Organisation of Islamic Cooperation
The Collective Voice of The Muslim World
Date: 29/01/2015
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) held a roundtable, the first of its kind, on 27 January 2015 to discuss how to boost cooperation on and coordination of humanitarian action with various humanitarian agencies constituting the communities of international relief work. The meeting brought together representatives of United Nations Office of Coordination of Humanitarian Action (OCHA), the European Union (ECHO), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and participants from Germany and Sweden. The meeting aims to boost cooperation and coordination in the area of humanitarian assistance, exchange information and expertise, financing joint humanitarian programmes to service affected areas in various parts of the Muslim world. The meeting, which is being chaired by the Ambassador Hisham Yusuf, Assistant Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, is an initiative of the OIC in collaboration with OCHA and a starting point of regular meetings with donor states and agencies. It also builds on the ongoing cooperation and consultation between the OIC and other international organizations to improve performance, benefit from the expertise of those organizations and boost humanitarian action capacities in the OIC Member States. The meeting discussed a set of humanitarian issues including the OIC 2015 and 2016 plan of action and how to promote joint humanitarian action in coordination with civil society organizations working in the humanitarian field and how to link them with international organizations working in the same field.
