2022 Atlantic Hurricane Season Preparedness Webinar Series

Background

After the success and participation in the 2021 Hurricane Season Preparedness Webinar Series, OCHA is launching a new series on specifically requested areas to enhance the capacities of humanitarian actors in the Caribbean. In February 2022, OCHA ROLAC launched an online consultation to assess the training and capacity building needs of United Nations Emergency Technical Teams (UNETT) and humanitarian actors in the Caribbean. Over 75 responses were received from 20 Caribbean countries with more than 40 organizations with presence and coverage in the Caribbean participating in the survey. Based on the results of the survey, OCHA ROLAC will organize six webinars designed to strengthen the preparedness and response capacities of UN agencies and humanitarian actors in the Caribbean. The webinars will cover topics related to Private Sector Engagement for Humanitarian Action, Response Mechanisms, Data Collection and Analysis, Cash-Based Interventions, Accountability to Affected People (AAP) and the Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) and Anticipatory Action.

The 2022 Hurricane Season Preparedness Webinar Season will build on the capacities generated during the 2021 webinar series and cover an expanded array of topics that are especially interesting amidst an ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and the significant challenges in capacity and agility of humanitarian partners to respond to humanitarian emergencies in the region. The cofacilitation and leadership of each session will be organized in coordination with expert organizations on the topic. Each session's resources and information will be hosted on the Humanitaria Response.Info, the central knowledge and operational gateway of humanitarian actors.

To register, please complete the following form.

Sessions Overview

Response Mechanisms 

OCHA´s mission is to coordinate the global emergency response to save lives and protect people in humanitarian crises. OCHA coordinates humanitarian response to expand the reach of humanitarian action, improve prioritization and reduce the duplication of efforts, ensuring emergency assistance is provided to people who need it the most. This webinar reviews the available emergency response mechanisms and the steps and conditions necessary for their activation with an overview of the Humanitarian Programme Cycle.

For more information and resources of this webinar, please refer to the following link. 

*This event has english to spanish interpretation available.

Humanitarian Networks and Partnerships Week (HNPW)

The HNPW provides a unique forum for humanitarian networks and partnerships to meet and address key humanitarian issues. One of the largest humanitarian events of its kind, it gathers participants from the UN, NGOs, Member States, the private sector, the military, academia and beyond to discuss and solve common challenges in humanitarian affairs. During the event, networks and partnerships hold their annual meetings and consultations, share their expertise and collaborate on best practices to address shared problems.

For more information on the event, event programme and things to know, please use the following link. 

Business and Community Resilience Co-Creation Event: Leveraging Private Sector Role in Preparedness and Response to Disaster

The scale and size of humanitarian crises may require the engagement of a broad range of stakeholders, including private sector actors. The overall goal of OCHA´s engagement with the private sector is to strengthen and support the implementation of OCHA´s mandate. This event, organized by UNICEF in coordination with the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), and the support of the CARICHAM and CPSO will join aid and business communities to build a mutual understanding and identify opportunities to work together for the development of truly innovative partnerships.

For more information on the event, agenda and speakers, please refer to the following link.

GBV in Emergencies

GBV takes place in all societies. Even if data is not available, GBV takes place everywhere and there is no society where GBV does not take place. The risk of intimate partner violence, sexual violence, and other forms of GBV has been documented to rise during emergencies and public health crises. The need for protection of GBV survivors does not cease because of a crisis – instead, increased GBV risk is a primary result of an emergency. There is a need to adapt and scale up services to account for increase in risk.

This webinar provides an overview of GBV in emergency, the responsibility of all humanitarian actors to prevent and protect against GBV and ensure GBV is included into emergency preparedness, programming and into response. Specialists from UNFPA and UNICEF will provided guide the discussions and presentations during this webinar.

For more information on the event, agenda and speakes, please refer to the following link.

*This event has english to spanish interpretation available.

Data Collection and Analysis

This session builds on the experiences from the recent responses to the explosive eruption of the La Soufriere Volcano in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and the 7.2 magnitude earthquake that stroke Haiti in 2021. OCHA provides information management services to the humanitarian community to ensure rapid, effective, and principled response in the case of emergencies. This webinar will focus on available data collection tools and mechanisms, including the 345W, HDx and Humanitarian Response.info, to ensure coordinated information collection and management during emergencies. The assessment section will cover available assessment methodologies used in response operations in the regions, their opportunities, and challenges.  

For more information on the event, agenda and speakes, please refer to the following link.

*This event has english to spanish interpretation available.

Cash-Based Interventions

Cash-based interventions is an innovative form of humanitarian assistance provided either in cash or vouchers for goods and services. Cash-based interventions tend to create fewer disruptions of local and national markets while enabling local economies to thrive during crises. This webinar will cover the latest developments on Cash-Based interventions in the region and examples of recent emergencies and countries in which the modality has been implemented.

For more information on the event, agenda and speakes, please refer to the following link.

*This event has english to spanish interpretation available.

Anticipatory Action

The 4th Regional Dialogue Platform in Anticipatory Action for Latin America and the Caribbean will be held in a hybrid format, with in person sessions in Antigua, Guatemala from 28 to 29 September 2022. The event will have live-streaming through the event´s website during the morning session. This year´s topic is "Extension and integration of Disaster Risk Management Systems".

This event is organized by the Anticipation Hub and organized by the German Red Cross and the World Food Programme (WFP), with the support of its partners: the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), with the financial support of the German Federal Foreign Office.

Objectives

• Promote dialogue between humanitarian, disaster risk management, scientific and strategic partners in the region.

• Advocate about the importance of early action and identify opportunities for its implementation.

• Promote the exchange of good practices and lessons learned from forecast based financing (FbF) and anticipatory action in Latin America and the Caribbean.

• Share progress and new initiatives on conceptualization, methodologies and tools on anticipatory action at the global and regional levels.

• Generate a joint work agenda for scaling up anticipatory action in the region.

To read the event´s full concept note, please use the following link: English/Spanish

To access the event´s information, please use the following link.

*This event has english to spanish interpretation available.

Table 1. Topics and webinar dates

Methodology

The webinars will follow an online collaboration format using ZOOM, a decision taken based on the preference of respondents collected from the survey. Webinars will be 90 minutes long, and an online file with preparatory documents and resources will be shared with participants before the activity. Prior to each session, participants will receive the connections details, agenda, and any preparatory material. It is advised to use a computer-based connection as some of the functionalities used with ZOOM are not available via cellphone-based connections. After each webinar session, a lessons learned document will be shared with access to an online folder with the resources and results from the activity. Registration is needed to give access to the designated platform ZOOM.  Please kindly complete the following registration form for enrollment:

For more information, comments and suggestions related to the organization of the webinar, you can contact Fernando Lopez (fernando.lopezr@un.org)