ICVA regional teams have been working intensively with inter agency coordination groups to ensure national and international NGO involvement and active contribution to the ongoing preparedness and response to the COVID19, including to liaise at the country, regional and global level.
26. Asia and the Pacific Region: UNHCR Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific, Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network (APRRN) and ICVA convened a Dialogue with Regional NGOs on the COVID-19 Response. 60 NGOs (89 individuals) representing rights and advocacy, refugee communities, humanitarian responders, UNHCR, and others joined the meeting which took place online on Thursday, 9 April. A summary note is available on request to Jeremy.wellard@icvanetwork.org The Regional IASC Emergency Preparedness Working Group (EPWG), where ICVA is co-chair, convened a Meeting on Preparedness for Response in a COVID-19 Environment: Lessons from the TC Harold Response on Thursday 30 April. This meeting drew on the operational experience of agencies responding to the recent Category 5 Tropical Cyclone Harold, which struck Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands. As the first scale up of an emergency response requiring international assistance since the COVID-19 outbreak, this response provides ample opportunity for learning to inform preparedness efforts. Participants discussed top lessons learned by each agency which were linked to the impacts of COVID-19, areas where flexibility and adaptation were evident, and highlighted key operational challenges to inform future preparedness efforts. A summary note is available on request to
Jeremy.wellard@icvanetwork.org
ICVA participated in a webinar convened by UNDRR on Combating the dual challenges of climate-related disasters and COVID-19, a key issue as countries in the Asia-Pacific region enter their cyclone, drought, heatwaves or monsoon seasons. Discussion focused on how countries could confront a major climate-related or other disaster on top of ongoing prevention, response, and recovery measures to deal with COVID-19. A brief was produced reflecting the interventions and feedback from the 16 April webinar. |