Immediately following the onset of any crisis, the RR will appoint the members of the COCRT based on the needs of the situation at hand. Generally, the COCRT will be comprised of UNDP CO staff members from key operations and programme units. The COCRT is responsible for day-to-day support to the Resident Representative and CO senior managers in all implementation aspects of UNDP’s crisis response.
The Crisis Board is a temporary senior-level decision-making body that provides strategic direction to UNDP support for crisis response and recovery programming for all Level 2 and 3 crises and, exceptionally, for Level 1 crises. The Crisis Board executes temporary authority in all aspects of UNDP corporate response to crisis, including response objectives and key messages, response level, funding allocation decisions,5 deployments, SURGE plan endorsement, recovery programme endorsement and gender considerations.
Criteria for determining crisis complexity include: Multi-layered emergency, multiple countries affected, multitude of actors, humanitarian access or lack thereof and security risks to staff.
The Crisis Management Support Team (CMST) is a temporary, working-level forum that implements the Crisis Board decisions and provides dedicated programme, operations and advocacy support to COs responding to Level 2 and 3 crises and, exceptionally, for Level 1 crises. The CMST engages Central and Regional Bureaux personnel in HQ and the Regional Hubs, with a standing membership from each Bureau. The CMST is led by a CMST Coordinator, who is named by the Crisis Board. The CMST Coordinator manages the technical inputs of the team while coordinating cross-cutting issues.
Crisis response is broadly defined by UNDP as a response to sudden-onset and escalating protracted crises, conflict and disasters. The purpose of the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for Immediate Crisis Response is to provide a robust institutional and operational framework so that critical decisions and actions can be taken quickly in response to crisis situations.