Voices from the GEC Rapid Response Team

Supporting Countries with their COVID-19 Response | Karina Kleivan, GEC Rapid Response Team – Cluster Coordinator

As RRTs we are often most focused upon giving support in the country, although often with a remote preparation period and almost always the deployment is followed by remote support. In this new situation it was clear that the support and collaboration had to happen solely online and remotely.

If you already know the context and have worked with the Country Cluster/Sector Working Group Team, it doesn’t make much of a difference that it has to happen remotely. The contact, collaboration and trust have already been established. However, if there has not been a collaboration beforehand it is more challenging, requiring enhanced communication between Country Coordination teams and the RRT to determine what are the needs, what are the requests, and where is the added value.

I believe the immediate sharing of the various GEC products early on in the response were very much appreciated; for instance, with the adapted response framework was shared, several Country Cluster/Working Group coordinators spontaneously answered, ‘Iust at the right time!’ when they received it.

Our support also had to focus on providing concrete and fast feedback on fundraising proposals, COVID-19 revised Humanitarian Response Plans, and key messages to donors - all often written under tight deadlines. Here I believe the added value that/if the RRT was both an insider (familiar with the present context and having already built trust with the CCT) but at the same time an outsider (not deployed) became apparent; we were able to balance both the country perspective with the global discussion and concern. For instance, the importance of integrating Child Protection with both distance learning attempts and back to school approaches.

As part of our immediate support, the GEC assigned each of its 10-member RRT team to provide dedicated support to Clusters/Sector Working Groups; this was very much appreciated as an intervention happening at the right time as well as a clear signal of commitment and joint collaboration. However, it is also important to stress that the Clusters/Sector Working Groups were very proactive from the very beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, they were not just waiting around for GEC support; but when it was offered it was also very much appreciated.

Once again it was immediately clear that education does matter, and in any type of disaster, human-made or natural, and COVID-19 not being an exception. But in this current crisis, it was truly remarkable that just about the entire world shared the ‘Education in Emergencies (EiE) experience’. Globally, the majority of countries shut down their schools and tried to come up with alternatives, which was basically EiE. It would be great if the traditional EiE community could capitalize on this global experience, and utilise it for advocacy purposes.

The importance of coordination through the Education Clusters/Sector Working Groups became especially clear in countries with a fragmented education system (government schools, community-based schools, private schools, EiE learning centers), reminding the various actors of the education standards (including  WASH), the importance of working through PTAs and SMTs in identifying how to best continue schooling (through various distance learning modalities, tech and no-tech; potentially setting up task forces) and keeping track of the enrolled students. Additionally, the importance of working with the Ministries of Education to lead on creating and facilitating alternative modalities for learning with the Cluster/Sector Working Group partners/members as technical support was also clear.  

Through established coordination mechanisms, we are able to keep the focus on’ the common good/interest’ and avoid the disintegration into interest lobbies.