Informing humanitarians worldwide 24/7 — a service provided by UN OCHA

Greece + 1 more

Greece: Site Management Support (SMS) July - September 2016

Attachments

JULY- SEPTEMBER HIGHLIGHTS

With the development and subsequent approval of ToRs for the SMS leading Agency by the SG of RIS in early July, the SMS working group rolled it out in conjunction with the newly developed SMS Activity Checklist, which breaks down the roles and responsibilities identified by the ToRs in activities and sub-activities.

The SMS Activity Checklist also suggests the frequency of activities and the tools necessary for some specific activities. In addition to the aforementioned checklist, other two checklists were developed and provided to the member agencies: both a Site Mgmt-focused and a Capacity Building-focused checklist(s) that are in support of the SMS Activity Checklist and built to mirror the main pillars of site management: Coordination, Information Management, Community Participation and Protection Mainstreaming. The working group developed a number of minimum template tools and SOPs that set the minimum standards but also allowed for customization given the idiosyncrasies of each site, with its context, access level, limitations and very different challenges (size, multi ethnicity, safety and security, etc...). The templates tools rolled out in July-September are:

Site Risk Analysis Matrix, Service Mapping form, Security Incident Report, Feedback Mechanism including SOPs, Data Collection / Census with SOPs, Site Assessment form, SOPs for NFI distribution on site, Shelter allocation form and SOPs and a weekly SMS report. In addition to the above templates, guidelines on how to chair meetings (incl. agenda, minutes, attendance sheet templates) and mainstream community based protection were also provided. All tools and SOPs were uploaded to the SMS WG Dropbox account, which also includes some tools and SOPs developed and shared by SMS agencies for others to review and use.

Additionally, a number of template code of conducts were developed and provided for SMS agencies to be further customized at site level, namely: CoC for community representatives, CoC for visitors/press/media, CoC for SM and SMS agencies and Overall Site Rules and Regulations. In the reporting period, the most relevant of all concerns for SMS actors, consistent across the board, was the level of security in sites on the mainland. In the attempt to mitigate the number of abuses, vandalism events and growing sense of impunity in sites the SMS WG took the lead on the development of a Security Overview Matrix where SMS agencies and different sector coordinators identified possible mitigation measures implementable by humanitarian actors to improve the safety and security level in sites, and ranked in terms of feasibility for each site.

Often, security incidents were reported to the poor quality of the food provided through the catering companies, a consistent issue across most of the sites and that thw SMS WG could only address to reporting to the appropriate levels and advocacy.

The SMS sector was one of the sectors that suffered from inconsistent access and recognition on site due inconsistent assignments and understanding of the SMS role between the RIS, MoMP,
MoD and MoL, combined with the absence of an MoMP national focal point to co-chair the SMS WG. To date, the matter has not been solved.

In July, the SMS WG also agreed on the indicators developed in the previous trimester for the Activity Info portal (12).

A weekly SMS report form was developed and enforced from July. The report was modified at the end of September (as scheduled) to capitalize from the lessons learned and change of context since its inception in June. The original format (in Ms Word and mostly narrative) focused on the key issues, identification of gaps, challenges and safety/security concerns at site level. At its maximum, as many as 32 weekly reports were submitted by the SMS agencies to the WG coordinators.

It is worth mentioning the work done by the SMS WG in the development of the Emergency Preparedness and Response Capacity Assessment in July, which produced a plan/concept note that included reception at point of arrival on the mainland, basic POC identification, sitevulnerability match, transportation, site and shelter allocation.

Finally, a significant capacity building effort was made by the SMS Capacity Building Officer from July to September to develop and deliver both on the mainland (Athens, Thessaloniki, Larissa,
Ioannina) and islands(Chios and Kos) technical and operational trainings on site management, site management support and site coordination to UNHCR, NGO and government staff. Trainings covered the aforementioned pillars, with special focus on the Roles and Responsibilities.