An important area of work for DOCO’s Crisis and Post Conflict Cluster (CPC) staff is HQ liaison and facilitation of inter-agency /inter-departmental activities and processes related to crisis and post-conflict countries, as well as fostering partnerships with actors outside the UN system, such as donor countries. Tasks include coordination and facilitation of UNDG engagement in the Secretary-General’s Policy Committee submissions and decisions, country-specific reports of the Secretary General and other system-wide policy initiatives.

UN Family Cooperation

DOCO works in partnership with DPKO and DPA in the development of policy and guidance on integration, helping to ensure that UNDG, Resident Coordinator (RC) and UNCT considerations are adequately reflected and disseminated at the Headquarters’ level.

The group also engages, on behalf of UNDG, in various initiatives led by the Peacebuilding Support Office (PBSO) both at policy level and in supporting RCs and UNCTs in countries that are before the Peacebuilding Commission, or are eligible for funding through the Peacebuilding Fund.

The UN system also works to ensure that dedicated capacity to coordinate efforts for recovery and peacebuilding is present early in the response to a crisis, and aligned with the humanitarian coordination capacity. Through a “joint initiative” with OCHA and UNDP-BCPR, DOCO-CPC is working to strengthen the Office of the RC in order to provide predictable, sustainable and comprehensive coordination support throughout the recovery period.

Within the context of recovery, cooperation with the Cluster Working Group on Early Recovery also takes place to ensure that engagement and support to countries in recovery occur in a coordinated and mutually reinforcing manner.

In addition, DOCO-CPC also coordinates with other inter-agency/department fora, helping provide a coherent and articulated approach to policies and country support. DOCO-CPC takes part in the UN Interagency Framework for Coordination on Preventive Action (the Framework Team), an internal UN mechanism that provides coordinated interagency support to the RC/UNCT to take early action for conflict prevention.

On behalf of the UNDG, DOCO also engages closely with the World Bank to strengthen collaboration in supporting national recovery efforts after conflict or natural disasters. The UNDG and the WB’s partnership has found very concrete expressions in the design and use of joint tools, such as Post Conflict Needs Assessment (PCNA), an increased dialogue on financing mechanisms, such as Multi-Donor Trust Funds the development of fiduciary agreements aimed at speeding up the transfer of funds from one institution to the other, and the implementation of numerous joint initiatives in crisis and post-conflict countries, where the World Bank and the UNDG maximize their comparative analytical, financial, technical and project management strengths to support recovery efforts.

External Relationships

DOCO builds partnerships with other multilateral institutions, bilateral donors and civil society. An example is the secretariat support which DOCO-CPC provides to the Friends of Transition group, a group of donor countries that meet on a quarterly basis to discuss policy issues related to countries in transition settings as well as sharing information on the situation of specific countries in post-crisis transition settings.

In addition, DOCO cooperates with the European Commission, through work on the Post-Conflict Needs Assessment, and assists the UNDP lead with providing inputs to engagement with the OECD-DAC on aid effectiveness issues in fragile states.