The following outlines the criteria and activation process for deployment of a Tech RRT Advisor or the team as a whole.
Criteria:
- Humanitarian Crisis including rapid onset emergency such as natural disaster, civil unrest/war or slow onset emergency as defined by OCHA such as drought, political/economic crisis and global challenges (climate change, food prices, irregular migration).
- L3/L2 categorization where cluster or sector coordination mechanisms are in place.
- Countries with limited technical capacity
A request for a Tech RRT deployment is assessed a priority as follows:
| Priority | Characteristics |
| 1 | Declaration of a Level 3 emergency |
| 2 | Rapid onset emergency OR Rapid deterioration of pre-existing situation |
| 3 | Threat or forecast of L2 or L3 emergency |
The scope, type, role and responsibilities and timeline of the deployment should be detailed in a Terms of Reference (ToR) that is agreed upon before any deployment by the 2 parties, in particular, the requester in country and the Tech RRT Steering Committee. Validation of deployments will also take place with Tech RRT’s donors. The request should reflect the needs of the collective, in other words, the needs of the nutrition community within the location, and therefore, should be endorsed by the nutrition cluster or sector in country or the respective coordination group/platform.
Note: Deployments should be no more than 6 weeks in length
Here are the different steps required in order to activate the Technical Rapid Response Team:
1 – Initial request
Any agency or nutrition partner on the ground who identifies a gap, the Global Nutrition Cluster, the country cluster/sector, the government/Ministry of Health or a donor are able to request a technical deployment by sending the Request form and a completed ToR to the Program Manager. The PM will acknowledge the receipt of the request within 24 hours. To view the request form click here. To view sample ToRs click here.
2 – Discussion
If appropriate for support, the ToR outlining roles and responsibilities as well as deliverables will be reviewed by the PM and the Technical Advisor to be deployed. Comments and questions will be sent back to the requestor until the document is finalized.
3 – Decision
The Steering Committee is responsible for reviewing and prioritizing deployment requests and ToRs with USAID/OFDA, Irish Aid and SIDA. The final decision for deployment will be taken in collaboration with USAID/OFDA, Irish Aid and SIDA based on Steering Committee consensus within 48-72 hours. Under exceptional circumstance, the turn around can be reduced to 24 hours. The decision to deploy one or more surge team members is confirmed after balancing the requirement in the field with available capacity within the team. The surge team is deployable within 72 hours in L3 (depending on visa procedures). Deployments are usually for a maximum of 6 weeks.
4 – Activation for deployment
Deployment of the Tech RRT Advisor based on agreed ToR. An End of Mission report is produced at completion of each deployment.