendations

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38
Good practice:
Building on the e-WASH 
platform in the oPt 
Reasons for lack of 
coordination or integration
Lack of coordination with 
UNDAC 
representatives.  In  Uganda  and  Haiti,  sectors  were  weakened  through  the 
introduction  of  the  clusters  and  clusters  did  not  sufficiently  integrate  relevant 
NGO coordination fora. In the oPt, clusters and sectors are insufficiently linked 
to the main aid coordination system, the Local Aid Coordination Secretariat.
32
  
46
   A good practice example is in the oPt, where the WASH Cluster builds on a pre-
existing local civil society forum named e-WASH and works very closely with the 
water authority in Gaza. In Myanmar, the response was mainly led by ASEAN 
and  gradually  embedded  into  the  Tripartite  Core  Group.  In  DRC,  clusters 
systematically replaced and improved the work of sector meetings.
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   The evaluation team identified various reasons for this lack of coordination or 
integration, including:
 
•
   Existing government- or civil society-led coordination fora are often weak or 
dysfunctional and government authorities often have insufficient capacities for 
taking over coordination responsibilities.
 
•
   Due to the “myth of speed”
33
 and the international mindset of humanitarian 
response and the cluster approach, too little analysis of existing structures and 
capacities takes place before clusters are implemented. 
 
•
   International  actors  have  few  incentives  to  integrate  with  existing 
mechanisms.
 
•
   The  cluster  approach  seeks  to  enhance  predictability,  which  implies  less 
flexibility for adapting to local circumstances. 
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   An issue that also emerged, but was not fully explored by this evaluation, is the 
unclear distribution of roles and lack of coordination between the cluster system 
and international mechanisms for immediate crisis response (typically in the first 
two  weeks  after  sudden-onset  disasters),  in  particular  with  the  United  Nations 
Disaster  Assessment  and  Coordination  system  (UNDAC)  and  its  coordination 
mechanisms: UNDAC field teams, the International Search and Rescue Advisory 
Group (INSARAG) and On-Site Operations Coordination Centres (OSOCC). 
32   Similarly, the cluster system for Somalia is not linked to the main aid coordination system there, the Somalia 
Aid Coordination Body. 
33  The notion was coined by Anderson and Woodrow (1989).