Engaging in Emergency Preparedness in a Shifting Humanitarian Landscape: OCHA’s Advantages & Challenges

Abstract: The humanitarian landscape experiences shifts towards local ownership of operations, increasing attention on the humanitarian-development nexus and the resilience paradigm in a New Way of Working, rising importance of regional and private actors, and pushes for changes in the landscape’s financial architecture. Emergency preparedness is a bridging element in these trends. The purpose of the thesis is to provide OCHA with recommendations in times of organisational transition through 22 interviews with OCHA internal and external informants at regional and headquarter level. It complements other approaches of the organisation, such as a cost-benefit analysis. To meet its purpose, the following research question is asked: What are the challenges OCHA faces regarding its comparative advantages in emergency preparedness in the light of a shifting humanitarian landscape? OCHA’s advantages of having strong coordination expertise, skilled people and a bird’s eye view enable a stronger role in emergency preparedness. The organisation’s existing tools and capacities are beneficial, too. However, the organisation’s focus on its internal and the international system’s preparedness does not extend to improving governments’ emergency preparedness capacities. A lack of identity challenges OCHA, which results from internal conflicts, unclear understanding of preparedness, and insufficient leadership commitment. Resources and structural issues are rather a matter of prioritisation. Recommendations to OCHA range from prioritisation of developing governments’ preparedness capacities to synergising the humanitarian and development arenas in a New Way of Working.