Conference on humanitarian coordination arranged

PESHAWAR: The National Humanitarian Network (NHN), Fata chapter, organised a “Provincial Conference Strengthening Humanitarian Coordination Mechanism in KP-FATA” here on Thursday.

According to a press release, the NHN is an indigenous volunteer network launched in 2010 as a result of interactive dialogue at National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA)

and acts as an independent voice to engage with stakeholders throughout Pakistan for promotion of humanitarian values.

A large number of humanitarian stakeholders of the region from government, UN, international and national/local organisations participated in the conference.

Provincial Chair Azmat Khan welcomed guests with the desire to collectively contribute to the improvement in effective coordination mechanism.

He highlighted NHN members’ continuous efforts in terms of compliance with the regulations and policies of government and humanitarian standards for providing timely relief to the communities affected by various disasters.

He assured meaningful contribution by the NHNfor improved coordination in KP and Fata in view the transition of clusters in the region.

Director Relief from Provincial Disaster Management Authority Abdul Basit deliberated on existing coordination mechanism and government efforts on strengthening the system and expected changes in wake of cluster transition.

The participants emphasised on involvement of affected people’s voices in the nexus of humanitarian and development. They proposed involvement of the humanitarian organisations with deep roots in the communities to contribute to system.

The panelists highlighted the importance of representation of vulnerable groups, people with disabilities, women and children in humanitarian coordination.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed among PDMA KP and NHN KP-Fata on increasing collaboration and coordination in order to achieve the goal of safer and resilient Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and further strengthen Provincial DRM System to achieve the objective of resilience.

NHN Chair Muhammad Amad said close coordination and collaboration among humanitarian organisations and government was the key to strengthening the National Disaster Management System.