EDUCATION CLUSTER
The education cluster is co-led by UNICEF and Save the Children with a membership that includes IFRC, Save the Children International, UNFPA, DFAT, MFAT, Butterfly Trust, Red Cross.
The purpose of the cluster is to support national Ministries of Education (MoEs) to better prepare for and respond to emergencies. The cluster has the following specific objectives:
1. To advocate for the right to education for all in emergencies across the Pacific region.
2. To coordinate the education response to emergencies between Government, UN, and NGO partners, based on capacity mapping, preparedness, and response planning.
3. To advocate for resources for emergency education using an Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan based on needs and contingency planning.
4. To strengthen the capacity of partners and ensure better sector coordination to respond to education in emergencies, including the promotion of the Inter-agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE) Minimum Standards.
EMERGENCY TELECOMMUNICATIONS CLUSTER
The cluster is led by the World Food Programme (WFP) with cluster members comprising of: Communications/NDMO ETC focal points across the 14 PICTs supported by ETC as representatives of their respective countries.
The Pacific ETC was officially activated under the Pacific Humanitarian Team (PHT) in November 2016 with the overall focus of strengthening coordination and support to regional and national preparedness and response architectures. Its purpose is to unite all relevant stakeholders (see Membership) at the regional level to provide a platform for collaboration and coordination of preparedness-related initiatives and activities.
The Pacific ETC is driven by its objective to support, complement and where required, substitute national disaster preparedness and response capacity. In line with this, the operational objectives of the Pacific ETC are twofold:
1. Disaster Preparedness: Enhance emergency telecommunications preparedness capacity and systems of National Disaster Management Agencies (NDMOs) and other relevant government stakeholders.
2. Disaster Response: Provide on-demand support to coordination, information management, and technical guidance to NDMOs and other relevant government stakeholders to bolster the national response to the emergency, supplementing or substituting capacity as required.
EVACUATION CENTRE MANAGEMENT & DISPLACEMENT CLUSTER
The ECMD Cluster is led by the International Office of Migration (IOM) and currently has seven members, including IOM - UN Women, UNICEF, UNFPA, IFRC, ADRA and Save the Children. Membership is open to all interested agencies.
The Evacuation Centre Management and Displacement (ECMD) Cluster was approved by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) in February 2022 and was established to support Pacific governments to work throughout the prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery phases, with the main objective of ensuring access to coordinated and effective multi-sectoral assistance and protection for displaced populations and host communities, and to make all efforts to support the actualization of durable solutions.
The ECMD Cluster, in support of the disaster management offices, committees and divisions of the PICTs, primarily focuses on the challenges posed by evacuation and displacement during natural disasters. The ECMD Cluster’s mandate is reinforced by its alignment with international guidelines set out by the CCCM Cluster on displacement and evacuation and the Inter-Agency Standing Committee’s (IASC) policies on humanitarian action and displacement, thus promoting optimal disaster preparedness, response, risk reduction and mitigation in the Pacific region.
The ECMD Cluster champions the continual enhancement of awareness, capacity-building, and technical guidance for both regional and national-level humanitarian agents. Its mainstay lies in facilitating community preparedness, supporting effective response, and advocating durable solutions concerning displacement and evacuation centre management.
Several PICTs have instituted national clusters or working cohorts dedicated to the spectrum of disaster management. Recognizing the sovereignty and leading role of these national disaster management entities, the ECMD Cluster operates based on a collaborative and augmentative framework, underscoring the principle of regional and multilateral assistance supplementing national leadership and service delivery.
FOOD SECURITY CLUSTER
The Food Security Cluster is led by the World Food Programme (WFP) and Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). Its members include ADRA, CARE, CRS, IFAD, IFRC Pacific, IOM, Live and Learn, Oxfam Pacific, Pacific Disability Forum, Save the Children, Pacific Community, UN-Habitat, UN Women, UNCDF, UNDP, UNESCO, UNICEF, UNITAR Solomon Islands, World Central Kitchen and World Vision.
The Food Security Cluster (FSC) aims to meet the specific food security needs of individuals and communities affected by crises (whether sudden onset or protracted). It serves as a mechanism to support national governments, country-level actors, and regional stakeholders in the coordination of activities in the food security sector, with a specific focus on emergency preparedness and response.
The FSC supports country‐level actors to ensure that Pacific communities reinforce and build their resilience to a changing climate and recurrent natural hazards. The work of the cluster is guided by five strategic objectives:
1. Regional Coordination & Partnership
2. Information Management
3. Capacity Support & Training
4. Assessments, Monitoring & Analysis
5. Research & Cross‐Cutting Issues, such as Nutrition, Gender, and Disability.
There is ongoing support for mainstreaming preparedness activities at the national level to counter the worst effects of natural disasters in the Pacific. The cluster leverages the institutional expertise of its members to provide a comprehensive range of resources and support wherein cluster leads initiate activities related to disaster risk resilience, activities in the field of agriculture, and provide leadership and country‐level support in emergency preparedness and response with a focus on food assistance. The FSC supports evidence‐based planning and decision-making, and advocates for the incorporation of linkages between preparedness measures and community resilience in national disaster management plans.
HEALTH & NUTRITION CLUSTER
The Health & Nutrition Cluster is co-lead by WHO and UNICEF with members comprising of regional cluster members: Australia/DFAT, Empower Pacific, FAO, IFRC, International Planned Parenthood Foundation (IPPF), JICA, KOICA, Live & Learn, New Zealand/MFAT, Pacific Community, Save the Children, UNFPA, USAID, WFP, World Bank.
The Pacific Health & Nutrition Cluster collectively prepares for and responds to humanitarian and public health emergencies in the Pacific, working in support of Ministries/Departments of Health and other national authorities to improve the health and nutrition status of affected populations through timely, predictable, appropriate, and effective coordination of health and nutrition interventions before, during and after emergencies.
The Pacific Health & Nutrition Cluster aims to enable broad participation and coordination of partners working in the Health and Nutrition sectors across the Pacific and coordinates closely with Ministries/Departments of Health and National Health and Nutrition Clusters (including sub-clusters and sector members) to support country-level response efforts under national leadership.
PHT Health & Nutrition Cluster partners continue to support Pacific Governments/Ministries of Health, to face the full range of other hazards with potential health consequences, including natural hazards, infectious disease outbreaks, and incidences of malnutrition. This includes support for disease surveillance and data management, maintaining and expanding immunization coverage, provision of critical health commodities - including critical Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) and vector-control resources - as well as ongoing support to national Emergency Medical Teams (EMTs) across the Pacific, and strengthening assessment, screening, referral and treatment for acute malnutrition and prevention of micronutrient deficiencies across the PICTs.
LOGISTIC CLUSTER
The Regional Logistics Cluster (rLC) is led by the World Food Programme with the membership comprising of: Adventist Development Relief Agency (ADRA), CARE, ICRC, IFRC, IOM, Oxfam, Palladium International, RedR, Save the Children, SPC, UNICEF, WHO, World Vision.
Previous needs assessments indicate that the implementation of humanitarian programs is hampered by the physical isolation and the dispersion between several islands. The significant logistics constraints that hamper the ability of humanitarian organisations to respond to an emergency in the Pacific region primarily relate to (1) Disruptions in physical access that exacerbate the isolation of some islands, (2) Suspension of already limited international freights due to damages to airports and sea ports infrastructure and its related hazards, especially during the first days of an emergency, and (3) the lack of coherent coordination and understanding of the national emergency arrangements and regulations related to the flow of relief materials and/or supplies.
On the other hand, we need to consider that organisations engaged in a humanitarian response demonstrate relatively high internal logistics management capacity and have developed their solutions for storage and transport- either through existing commercial providers or by establishing their internal arrangements.
Objectives
The core functions of the Pacific Logistics Cluster are to complement and support regional and national disaster response and preparedness arrangements:
1. In the event of an emergency response: Provide adapted coordination mechanisms, quality information management, and technical support where needed, and when national- and organization-level capacities are exhausted, facilitate access to common logistics services such as air transport and others if applicable.
2. As part of preparedness efforts: Enhance humanitarian supply chain preparedness and the capacity response of National Disaster Management Agencies (NDMOs) and other Government agencies to coordinate sub-regional and national humanitarian supply chains effectively and to be more resilient in responding to sudden onset disasters.
PROTECTION CLUSTER
The protection cluster is led by UN Women with the Gender-based violence sub-cluster led by UNFPA and the child protection sub-cluster by UNICEF. Its regional cluster members include Action Aid Australia, ADRA Fiji, ADRA Australia, Care Australia, FAO, Field Ready, ICRC, IFRC, IOM, International Planned Parenthood Foundation (IPPF), Oxfam in the Pacific, Pacific Community, Pacific Disability Forum (PDF), Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS), Plan International Australia, PSGDN, Pacific Women, RedR, Rainbow Pride Foundation, SC Fiji, Shifting the Power Coalition, UNAIDS Pacific Office, UNCHR, WFP.
The regional Protection Cluster assists PICTs in preparing for and responding to disasters and emergencies. It seeks to support national systems in the coordination of gender and protection in humanitarian action. It also supports other regional clusters to integrate protection within their work. Priorities of the Pacific Humanitarian Protection Cluster (PHPC) are as follows:
1. Child Protection, including adolescents.
2. Gender and Gender‐Based Violence (GBV) prevention and response.
3. Safety and protection needs of People Living with Disability (PLWD), youth and elderly persons, displaced persons, members of the SOGIESC (Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression, and Sex Characteristics) community, and other at-risk groups.
4. Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS).
The Pacific Regional GBV Sub Cluster (GBV SC), led by UNFPA, is focussed on strengthening the capacity of frontline service providers on Gender-Based Violence in Emergencies (GBViE) and support to Gender directorates in the different Pacific Island Countries.
The Child Protection Sub Cluster (CP SC), led by UNICEF, is focused on strengthening Child Protection in Emergencies (CPiE) Trainers in the region, and child protection and child-focused MHPSS and Safeguarding, including Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) to its partner agencies. CPiE surge capacity was also provided to the region, that further strengthened the CPiE capacity of the relevant agencies.
SHELTER CLUSTER
The Shelter Cluster is led by IFRC, and its regional cluster members comprise of ADRA, CARE, Field Ready, Habitat for Humanity, IOM, Latter-day Saints charities, Pacific Disability Forum, Rotary, Save the Children, UN Women, UN-Habitat, UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF, World Vision.
The objective of the Pacific Shelter Cluster is to support National Governments and their partners in achieving a coherent, effective, and timely humanitarian Shelter response following disaster events in the Pacific Island Countries, underpinned by preparedness and capacity-building initiatives.
Guided by its global Shelter Cluster mandate, the shelter cluster prioritizes the provision of support to country-level clusters across the Pacific according to their specific needs, focusing on the possibility to directly influence positive shelter outcomes for affected communities.
Four countries in the Pacific Region have functioning national clusters:
1. Fiji Shelter Cluster led by the Ministry of Housing and Community Development.
2. Vanuatu Shelter Cluster led by the Public Works Department (PWD). At the end of 2022, new arrangements for the National Leading agency were taken place.
3. Solomon Island Shelter Sub-Committee led by the Ministry of Infrastructure Development (MID).
4. Tonga Shelter Cluster led by NEMO.
Cluster partners have continued to support national clusters during cyclone season preparedness and contingency activities and have prepositioned emergency shelter and essential household items stockpiled in national warehouses.
WASH CLUSTER
The WASH Cluster is led by UNICEF and comprises of the following members: Adventist Development Relief Agency (ADRA), Catholic Relief Services (CRS), EWB New Zealand, Field Ready, IOM, IFRC, Live & Learn, Oxfam Pacific, Plan International, Red Cross Australia, Red Cross New Zealand, Rotary Pacific, Save the Children, UN Women, UNFPA, WHO, World Vision.
The overall of a WASH humanitarian response is to:
1. Reduce morbidity and mortality cases due to WASH-related diseases.
2. Preserve life with dignity; and
3. Restore normalcy in the lives of affected populations by providing safe access to and ensuring the use of water, sanitation and hygiene in emergencies in collaboration with partners.