UN Humanitarian CMCoord Course - Bangkok

Civil-Military Coordination Asia-Pacific Newsletter Issue No.5 l June 2014

A United Nations Humanitarian Civil-Military Coordination Course (UN-CMCoord) took place in Bangkok, Thailand from 1 to 6 June 2014. There were 24 participants from the humanitarian, military and donor community, who shared knowledge and expertise in civil-military coordination with the support of experienced facilitators from the OCHA Civil-Military Coordination Section in Geneva as well as from the OCHA Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific. Over the course of five days, participants discussed the unique scope of humanitarian civil-military relations and challenges in the Asian region, examining possible approaches to address them. Topics covered during the course included the Asia-Pacific Regional Guidelines for the Use of Foreign Military Assets in Natural Disaster Response Operations (APC Madro) as well as the Guide for Disaster Response in Asia and the Pacific.

The UN-CMCoord course promoted appropriate and effective humanitarian civil-military interactions in humanitarian emergencies through bolstered knowledge and understanding of UN-CMCoord standards and principles. This included the use of military and civil defence assets (MCDA) to better support the humanitarian community in delivering urgently needed goods and services to the disaster-stricken populations.

“UN-CMCoord facilitates the right assistance, to the right people, at the right time, in the most appropriate way.” Ronaldo Reario, OCHA Civil-Military Coordination Section, Geneva

At the end of the course, participants acquired the necessary knowledge and skills to engage in civil-military dialogue in support of the activities of the humanitarian community. They also joined a pool of experienced UN-CMCoord graduates willing to keep abreast of latest developments and pursue professional growth in UN-CMCoord.