This section provides a description of the Emergency Telecommunication Cluster (ETC) structure, mechanisms and services. It is intended for humanitarian agencies, their partners and donors who wish to understand the way the ETC operates, the services it can provide in humanitarian crises and how to gain access to them. In particular, it focuses on the role and services provided by the World Food Programme, the provider of last resort for emergency data and security telecommunications in support of humanitarian workers’ safety and security.

Background

In 2005 an independent review of the humanitarian response was undertaken which found that the international responses to humanitarian crises in some sectors have in the past benefited from having clearly mandated lead agencies, while others have not.  This has led to ad hoc, unpredictable humanitarian responses, with inevitable capacity and response gaps in some areas.  Following the review an important Humanitarian Reform initiative was undertaken by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) which aimed at improving the effectiveness of humanitarian response by ensuring greater predictability and accountability, while at the same time strengthening partnerships between NGOs, international organizations, the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movements and UN agencies.  The "cluster approach" was adopted as one of the pillars of the reform, which is a mechanism that can help to address identified gaps in response and enhance the quality of humanitarian action. 

In September 2005 the IASC designated global cluster leads - specifically for humanitarian emergencies - in nine sectors or areas of activity. The IASC Principles also agreed that the cluster approach should be applied, with some flexibility, at the country level.

The Emergency Telecommunications Cluster (ETC) was one of the nine clusters, and in December 2005 designated the following global cluster lead agencies: the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) as process owner. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) as service provider for common data communications and the World Food Programme (WFP) as service provider for common security telecommunications.  The designation also defined the roles, responsibilities and services to be provided by the three agencies at the global level.