The work of NRC’s office in Geneva is focused on influencing global humanitarian and displacement policies and partnerships.
Our humanitarian policy and representation office in Geneva
Our primary targets are the United Nations (UN) agencies, Permanent Missions to the UN, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), international organisations, academics and others. NRC Geneva also manages our engagement with the UN Security Council Member States in New York.
Our policy and partnerships work is directly informed by NRC’s operational experience across the 40 countries where we work to ensure that the voices of displaced populations are guiding and influencing key decisions about their futures.
NRC aims to ensure that global diplomacy efforts are directed towards the following:
- Protecting and promoting principled humanitarian action;
- Achieving improved access to operate in hard-to-reach areas;
- Supporting a comprehensive approach that enables displaced people greater access to durable solutions;
- Preventing future displacement;
- Improving funding mechanisms to respond to crises and provide protection to forcibly displaced people, and;
- Supporting integration of climate and environmental sustainability in humanitarian policies, funding, programmes and operations.
Coordination is instrumental to advance the humanitarian policy agenda. Building on operational experience, NRC plays a key role in several interagency coordination platforms:
Our primary targets are the United Nations (UN) agencies, Permanent Missions to the UN, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), international organisations, academics and others. NRC Geneva also manages our engagement with the UN Security Council Member States in New York.
Our policy and partnerships work is directly informed by NRC’s operational experience across the 40 countries where we work to ensure that the voices of displaced populations are guiding and influencing key decisions about their futures.
NRC aims to ensure that global diplomacy efforts are directed towards the following:
- Protecting and promoting principled humanitarian action;
- Achieving improved access to operate in hard-to-reach areas;
- Supporting a comprehensive approach that enables displaced people greater access to durable solutions;
- Preventing future displacement;
- Improving funding mechanisms to respond to crises and provide protection to forcibly displaced people, and;
- Supporting integration of climate and environmental sustainability in humanitarian policies, funding, programmes and operations.
Coordination is instrumental to advance the humanitarian policy agenda. Building on operational experience, NRC plays a key role in several interagency coordination platforms:
- NRC co-chairs the Global Protection Cluster (GPC) Strategic Advisory Group
- NRC leads the GPC Housing Land and Property Area of Responsibility
- NRC is co-chair of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Operational, Policy and Advocacy Group (OPAG)
Our work
Humanitarian principles and access
Ensuring that humanity, impartiality, neutrality, and independence remain at the core of humanitarian work. We advocate for the protection and promotion of principled humanitarian space among relevant stakeholders to ensure it stays high on the international agenda.
NRC is committed to ensuring that everyone can access assistance based on their needs, in accordance with the provisions under International Humanitarian Law, including those in areas that are hard to reach. We also contribute to building NRC staff capacity on humanitarian principles, access, and negotiations.
Read more about humanitarian principles and humanitarian access.
Impact of counterterrorism measures and sanctions on principled humanitarian action
Counterterrorism measures and sanctions regimes can have a range of negative impacts on principled humanitarian action, including placing limitations on affected populations’ ability to access assistance. For humanitarian organisations, they can limit our ability to engage with non-state armed groups (NSAGs), provide assistance to people based on their needs alone, and restrict our access to financial services.
NRC is the leading NGO voice on this issue and has invested significantly in documenting the challenges and in raising awareness. Our engagement with key counterterrorism and sanctions stakeholders has helped to mitigate the impact of these measures on our work and on the communities we assist.
- NRC’s four-part ‘Dialogue series on solutions to bank derisking’ (2022-2023)
- Barriers to Afghanistan’s critical private sector recovery (2023)
- Life and Death: NGO access to financial services in Afghanistan (2022)
- Toolkit for principled humanitarian action: managing counterterrorism risks (2020) (French version and Arabic version)
- Practical Guide: project cycle management and counterterrorism risks (2020)
- Principles Under Pressure: the impact of counterterrorism measures and preventing / countering violent extremism on principled humanitarian action (2018)
- Study of the impact of donor counterterrorism measures on principled humanitarian action (2013)
Protection
Protection is concerned with the safety, dignity and rights of people affected by violence and displacement.
NRC’s protection policy work focuses on mobilising and enhancing the humanitarian community’s capacity to reduce risks for civilians in situations of armed conflicts. NRC supports states to uphold their commitment to protect civilians under international law and advocates for protection to be central to the humanitarian response.
This is done through targeted engagement to:
- promote more effective diplomacy and leadership to address risks faced by civilians in conflicts
- build a better collective understanding of complex environments for the protection of civilians
- promote compliance with international law and accountability for violations
- ensure that humanitarian responses more effectively reduce protection risks
- Protection of Civilians and Access Explainers (2024)
- Five ways to safeguard protection in development-oriented approaches to solutions to internal displacement (2024)
- Breaking the Glass Ceiling: a smarter approach to protection financing (2020)
- Unprepared for re-integration (2019) and executive summary
- Lessons from Responsibility Sharing Mechanisms (2017)
- Considerations for Planning Mass Evacuations (2016)
Humanitarian system strengthening
Effective coordination is necessary to ensure that resources reach the most vulnerable people with an adequate and consistent quality of assistance in all locations. NRC has a strong institutional commitment to engage in, improve and strengthen the interagency coordination system.
NRC is seeking to streamline coordination structures, improve interagency planning and prioritisation tools, and promote greater accountability for humanitarian leadership.
Humanitarian financing
NRC is a thought-leader within the humanitarian financing policy arena, with our humanitarian policy efforts focused on increasing the quantity and quality of funding.
This is done through influencing global allocations and advocating for improvements in the flexibility and predictability of funding, as well as improving access to funding. We also work on supporting innovative financing mechanisms to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the humanitarian response.
- Development Actors and the Nexus; lessons from crises in Bangladesh, Cameroon and Somalia (2021)
- Make or Break: the implications of Covid-19 for crisis financing (2020)
- The programme-based approach: ten lessons (2020)
- Funding Flaws Brief (2020)
- Country Based Pooled Funds: the NGO Perspective (2019)
- Financing the nexus from a field perspective (2019)
- Living up to the promise of multi-year humanitarian financing (2017)
- Understanding humanitarian funds, going beyond CBFPs (2017)
- Bridging the needs-based funding gap (2014)
- Catalogue of quality funding practices to the humanitarian response: 2nd edition (2024)
- Grand Bargain 2.0 Spotlight: NRC’s approach to operationalising the commitments (2023)
- Grand Bargain 2.0 Spotlight: Quality Funding (2023)
- Grand Bargain Spotlight; Reducing Earmarked Funding (2016)
- GB – harmonisation and donor conditions (2016)
- Too important to bargain? The Grand Bargain For Efficiencies: A Briefing Note (2016)
- Grand Bargain Spotlight; Increasing Multi-Year Funding (2016)
- Beyond the Grand Bargain (2018)
- Grand Bargain Briefing Note (2018)
Displacement and climate change
NRC is working to ensure disaster displacement is included in and acted upon in global policy processes, including climate change negotiations (UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)/Paris Agreement), the Sendai Framework on Disaster Risk Reduction, the Global Compacts on Refugees and Migration and others.
We advocate towards protection-mandated agencies and states to include the effects of climate change and disasters in their work with refugees and internally displaced people. We participate in the Platform on Disaster Displacement as a member of the Advisory Committee and coordinate the Inter-Agency Advisory Group on Climate Change and Human Mobility.
- NRC signs the ICRC Climate and Environmental Charter for Humanitarian Agencies
- Climate, conflict and displacement: Implications for protection agencies. Joint NRC/ODI report, September 2021
- Key Messages ahead of COP26 (2021)
- Words into Action eLearning Course – English / French / Spanish
- Words into Action, Disaster Displacment: How to Reduce Risk, Address Impacts and Strengthen Resilience (2019)
- Disaster Displacement and Disaster Risk Reduction (2019)
- COP22 – Time for Action (2019)
- Climate change, displacement and community relocation: Lessons from Alaska (2017)
- Nansen Initiative Agenda – Protecting Cross Border Displacement (2015)
- Global Estimates, People Displaced by Disasters (2015)
Partnerships
NRC Geneva’s Partnerships team works to enhance and foster strategic institutional partnerships with UN agencies and the Swiss government. Among others, this includes strong engagement with UNHCR, UNICEF, Education Cannot Wait, OCHA, IOM, FAO, WFP, and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).
Working closely with our Humanitarian Financing colleagues, we advocate for improved donor conditions and flexibilities to enhance the quality of our humanitarian operations. We also support NRC Country Offices to understand the rules and regulations of their grant agreements, offering capacity building and learning opportunities for NRC colleagues on donor procedures and engagement.
United Nations Security Council
NRC Geneva leads NRC’s thematic engagement with the members of the United Nations Security Council in New York. This involves both public advocacy and private diplomacy on a range of policy issues including the protection of civilians, counterterrorism and sanctions measures, and climate-induced conflict. NRC US leads our country-specific engagement with Council members.
The Global Protection Cluster (GPC)
NRC is a longstanding and active contributor to the Global Protection Cluster (GPC). NRC currently has several areas of responsibility: NRC co-chairs the Strategic Advisory Group (SAG) of the GPC, leads the Housing, Land and Property Area of Responsibility (HLP AoR), and co-leads the Task Team on Law and Policy.
NRC is also the Protection Cluster co-coordinator in nine humanitarian responses and a coordinator of HLP AoRs and working groups in sixteen countries.
The Housing, Land and Property Area of Responsibility (HLP AoR) has been led by NRC since 2016 and exists to facilitate a more predictable, accountable and effective HLP response. It does this by promoting collaboration and coordination amongst those engaged in HLP activities to develop communities of practice and remote support open to all.
NRC’s leadership of the HLP AoR draws on NRC’s practice-based experience and expertise in establishing HLP as a key component of centrality of protection activities and a vital part of achieving durable solutions.
Take a look at the HLP AoR webpages on the GPC site here.
Publications:
Latest publications
Cecilia Roselli | Director
cecilia.roselli@nrc.no
Kaela Glass | Head of Partnership Unit
kaela.glass@nrc.no
Emma OLeary | Head of Humanitarian Policy Unit
emma.oleary@nrc.no
Caelin Briggs | Senior Adviser Humanitarian Policy and Protection
caelin.briggs@nrc.no
Cherise Chadwick | Adviser Counterterrorism, Sanctions, Principled Humanitarian Action
cherise.chadwick@nrc.no
Lene Groenkjaer | Adviser Nexus and Principled Humanitarian Action
lene.groenkjaer@nrc.no
Clarissa Crippa | Senior Policy Adviser to the Secretary-General
clarissa.crippa@nrc.no
Jim Robinson | Coordinator GPC Housing, Land & Property AoR
jim.robinson@nrc.no
Anthony Nolan | Global Lead Protection and Global Protection Cluster focal point
anthony.nolan@nrc.no
Julie Gassien | Global Lead Climate & Environment
julie.gassien@nrc.no
Nathan McGibney | Senior Global Advocacy Adviser
nathan.mcgibney@nrc.no
Mathilde Garcia-Lopez | Institutional Partnership Coordinator
mathilde.garcialopez@nrc.no
Giulia Boo | Institutional Partnerships Officer
giulia.boo@nrc.no
Elise Rech | Protection from Violence Adviser
elise.rech@nrc.no
Ellie Ward | Humanitarian Policy Officer
ellie.ward@nrc.no
Blaise Fasel | Communication and Advocacy Officer
blaise.fasel@nrc.no
Yannick Fenner | Head of Support
yannick.fenner@nrc.no
NRC's Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) is also based in Geneva. The centre is the leading global source of information and analysis on internal displacement. Its data and analysis informs and influences policies by governments, UN agencies, donors and non-governmental organisations. It monitors internal displacement caused by conflict, violence, human rights violations and natural hazard-induced disasters.
For more information, please contact:
Visit NRC Geneva: 16 La Voie-Creuse, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland (on the 5th floor)