The Cluster Approach: Another Incident Response System

Disclaimer: I wrote this paper 5 years ago.

Introduction

In 2005, inspired by issues with recent humanitarian responses, the United Nations commissioned an independent assessment of the global humanitarian response system. The information produced by this assessment, the Humanitarian Response Review (HRR), was used to guide and support reform of the humanitarian system. The central intent of this reform was to strengthen and improve the effectiveness of humanitarian response across the globe in part by increasing predictability and accountability, and strengthening relationships between government, non-government (NGO), and international organizations (Streets, et al., 2010; Inter-Agency Standing Committee, 2006). A component of this reform was the introduction of the cluster approach as a system of coordinating humanitarian responses. In alignment with the overall intent of the reform, the adoption and introduction of the cluster approach by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) i…