The Humanitarian Leadership Strengthening Section (HLSS) works on behalf of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) to strengthen the humanitarian coordination leadership function
The role of the humanitarian coordination leaders – the Resident Coordinators (RCs) and Humanitarian Coordinators (HCs) is critical to delivery principled and timely humanitarian assistance and protection services to people in need. In effect, while the primary responsibility for coordinating humanitarian assistance rests with national authorities, if international humanitarian assistance is required the HCs or RCs are responsible for leading and coordinating the efforts of humanitarian organizations (United Nations, international and national non-governmental organizations, civil society organizations and other national actors) with a view to ensuring that they are principled, timely, effective and efficient, and contribute to addressing immediate needs and strengthening people’s resilience.
The role of the HLSS is to work with relevant offices and departments as well as broader IASC partners to strengthen humanitarian coordination in the field. This support is centered around the following four tracks:
- Promoting dialogue and building consensus among humanitarian partners on key normative issues on humanitarian coordination leadership;
- Expanding the pool of potential Humanitarian Coordinators;
- Improving the leadership and coordination skills of Humanitarian and Resident Coordinators; and
- Ensuring that Humanitarian and Resident Coordinators get the support they need to be able to deliver timely and principled humanitarian response.
