NORCAP
 | |
| Founded | 1991 |
|---|---|
| Location | |
Key people | Benedicte Giæver,[1] Director Emergency Response Department |
| Website | http://www.norcapweb.no |
NORCAP is a standby roster operated by the Norwegian Refugee Council and funded by the Norwegian government. NORCAP works to strengthen the United Nations, regional organizations and national authorities' abilities to prevent and respond to crises by providing experienced personnel that can be deployed rapidly anywhere in the world.
Activities
The roster consists of 650 men and women from Norway and countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America. Their expertise spans from nutrition, through education, engineering, law, project management, information/communication, shelter, logistics to child protection and more. At any given time, approximately 160 experts are on missions in around 40 countries. NORCAP's experts have since the establishment of the roster in 1991 been on more than 7,500 missions.
An external review of several emergency standby rosters from 2012 shows that NORCAP is the largest provider of emergency personnel to the UN.[2]
History
NORCAP's precursor NORSTAFF was established in response to the Kurdish refugee crisis following the Gulf War in 1991. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees requested Norwegian authorities to provide personnel with experience from working in emergency situations. The Norwegian Foreign Ministry agreed to establish and fund a standby roster, while the Norwegian Refugee Council was given the task of building, managing and developing the roster further.
The Norwegian Refugee Council also established a set of regional standby forces – NORAFRIC, NORMIDEAST and NORASIA – with personnel from Africa, the Middle East and Asia.
In 2009, the various standby rosters, NORSTAFF, NORAFRIC, NORMIDEAST, NORASIA and the observer roster NOROBS, merged under the name NORCAP (Norwegian capacity to international operations).
NORCAP recruits and seconds personnel to 14 different UN agencies, regional organizations such as the African Union, the Temporary International Presence in Hebron and International Monitoring Team on Mindanao, Philippines. Previously, NORCAP personnel have been seconded to the Joint Monitoring Mission in the Nuba Mountains in Sudan and the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission.