Skip to main content

User menu

  • Log in
Home

Search form

Main menu

  • About the IASC
  • Tools & Services
  • Library

The Inter-Agency Standing Committee

Image
A staged group photo of the IASC Principals in front of an ICRC flag and a window with the UN Geneva HQ visible.

Created by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly resolution 46/182 in 1991, the Inter-Agency Standing Committee is the longest-standing and highest-level humanitarian coordination forum of the UN system, bringing together the executive heads of 18 UN and non-UN organizations to ensure coherence of preparedness and response efforts, formulate policy, and agree on priorities for strengthened humanitarian action. The IASC is chaired by the Emergency Relief Coordinator (ERC) and facilitates the leadership role of the UN Secretary-General by regularly convening to ensure better preparation for, as well as rapid and coherent response to, humanitarian crises.

The responsibilities of the IASC include: making strategic and policy decisions with system-wide implications; endorsing major operational decisions; arbitration where no consensus can be reached by other IASC structures; advocating common principles, collectively or individually on behalf of the IASC; approving the work plans of the IASC structures; bringing issues to the attention of the Secretary-General and Security Council through the ERC; and, designating Humanitarian Coordinators and selecting coordination arrangements.

The Committee is supported by subsidiary bodies; groups of decision-makers and experts who inform and carry out the priorities set by the IASC.

How the IASC is supported

  • Image
    A red icon of two speech bubbles, one square, one round

    Deputies Forum

    Shaping decisions — The IASC members are advised by their Deputies, who discuss initial positions for their organisations on complex issues.
    more Read more about more
  • Image
    A red icon of a megaphone

    Operational Policy and Advocacy Group (OPAG)

    One approach, one voice — The Policy Directors of each IASC member develop policy and joint advocacy through Results Groups of experts in support of the IASC's priorities.
    more Read more about more
  • Image
    An icon of two red tents

    Emergency Directors Group

    One response — The Emergency Directors of the IASC members and other agencies engaged on the ground meet to ensure a joined-up response to crises and disasters.
    more Read more about more
  • Image
    A red icon of a woman with a burst shape next to her waist

    IASC Champion on Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse

    The IASC Champion on Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse and Sexual Harassment (PSEA and SH) ensures that the IASC promotes a focus on PSEA and SH throughout its work and membership.
    more Read more about more
  • Image
    An icon of a red upwards trend line with an arrow, as if on a graph.

    Entities Associated with the IASC

    Continuing excellence — Subsidiary bodies who have completed their formal mandates but who develop work valued by the humanitarian community continue as Entities Associated with the IASC.
    more Read more about more
  • Image
    An icon depicting an organisation hierarchy tree structure.

    IASC secretariat

    Supported to deliver — The IASC structures are facilitated by a secretariat who support their work, track decision making, and promote collaboration between groups.
    more Read more about more

Key information

Image
A photo of the IASC Principals sat down two sides of a long wooden table.

Meetings

See upcoming and past meetings of the IASC Committee.
Image
A screenshot of the IASC Organisation Chart. The details are illegible.

Structure

View the IASC organisation chart.
Image
A screenshot of the cover page of the standard terms of reference for humanitarian country teams.

IASC Products

Guidelines, policies, tools and documents endorsed by the IASC.
Image
A screenshot of the IASC forward agenda, a blue table, with illegible text.

IASC Forward Agenda

The monthly calendar of events and meetings in the IASC community.
Image
Photo of the five icons for the IASC Strategic Priorities

Strategic Priorities

The IASC agrees on priorities that strengthen the effectiveness and efficiency of collective humanitarian action.
Image
IASC 2021 new years video ending, showing credits for authors and for the IASC

IASC 2021 New Year Video

New Year’s message from the IASC: We will face many challenges in 2021, but together we can take action to help those who need us most.

Recent news

  • COVID-19 Impact on Humanitarian Emergencies: March 2021 Highlights
    17 April 2021
  • IASC Members Ring the Warning Bells: Famine Risk in 2021
    16 April 2021
  • Statement by Principals of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee on Gender-Based Violence in Tigray region of Ethiopia
    23 March 2021
  • COVID-19 Data Explorer - Tracking COVID-19 Vaccine Roll-Out in Countries with Humanitarian Crises
    11 March 2021
  • LEADERSHIP IN HUMANITARIAN ACTION: Handbook for the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator
    3 February 2021
More news

Recent documents

  • IASC Forward Agenda, 2021
    Published Date
    1 April 2021
  • IASC Principals Meeting Record, 29 March 2021
    Published Date
    29 March 2021
  • Statement by Principals of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee on Gender-Based Violence in Tigray region of Ethiopia
    Published Date
    23 March 2021
  • LEADERSHIP IN HUMANITARIAN ACTION: Handbook for the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator
    Published Date
    3 March 2021
  • LEADERSHIP IN HUMANITARIAN ACTION: Handbook for the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator
    Published Date
    3 March 2021
View all documents

Chair

  • Mr. Mark Lowcock
    Emergency Relief Coordinator and Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs
    City: New York
Full members
A photo of Mr. Qu Dongyu, wearing a suit and tie sat in front of a glass FAO sign.
Mr. Qu Dongyu
Director-General
FAO
Rome
Mr. António Manuel de Carvalho Ferreira Vitorino
Director-General
IOM
Geneva
Mr. Ramesh Rajasingham
Acting Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator
OCHA
New York
Mr. Achim Steiner
UNDP Administrator
UNDP
New York
Dr. Natalia Kanem
Executive Director
UNFPA
New York
Ms. Maimunah Mohd Sharif
Executive Director
UNHABITAT
Nairobi
Mr. Filippo Grandi
High Commissioner for Refugees
UNHCR
Geneva
Ms. Henrietta H. Fore
Executive Director
UNICEF
New York
Mr. David Beasley
Executive Director
WFP
Rome
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
Director-General
WHO
Geneva
Standing invitees
An image of Peter Maurer standing in front of a glass door with the ICRC logo.
Mr. Peter Maurer
President
ICRC
Geneva
A photo of Roger Yates, Chair of ICVA and Regional Director of Plan International
Mr. Roger Yates
Chair of ICVA (Regional Director for Plan International)
ICVA
Nairobi
Photo of Ignacio Packer, Executive Director, ICVA
Mr. Ignacio Packer
Executive Director, ICVA
ICVA
Geneva
A photo of the Jagan Chapagain, Secretary General, IFRC, with a bacground of the IFRC logo, red cross and a red crescent and  below writen IFRC
Mr. Jagan Chapagain
Secretary General, IFRC
IFRC
Geneva
Mr. Sam Worthington
President and CEO
InterAction
Washington
Photo of Sean Callahan, President and CEO of Catholic Relief Services
Mr. Sean Callahan
President and CEO of Catholic Relief Services
Catholic Relief Services
Washington
Ms. Michelle Bachelet
High Commissioner
OHCHR
Geneva
Ms. Cecilia Jimenez-Damary
Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons
SR on HR of IDPs
Davao City
Ms. Abby Maxman
President and CEO of Oxfam America, Chair of SCHR
SCHR
Boston
A photo of Gareth Price-Jones standing in a brown blazer under the sun in scrub land.
Mr. Gareth Price-Jones
Executive Secretary
SCHR
Geneva
IASC secretariat
Mervat Shelbaya, Head, IASC secretariat
Ms. Mervat Shelbaya
Head
IASC secretariat
Geneva

Subscribe to the IASC Newsletter

Footer

  • Contact
  • Terms of use
  • Privacy
Facebook Twitter
Service provided by UNOCHA OCHA coordinates the global emergency response to save lives and protect people in humanitarian crises. We advocate for effective and principled humanitarian action by all, for all.
Except where otherwise noted, content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons BY 4.0 International license. Creative Commons BY 4.0

OCHA Services

Related Platforms

  • Peer 2 Peer
  • Grand Bargain

Other OCHA Services

  • Financial Tracking Service
  • Humanitarian Data Exchange
  • Humanitarian ID
  • Humanitarian Response

 

  • Inter-Agency Standing Committee
  • OCHA website
  • ReliefWeb
  • Virtual OSOCC
See all