UNICEF Emergency Procedures
Why are they relevant?: It has a specific section on PSEA which includes GBV risk mitigation. For any organizations interested in learning how to integrate GBV risk mitigation in emergency procedures.
“Emergency procedures” refers to the pre-defined actions and processes that inform an organization’s overall response to humanitarian crises. Often these are triggered by a formal declaration of a particular level or category of emergency (L2/L3, Public Health Emergency, etc.).
Anchoring GBV risk mitigation in emergency procedures (ideally with automatic funds allocation) can have a significant impact on institutionalizing GBV risk mitigation action because it ensures automatic implementation at the onset of emergencies and communicates organizational commitments for GBV risk mitigation in all emergencies.
When GBV risk mitigation is part of an organizational or sectoral/cluster plan, the organization, sector or cluster is accountable and obliged to mobilise resources and report against progress – an important step to institutionalizing GBV risk mitigation. It also increases visibility of GBV risk mitigation in an organization, for example, by triggering annual reporting against progress implementing GBV risk mitigation. It can also make progress in GBV risk mitigation tangible, as the results of GBV risk mitigation can be presented in a more visible way, e.g., through statistics, dashboards, vignettes pulled from qualitative data, and examples from other offices. This entry point is linked to the strategy and funding entry points. It may form part of a wider strategy or feature as a trigger for mobilising funding within some organizations.
Why are they relevant?: It has a specific section on PSEA which includes GBV risk mitigation. For any organizations interested in learning how to integrate GBV risk mitigation in emergency procedures.
Example 1
UNICEF revised the Emergency Procedures for Every Emergency (L1, L2, L3) and created the Guidance Handbook in L1, L2 and L3 Emergenciesin 2021. Both GBV and PSEA specialists were invited to engage in the process so that both GBV risk mitigation and PSEA provisions were considered. In the end, PSEA held a dedicated section within the Emergency Procedures which mandates UNICEF to “conduct PSEA risk analysis as part of regular Emergency Preparedness and enterprise Risk Management” and to allocate funding – US $500,000 for L2 emergencies and $750,000 for L3 emergencies to scale up PSEA intervention.
The guidance document further details requirements related to GBV risk mitigation. For example, as key actions to integrate PSEA, UNICEF is required to “include standard questions on SEA/GBV risk in needs assessments” and in Programme Documents (PDs), and to “integrate PSEA programmatically in all UNICEF PDs with focus on BV/SEA risk mitigation” among other issues.