Interagency Coordination During Disaster

This publication deals with the often lamented coordination deficit among international relief organizations (mainly UN, NGOs, and Red Cross/Crescent Movement) in responding to humanitarian crises.
The author starts by reviewing the relevant literature and identifying the most important trends and actors in the international humanitarian arena. Next, she discusses the advantages and disadvantages of existing coordination models in practice, including those promoted by the UN. In addition, the author examines the suitability of organization theory (incl. network theory) for the diagnosis of coordination deficits and the deduction of a recommended course of action. Building upon organization theory, the author then proceeds to develop her own theoretical framework. Despite the complexity of the context of a humanitarian crisis, this framework allows for a surprisingly straightforward deduction of feasible strategies to improve coordination. Finally, the framework is applied and tested using several cases of coordination in the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Darfur (Sudan).
The author works as a consultant for McKinsey & Company, Inc. and specializes in advising nonprofit organizations.