Attachments
1 THE LOGISTICS CLUSTER
The Cluster Approach was endorsed by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) in September '05 http://www.humanitarianinfo.org/iasc/. Nine Clusters were agreed upon, with a lead agency designated for each. WFP is the lead agency for Logistics Cluster.
The global cluster leads are "accountable to the Emergency Relief Coordinator for ensuring predictable and effective inter-agency preparedness and response within the concerned areas of activity". This entails the very important element of accountability and where necessary the lead agency becomes the provider of last resort.
Clusters can be activated in response to "sudden major new emergency requiring a multi-sectoral response with the participation of a wide range of humanitarian actors" as well as during ongoing emergencies.
Logistics Cluster operations vary in scale from information sharing/coordination (such as infrastructure assessment, port and corridor coordination, transporters and rates, customs, equipment supplier information) to those involving information sharing and common air, ocean and overland transport, storage etc. Regular coordination meetings will be established involving all stakeholder (UN agencies, Government, International and local NGOs).
Where there are gaps, such as a lack of transport capacity, the first option will be for organisations to help each other to increase their capacity. Where this is not possible the logistics cluster lead will be required to act as a provider of last resort, including the provision funding.
1.1 THE LOGISTICS CLUSTER IN MOZAMBIQUE
Since the instigation of the Cluster approach in 2005, the Logistics Cluster services in Mozambique have been activated twice in 2007 and 2008 in response to the flooding in the Zambezi river basin. In these instances, the Logistics Cluster provided the humanitarian community with common services for storage, air, land and river transport, information management and coordination.
At present there are 27 members who participate in the Logistics Cluster meetings in Mozambique. In 2009 and 2010 the focus of the Logistics Cluster was emergency preparedness activities. In addition to the compilation of a yearly common Logistics Cluster Preparedness and Response Plan, the Cluster is primarily working on:
a) Implementation of the OCHA model agreement on customs facilitation in humanitarian assistance;
b) Establishment of an in-country logistics staff emergency roster from all the participating organisations, hereunder developing the national logistics emergency response capacity;
c) Standardisation or harmonisation of emergency relief items packages among the clusters.