Annual report

Ukraine and impacted countries
, but also the 
ones in 
Pakistan
, 
Africa Food crisis
, 
Malawi
, 
Ethiopia
, 
South Africa
, 
Chad
, 
Nigeria
, 
Cuba
, 
Uganda 
and 
Bangladesh
. At the strategic level, 
coordination has taken place through regular 
senior leadership discussions with National 
Societies, as well as 
National Society Advisory 
Group
. Issues are discussed bi-weekly between 
the IFRC and a group of National Societies, 
regional consultations with National Society 
leadership, and co-creation of the response’s 
strategic direction. At the operational level, the 
IFRC has been instrumental in creating and 
implementing the 
Federation-wide approach 
to the operations
, ensuring the central role 
of the National Society in their own countries 
built around one domestic plan, including 
the associated Federation-wide planning and 
reporting frameworks.
The 
Africa Hunger crisis
has also mobilized 
the collective resources of the IFRC network, 
sharing leadership among the IFRC and National 
Societies to come up with a collective approach 
to arguably one of the most pressing humanitar-
ian catastrophes of today. This comprises both 
thematic support through various co-creation 
groups and geographical support. Thematic 
support has been provided by adapting or 
producing innovative tools and guidance of 
global applicability (such as the Climate Charter). 
Increasing attention was given during 2022 to 
Enabling Functions
| Strategic and operational coordination 
145

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better connect the IFRC Reference Centres to 
foster collaboration and cooperation.
Simultaneously, the IFRC continues to advocate 
for the needs of the most vulnerable commu-
nities with governments and in international 
humanitarian forums. The IFRC has also 
maintained regular coordination with the UN 
System and other international humanitarian 
organizations, representing the voices of the 
“last mile”, advocating for continued investment 
in localization and de-politization of aid.
New Way of Working
The work to operationalize the Agenda for 
Renewal continues, including through the 
joint membership initiative on the New Way 
of Working in country coordination, which is 
piloted in 2022–2023 in 14 countries. The initi-
ative was presented to the entire Membership 
at the end of 2021, and a series of consultations 
took place with National Societies at the start of 
2022, following which it was formally launched. 
The IFRC held a one-week onboarding week in 
March 2022 for the 14 IFRC Heads of Delegations 
of the pilot countries, to ensure that they were 
fully briefed on the initiative and clear on the 
expectations. A follow-up onboarding meeting 
was held as an extension of the IFRC Global 
Management Meeting in October 2022. The 
Global Management Meeting includes all IFRC 
country and regional leadership, and the meet-
ing was extended by two days to focus on the 
priorities of the Agenda for Renewal, including 
the New WoW.
Efforts to support the Federation-wide planning 
and approach in operations also continued, such 
as in Ukraine and Pakistan. The scale and extent 
of the Ukraine crisis is unprecedented and has 
mobilized a significant response from across 
the IFRC network. Many National Societies have 
responded internationally to support sister 
National Societies, such as the Ukrainian Red 
Cross Society (URCS), either through the IFRC 
Emergency Appeal or through bilateral support, 
while many others are working in their own coun-
tries to support displaced people from Ukraine. 
To ensure effective Membership Coordination, 
the IFRC has mobilized membership coordi-
nation support through the Regional Office 
for Europe to build appropriate channels for 
membership engagement and coordination at 
the regional level and across all country levels in 
Ukraine, neighbouring countries, and countries 
beyond those bordering Ukraine. In Pakistan, 
the focus at the outset was on ensuring that 
there was a National Society response plan that 
would inform the Federation-wide approach and 
ensuring that the Federation-wide response was 
led by the Pakistan Red Crescent Society (PRCS) 
and supported by the IFRC and partner National 
Societies under one plan. A Federation-wide 
plan was developed based on the response 
priorities of the PRCS and in consultation with 
all IFRC members contributing to the response. 
It contributed to better coordination, leveraged 
the capacity of all members of the IFRC network 
in the country and demonstrated the collective 
humanitarian impact of the Red Cross and Red 
Crescent membership responding to the floods.
Reference centres, hubs
and other initiatives
The IFRC also continued its coordination role 
towards IFRC and National Society reference 
centres, as well as hubs and other initiatives. In 
this role, the IFRC organized the 2022 annual 
meeting of the reference centres at its head-
quarters in Geneva, Switzerland, in May 2022. It 
also provided strategic advice to four National 
Societies considering or in the process of 
creating new centres, supported relevant pro-
posals, and ensured the alignment of centres 
with 
Strategy 2030 
and current projects of the 
network. In 2022, the IFRC inaugurated the 
Humanitarian Observatory, a new IFRC Regional 
Reference Centres hosted by the Argentine Red 
Cross. The IFRC has also identified opportunities 
for reference centres to share their expertise, 
to participate in research initiative of common 
concern, and identified funding opportunities to 
support their work. Finally, the IFRC also started 
a process to potentially, following a needs 
assessment, include IFRC Reference Centres 
(global and regional) within Emergency Appeals 
when a large-scale emergency occurs and where