Task Force for Humanitarian Aid and Humanitarian Aid Coordinating Committee
Task Force for Humanitarian Aid
The Federal Foreign Office is responsible for the Federal Government’s humanitarian aid abroad. For this purpose the Foreign Office relies on staff with many years of experience abroad and on a global infrastructure with more than 200 foreign missions equipped with fast and modern communication facilities.
Within the framework of the Task Force for Humanitarian Aid, more than 20 staff members take care of several hundred humanitarian relief projects in some 80 states around the world every year. In addition to classic humanitarian emergency aid, this also encompasses humanitarian mine clearance and disaster reduction.
Contacts in the Task Force for Humanitarian Aid:
Head: Bernhard Kampmann
Deputy: Oliver Owcza
Contact/Secretariat:
Tel. +49(0)30-1817-2296
Fax +49(0)30-1817-4698
Postal address:
Referat VN05
Auswärtiges Amt
11013 Berlin
Germany
The Humanitarian Aid Coordinating Committee
The Humanitarian Aid Coordinating Committee was established in 1994 and has regular meetings every two months at the Federal Foreign Office or in the premises of another member as well as special ad hoc meetings for humanitarian crises. This body is unique in Europe as a platform for dialogue on and coordination of humanitarian aid between the relevant government ministries and NGOs. The Federal Foreign Office which has overall responsibility within the Federal Government for humanitarian aid operates within this body essentially as a “broker” and provides the relevant ministries, organizations and institutions with a forum for discussion. Right from the outset it was important that the Federal Foreign Office was a neutral player in this body without organizations of its own working on the ground in competition with the relief organizations.
Origins
In view of the manifold problems which had to be solved in connection with the large-scale campaign to help the Kurdish people in 1991, the Federal Foreign Office issued an invitation at the beginning of December of that year to the German relief organizations and government bodies involved in the relief efforts in Turkey and Iran for a meeting held over several days in Kloster Walberberg near Bonn. All the participants agreed that German humanitarian aid agencies needed to coordinate their work even more closely in major crises. Thus they agreed to create the Humanitarian Aid Discussion Group as a platform for discussion and coordination.
The founding meeting took place on 9 April 1992 in the Federal Foreign Office. The Humanitarian Aid Coordinating Committee which replaced the Humanitarian Aid Discussion Group was set up in 1994.
Discussion Group to Coordinating Committee
In connection with the flood of refugees out of Rwanda in July 1994 and the subsequent international relief measures, it became apparent that there was a need for increased coordination among the relief organizations. The German NGOs, too, realized that an informal forum was no longer sufficient. Upon the initiative of the then Foreign Minister, the Discussion Group decided at its meeting on 25 October 1994 to reconstitute itself as a formal Humanitarian Aid Coordinating Committee. It was agreed that it should meet every two months at the Federal Foreign Office or in the premises of another member from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the second Tuesday of the month.
Its first regular meeting took place on 13 December 1994. Ever since then, the Committee has met every two months. In addition, where necessary, special meetings are convened to discuss current crisis regions.
Members
The Committee comprises a total of 33 members, including 19 representatives of German NGOs, two representatives from the world of science and research, the Association of German Development NGOs (VENRO), the Federal Foreign Office and various other federal ministries (including the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, the Federal Ministry of the Interior and the Federal Ministry of Defence). It is presided over by an elected representative of one of the NGOs and the Head of the Task Force for Humanitarian Aid of the Federal Foreign Office.
Function
As an institutionalized dialogue between the German Government and NGOs, the Coordinating Committee is the central instrument for coordinating the German Government’s humanitarian aid with its partners in civil society. However, it does not allocate donated funds to those involved and is therefore not a central steering body. Its members do not enjoy any special status when it comes to decisions on which specific projects and measures proposed by the relief organizations will receive funding.
Important issues that need in-depth consideration can also be discussed at closed-door meetings lasting one or two days.