XVII.6.4.1. Overall deployment process for emergencies
10. This section describes how to deploy personnel into the field in response to a graded emergency or public health event. Except for deployments at the outset of an event or investigative missions, personnel should only be deployed once the following is complete:
a) the HR plan defining the human resources (HR) requirements in line with the incident management support team (IMST) structure has been approved based on the Delegation of Authority for Emergencies and
b) all security, medical and administrative arrangements necessary are in place to ensure the safety and wellbeing of individuals engaged as part of the Organization's response to an emergency.
20. Depending on the sourcing option for the deploying personnel, the following standard operating procedures (SOPs) will guide the deployment process for an emergency response:
a. the SOP on deployment on duty travel
b. the SOP on deployment of external roster members
c. the SOP on deployment of GOARN roster members
d. the SOP on deployment of Standby Partner personnel
e. the SOP on deployment of UN Volunteers
XVII.6.4.2 Travel policy applicable to emergency deployment
30. The emergency travel process is designed to fast-track the travel arrangements for staff and non-staff deployed to support emergencies. Emergency deployments are usually facilitated by the Headquarters (HQ) or Regional Office emergency HR deployment teams to fill incident management system (IMS) roles in the HR plan related to the response to public health events or graded emergencies (as defined in eManual XVII.2.7 Activation of Emergency Procedures).
40. Within HQ, the process is streamlined through a dedicated team established by the Travel Agency. This team exclusively handles emergency deployments, offering bookings upon request and issuing tickets even without a fully approved Travel Request (when time constraints do not allow for the full process to be followed), provided there is an endorsement from both the designated officer overseeing the deployment and the Travel Exceptions team.
50. Regional Offices are encouraged to establish similar arrangements to issue tickets for emergency travel.
60. The Standard Operating Procedure for Emergency Travel can be found here.
XVII.6.4.3 Staff and Non-staff Entitlements
Staff Entitlements
70. Standard staff entitlements apply to staff deployed to respond to an emergency. The respective eManual provisions can be found here.
80. At the same time, additional entitlements that may apply to staff members responding to an emergency are described below:
Cancellation of Personal Leave due to an emergency deployment
90. In principle, WHO is to reimburse expenses due to unavoidable losses from cancelled personal leave if WHO deploys a staff member for an emergency response, provided that the following two conditions are met:
a. The staff member has informed the respective incident manager and event support manager by email about the cancelled personal travel and related cost BEFORE the emergency deployment is authorized; and
b. The staff member has demonstrated that they first tried to obtain a refund from the respective travel company or airlines prior to asking WHO to reimburse their expenses.
100. If the above two conditions are met AND the total loss from the cancelled personal leave is less than USD 500, the staff member can directly submit the reimbursement request via a Travel Claim by adding a line at "other costs" and attach all the relevant documents (e.g., invoice, email request to the travel company for cancellation and refund and their response., etc.).
110 If the total loss from the cancelled personal leave is USD 500 or above, and/or above two conditions are not fully met, the staff member should first submit a memo to the Executive Director, WHO Health Emergencies Programme (EXD) through the event support manager, requesting EXD approval, including the invoice and/or other documentation of the costs and attaching the request to the travel company for cancellation and refund and their response Once the EXD approval is granted, the staff member may request reimbursement via a travel claim attached to the memo with EXD approval.
Compensatory leave
120. General service staff and professional staff returning from emergency response in crisis and outbreaks duty travel may be entitled to compensatory leave. The respective policy can be found here.
Non-Staff Entitlements
130. The table in this link provides information on non-staff entitlements deployed to respond to an emergency.
