IASC Guidance Understanding and Addressing Bureaucratic and Administrative Impediments to Humanitarian Action: Framework for a System-wide Approach

At a glance

This framework has been developed to support Humanitarian Coordinators (HCs) and Humanitarian Country Teams (HCTs) better collectively understand and address Bureaucratic and Administrative Impediments (BAI) to the work of humanitarian actors.

In 2019, the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) recognized that Bureaucratic and Administrative Impediments (BAI) were a significant and growing barrier to humanitarian operations. The Operational Policy and Advocacy Group (OPAG) Results Group 1 on Operational Response (RG1) tasked an inter-agency BAI subgroup (co-chaired by InterAction and ICVA with UNHCR, WFP, OCHA, IOM, Save the Children, NRC, UNICEF, IFRC), to carry forward a workplan to collectively examine BAI in more depth, and to generate practical tools and guidance for Humanitarian Coordinators (HCs) and Humanitarian Country Teams (HCTs) in humanitarian settings worldwide.

The RG1 BAI Subgroup outlined the scope and nature of BAI impacting humanitarian action; conducted an indicative mapping exercise of BAI globally; and completed four case studies in Afghanistan, Myanmar, Nigeria and Venezuela, based on consultations with almost 200 operational organizations and coordination bodies in 2020 and 2021.

The global BAI mapping, country case studies, as well as a desk review of public and private research and analysis, form the evidence base for this framework.

How to Use this Framework

This paper outlines a framework for collective action to understand and address BAI, led by the HC and HCT at country level and with links to global stakeholders to complement and enhance in-country efforts. This framework should encourage discussion and help HCT members and other stakeholders agree on actions that can be taken at national and subnational levels to understand, address and prevent the negative impacts of BAI on humanitarian action. While the framework primarily addresses HCTs at the national level, sub-national HCTs and relevant task teams can also utilize it to inform their approaches to BAI. Effectively addressing BAI will require actors at all levels to feed into the national HCT consultation and decision-making processes.