Despite progress following the humanitarian reform in 2005, which led to a stronger collective emergency capacity and a clearer division of labour, the humanitarian response to the Haiti earthquake and Pakistan floods in 2010 exposed continuing weaknesses and inefficiencies in the international humanitarian response system. The IASC Principals therefore initiated a process to further adjust and improve humanitarian responses.

In December 2011, they adopted the Transformative Agenda – a set of concrete actions to transform the way in which the humanitarian community responds to large-scale emergencies. It focused on improving timeliness and effectiveness through stronger leadership, more effective coordination structures and improved accountability for performance and accountability to affected people – see diagram.

This led to the Transformative Agenda’s ten protocols, developed and updated in the subsequent years. The protocols provide guidance on the agreed mechanisms and processes required for an improved coordinated response under the Transformative Agenda.

The Transformative Agenda introduced measures for quickly deploying experienced staff, empowering leadership, and mobilising additional, pooled funds available. For the first time, the IASC agreed on how to respond together to a major emergency that required a system-wide response: Level 3 (L3) emergencies would be judged against 5 criteria namely scale, complexity, urgency, the capacity required to respond and the reputational risk to humanitarian organisations and responders in case of an inadequate response. The designation of a Level 3 emergency would automatically activate a system-wide response to ensure the right leadership, coordination mechanisms and accountability framework were in place and consequently improve the overall effectiveness of assistance. (See current status of system-wide L3 responses on the IASC website.)

The Transformative Agenda Protocols: From L3 Definition to “Scale Up” Protocols

In 2018, the IASC updated the L3 protocols and established new definitions and procedures for a humanitarian system-wide scale-up activation. After an extensive consultation process with humanitarian partners, the IASC principals adopted the IASC Humanitarian System-Wide Scale-Up protocols and related documents to replace the previous protocols of response to Level 3 Emergencies. The main difference between Scale-Up and the previous L3 system, is the emphasis on focused collective and time-bound emergency procedures. Scale-Up activation is time-bound (limited to 6 months) and can only be extended once (for an additional 3 months in exceptional circumstances).