OCHA Annual Report 2006

Introduction

The Annual Report is OCHA’s primary reporting document for donors and the broader international community, in which it shares with stakeholders what it has accomplished during the calendar year 2006. In accordance with the Good Humanitarian Donorship initiative, this all-inclusive publication presents a comprehensive summary of OCHA’s performance, the impact of its activities and the voluntary contributions used to support them. It analyses the implementation of planned activities, shows how these activities were funded, and captures the impact of these activities – particularly those in the field. The Annual Report complements OCHA’s appeal document, OCHA in 2006, reflecting on objectives set out in the previous year and measuring the performance of OCHA’s functional sections and field offices against established indicators.

The Annual Report covers financial and programming elements of OCHA’s headquarters core and project activities and its field activities, while providing a quantitative and qualitative analysis of performance. Measurement against indicators helps to track its actual achievements, and represents OCHA’s commitment to implementing concise, results-based reporting and becoming more strategic, accountable and transparent.

The Report analyses OCHA’s management of its cash resources, its new strategic planning process linking new and existing planning and reporting mechanisms with performance management, and the implementation of the humanitarian reform agenda – which aims to strengthen humanitarian response by introducing new measures to enhance response capacity, accountability, predictability and partnership.

Evaluation is an increasingly important component of OCHA’s management and learning, and this year’s Annual Report features a section on key lessons learned from OCHA’s participation in three recent emergency responses: the Indian Ocean tsunami, the South Asia earthquake and the Lebanon crisis. While each response was different in nature and scale, a number of generalized lessons about consistent coordination can be drawn from the ways in which OCHA responds to crises, manages relationships and develops internal procedures.

Annex I lists in-kind and non-cash contributions received by OCHA in 2006, Annex II summarizes activities undertaken in 2006 through the Afghanistan Emergency Trust Fund and the Trust Fund for Tsunami Disaster Relief, and Annex III covers the loan portion of the Central Emergency Response Fund.

In compiling and disseminating this year’s edition of its Annual Report, OCHA recognizes donors’ generous support and collaboration throughout 2006, and expresses its profound appreciation for these productive partnerships. As in previous years, suggestions are welcome for ways in which the reporting to follow could be enhanced to meet financial and narrative requirements of donors.