Compliance during acute emergencies
10. Preserving the integrity of an emergency response and safeguarding assigned assets and human resources requires compliance with WHO regulations, policies, and procedures.
20. During emergencies, the IMT must have a compliance plan that outlines key compliance issues, actions to be taken, responsibilities, and timelines.
30. The local compliance and risk management committee of the country office ensures effective internal control and optimum use of resources by systematically monitoring compliance matters monthly.
40. The compliance plan needs to cover the areas below.
i.Administration, finance and planning: direct financial cooperation; direct implementation; letters of agreement; grants; donor reporting; awards management; performance management development system; adherence to human resource procedures regarding surge deployment, consultants' recruitment and use of existing rosters; travel; Framework for engagement with non-state actors procedures in an emergency
ii. Operations support and logistics: compliance with logistical and supply chain management, including warehousing, for public health emergencies;
iii. Procurement: to be authorized and approved according to WHE workplans, terms and conditions of the related donor agreements and standards related to quality assurance;
iv.Emergency operations: the emergency readiness checklist is to be updated on a monthly basis.
Compliance in protracted emergencies
50. During protracted crises, country offices need to shift to sustainable models of response and program delivery. Compliance requirements should be restructured for longer-term application. Key requirements include:
i.Activate a compliance team to develop a risk-based plan for direct implementation and financial cooperation. Verify expenditure-supporting documentation such as vouchers and invoices to ensure completeness and adequacy. Review the plan monthly for Protracted Grade 2 and 3 emergencies or quarterly for Protracted Grade 1 emergencies.
ii. Review the emergency operations annually to revalidate programme priorities and update the human resource structure, keeping in mind the evolution of needs and requirements of subnational offices and hubs; projected funding for emergency and non-emergency programmes; and changes to the operating, humanitarian, security and political context.
iii. For country offices that have relied on a mixed structure of WHO personnel and non-personnel (that is, personnel contracted through a special service agreement, consultancy or agreement for performance of work) during an acute crisis response, have a transition plan to clearly define the parameters and conditions for the phase-out of non-personnel and personnel, depending on the reassessment of the emergency programme
iv. Ensure that WHE essential and critical positions are in place with at least one full year's deployment to cover essential functions.
v. Establish a retention and development plan for country office staff, particularly for staff who have been serving at the subnational level during the acute emergency response phase.
vi. Activate regular and systemic quality assurance of the performance of implementing partners through longer-term outsourcing of third-party monitoring in financial and programme performance.
vii. Depending on the availability of resources in the country office, use existing third-party monitoring available through other United Nations partners to reduce contractual costs.
viii. Activate long-term agreements to gain efficiency in procurement (goods and services).
ix. Conduct warehousing stock management and procurement plan revisions on a quarterly basis for forecasting and prepositioning.
