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Guidelines
for the Qualifications, Responsibilities, Terms, and Election
of Humanitarian Policy and Practice Committee Co-Chairs
I. Qualifications and Responsibilities
The Humanitarian Policy and
Practice Committee (HPPC) will be led by led by two co-chairs, one based
in Washington, DC, or able to assume the Washington duties, and one based
in New York, or able to assume the New York duties, as outlined below.
Co-chair candidates must be HPPC members with senior level experience
in disaster response or migration and refugee affairs.
The Washington co-chair heads
the Committee at its monthly meetings with OFDA and BPRM and chairs the
meetings themselves on a rotating basis with OFDA and BPRM. He or she
also chairs other ad hoc meetings in Washington. The Washington co-chair
is welcome at all HPPC meetings in New York.
The New York co-chair is expected
to co-chair the Committee at its monthly meetings with UN agencies and
to represent the HPPC (and often InterAction) at other ad hoc meetings
in New York. The New York co-chair is welcome at all HPPC meetings in
Washington.
Both co-chairs are expected
to help chair the semi-annual Committee business meetings, both held in
Washington, DC.
On a shared basis the co-chairs
participate in the meetings of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC).
The IASC is composed of UN agencies either substantially engaged in disaster
response, e.g. UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP and OCHA, or with enough clout within
the UN system to have won inclusion in the Committee. In addition, the
Red Cross movement attends IASC meetings and three NGO coalitions participate
in the work of the IASC. The objective of the IASC is to enhance coordination
among humanitarian agencies. For this purpose it establishes numerous
task forces, reference groups, etc. focused on particular issues. Many
of these are issues that correspond to the high priorities of HPPC members,
e.g., UN/NGO security, the humanitarian impact of sanctions, protection
and assistance for Internally Displaced Persons, etc. There are 8-10 IASC
related meetings each year.
Both co-chairs are members
of the Sphere Project Management Committee, which convenes four times
a year. The burden of representing the HPPC at both IASC and Sphere meetings
(75% of which occur in Europe) is shared among the co-chairs and the Director
of Humanitarian Policy and Practice.
Both co-chairs are members
both of InterAction's Executive Committee and of its Public Policy Committee,
which gives them prominent roles in establishing policy for the InterAction
coalition and in overseeing its performance.
The co-chairs are regularly
called upon to give guidance to Humanitarian Policy and Practice Team
(HPPT) staff as they serve the Committee.
II. Terms
The HPPC co-chairs serve overlapping
three-year terms so that two new co-chairs are never elected at the same
time.
III. Elections
Co-chairs are elected through
an email election process during the month previous to the spring/summer
Committee business meeting. Approximately one month before the meeting,
HPPT staff will send out an email to the HPPC Member email list explaining
the duties of the co-chair to be elected and asking for nominations. After
receiving nominations, HPPT staff will verify the ability of the candidates
to fulfill the duties of the office. HPPT staff will send out another
email to the HPPC Member email list with brief bios of the candidates
and requesting votes from HPPC member agencies. Only one ballot per HPPC
member agency will be counted. If more than one is received from any agency,
HPPT staff will contact the agency concerned. The elected co-chair will
assume office after the Committee business meeting.
IV. Election Schedule
The election schedule through
2005 is as follows:
2004: Election of New York
co-chair
2005: Election of Washington co-chair
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