Summary of major revisions made to Emergency Plan of Action:
This Emergency Plan of Action was initially launched on 20 November 2015 with the objective of coordinating support to assist National Societies in reaching 1,000,000 migrants1 . The initial Appeal was launched seeking CHF 2.2 million with a timeframe of 8 months. The main focus was on the scale-up of the response and coordination, support to advocacy and sensitization, and support for partnerships and resource mobilization.
The unstable situation in the migration influx in Europe, the increasing needs for National Societies in the region to assist the most vulnerable people and to be prepared to meet changing humanitarian needs have led to the revision of this Emergency Plan of Action. It scales up resources to provide a more comprehensive and flexible framework to respond to the current situation and to potential future developments.
Also, the rising number of National Societies involved in this operation (as auxiliary of the public authorities in arrival, transit and destination countries) has led to the need for a common framework for action, to maximize the strength and impact of the Red Cross Movement. To achieve this goal – as highlighted during the last meeting on migration in London - the revised version of this EPoA includes the drafting of a Consolidated European Strategic Migration Response Framework that will offer an harmonized approach to meet the needs of people crossing or staying in Europe in the context of the current population movement operation.
Whilst the previous version of the Regional Plan of Action was focusing in National Societies assisting people on the move, recent developments show how the humanitarian actors need to address other type of contexts: from continuing the support of new arrivals, to stranded population, and coordination among destination countries.