The Global WASH Cluster (GWC) provides operational support to National Humanitarian WASH Cluster Platforms (NHWCP) to ensure predictable, reliable and quality coordination support for disaster affected countries with ongoing WASH responses. 

The GWC endeavors to support all coordination platforms engaged with WASH responses, however the GWC mandate demands particular attention to coordination platforms where the WASH cluster has been activated or is in the process of activation.  The GWC prioritizes support to NHWCP through a bi-annual review of the NHWCPs (as seen on the GWC Priority Country List) based on humanitarian needs and the platform capacity to respond to those needs.  The priority country list is created considering external source information (UNICEF, IASC, ACAPS) and internal review of platform capacity (CCPM, Core Function review).

The GWC has developed a dashboard for tracking core data from NHWCP, the data is drawn from public documents and allows comparison between national WASH targets and fundraising.

The GWC and FST provide support in the three principle areas of coordination: coordination, information management and coordinated assessments.  Support is provided through three modalities: primarily through surge support through in-person or virtual deployment (two to three months) to national coordination platforms; global support to the NHWCP punctual remote task based support to individual coordination platforms , support to the FST consortium agencies to improve on humanitarian coordination skills and programs.

1. Surge support for Deployments (in person or virtual) is when an FST member is dedicated to a coordination platform at the national or sub-national level.  Deployment duration depends upon the work required but is up to 2 months with the possibility to extend to a third month with reasonable justification.  Two key documents drive any deployment, a Standby Partner Request form (SBP Request) and a Terms of Reference (ToR). The deployment request process is relatively straightforward: 1. Discuss with GWC, 2. Complete the Stand By Partner (SBP) or FST request form 3. Include a Terms of Reference and send to gwchelp@unicef.org. 

2. Global support is rolled out as a series of thematic events during the HPC planning process to support NHWCP.  The events are announced by newsletter to the NHWCP on a quarterly basis. 
3. Remote support is available through sending an email to gwchelp@unicef.org including the following information:

• What: one sentence that describes the expected result or deliverable
• Who: the requested FST profile (Coordinator, Information Manager, Assessment Specialist)
• When: deadline for deliverables
• Period: estimated number of days to complete the task (0.5, 1, 2, 3, etc)
• Description: if necessary a brief description and/or attachments

The request will be clarified by GWC through an email or call, if necessary, and then allocated to an FST to follow up with the requesting platform.

4. Support to Consortium partners is done by internal request to the project.

Notes:

• The use of the generic Terms of Reference should only be done in the case of a rapid-breaking emergency.
• The request mechanism is operated by Inter-Agency Humanitarian Partnership (IAHP), please make sure to copy gwchelp@unicef.org for any WASH coordination requests (even if this address is not listed on the SBP form)
• The GWC and the financial donor provide final approval for requested deployments. Requests are prioritized based upon the level of emergency.
• Deployment requests to fill HR gaps will not be considered without a justification (HR gaps are when there is a predictable gap in coordination staffing such as end/renewal of contract, parental leave).

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SBP or FST Request form Cluster Coordinator Generic ToRs Information Manager Generic ToRs

Thematic Areas of support