Do some of you recall this old blue emergency handbook that could be found in all UNICEF offices and in most of the offices of our NGO partners in the 1980s and 1990s?
It was called "Assisting in Emergencies: A Resource Handbook for UNICEF Field Staff". Originally written by Ron Ockwell and published in 1986, it had a signature UNICEF-blue plastic cover and was about the size of a small Bible. It was chocked full of simple, actionable guidance—from how to start up a field office and chlorinate a well, to the exact dimensions of a shelter in a camp.
After my first assignment in Northern Iraq in 1992 and 1993, I ended up working as a consultant for EMOPS. My primary task was to support the updating of this handbook--as I had been a user of the handbook while in Iraq. I worked directly with Ron Ockwell, who dutifully held the original text in WORD on a floppy disk. We thought we had figured out a simple update process: we would seek inputs from the technical sections (WASH, Health, etc.), as well as from EMOPS, DFAM, and DHR, and have it reprinted in a few short months.
However, like all good ideas in UNICEF, this update quickly became a bureaucratic nightmare.
EVERYONE had a nit-picky point or a new buzzword they wanted to inject. The word/jargon police swarmed in with new terms and concepts for everything—all of which had to be added and elaborately explained. Each chapter swelled, new chapters were appended, and the handbook became a monster. Ultimately, no one was happy with the update, yet no one could live with the old version—even though that old version remained the best practical guidance most UNICEF staff could actually quote.
So, what did we do? Did we streamline the update, cut back expectations, and get a smart, nimble new version out to the field?
No. We called a meeting.
It took place in Martigny, Switzerland, in September 1998. The global consultation involved UNICEF Representatives from emergency countries, regional directors, EMOPS staff, and HQ colleagues. I was just a junior note-taker for EMOPS at the time.
At that meeting, we came up with the Martigny Principles. They sparked a massive shift in UNICEF’s conceptual approach to emergencies. Those principles laid the groundwork for the Core Corporate Commitments (CCCs)—which, in true agency fashion, led to years of endless elaboration, meetings, and discussions.
A couple of years down the road from Martigny, I found myself posted to Tanzania to help coordinate our response to a massive refugee influx from Burundi and the DRC. I had a large influx of new frontline staff based in field offices near the camps, almost none of whom had ever worked for UNICEF before. As usual, there was zero time for formal orientation. They signed their contracts and were immediately deployed to the front lines.
They were begging me for practical guidance. Unfortunately, I had no way to print and carry the new CCCs; they existed primarily online or in shiny corporate pamphlets that lacked detailed, ground-level instructions. I basically had nothing ready to share with them.
Then, I struck gold. I found a couple of sealed boxes of the old 1986 blue handbooks sitting in storage—the exact same book I had relied on in Iraq and had helped update in EMOPS.
I threw those boxes into a Land Cruiser heading from Dar es Salaam to our three sub-offices near the camps, giving each about a dozen copies. Our new staff poured over them, photocopying the copious annexes that gave excellent, step-by-step details on how to actually get things done. We even shared them with our NGO partners, who devoured them.
In the end, it was a total win-win—driven not by the modern, shiny policy frameworks of Geneva or New York, but by a box of forgotten, plastic-bound books from 1986. Not to downplay the CCCs - it was a better framework, but was far from field guidance that frontline staff need.
While writing this article I looked online for reference to this - very few things turned up. But I did note some clever retired UN Staff or spouse was selling the UNICEF and UNHCR handbooks on EBAY for a cool USD 79.99!.
I took this photo from the EBAY page here.
I know I am old, nostalgic and biased - but I think the old blue emergency handbook is still the best publication ever produced by UNICEF.
What do you think?
Hi Rob and thank you for this super cool and feel good story - much needed in these very dark times. You say it all and I agree with you. Fairly recent feedback from the field was simply that instructions, policies etc... were getting so complicated that it was hard for users to absorb, let alone follow,. I salute the initiative of those selling early versions on EBAY :) It makes me think it can be a good alternative to shredding or dumping.
ReplyDeleteWith best rgds to you and all.
Thanks, Indeed in my last year - 2025 - as head of planning and monitoring - the amount of guidance on processes was mind boggling. I had to roll new guidance to my country office teams - it was really a pain to explain and navigate - and all about process and internal steps. The new version of PPP (which dear Detlef wrote - and shared as a PDF) - has now moved online called PPP-X. It is not bad--arranged pretty well if you have a laptop and big screen in the car - not likely in the field? But is still about process and frameworks. Very little guidance on the what we need to do. The little blue book packed a punch and was actually useful in a crunch.
Delete"Assisting in Emergencies: A Resource Handbook for UNICEF Field Staff"
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteInteresting story Rob, way before my time When I was stationed in Santiago, Chile, in 1973, we had no guide books. We were told that in an emergency to go to the UN -CEPAL building, but there was no provision for safe passage. There wasn't much of a warning when the military coup took place on 9.11. (- yes, another memorable date), and we decided it was safer to stay in our house.
ReplyDeleteAre we talking about the same kind of emergencies?
Deletethis handbook was not about what to do if you are in the office and a situation occurs - it was about programming in an emergency - setting up emergency water points, feeding programs, etc. from the mid 90 UN DSS (UN department of security and safety) was engaged in office and staff safety - this remains UNDSS domain and is not part of the handbook guidance as goes beyond any agency mandate.
DeleteBill Fellows here, when I was in charge of our Kadugli Office in what would have been 87/88, the GOS attacked the Shatt Community in the Nuba Mountains and so one morning I arrived at the Office to find 10,000 people sitting outside it. I got on the radio to Khartoum and spoke to the Head of Emergencies. He said he would immediately dispatch two truckloads of blankets as that was all he had in store at the time. I asked what did I do in the meantime? He said, look in your bookcase, there should be a blue book with a plastic cover there. I replied, found it. He said "read it." One of the best pieces of advice I got in 40 years with UNICEF!!!
DeleteI think I may still have my copy of the blue plastic UNHCR Handbook for Emergencies from the 1980s. UNHCR stuck with the title, but latest edition has put on considerable weight weight. I remember actually reading the slim volumes we had to guide us in our work in the 1980s. The CCCs and PPPs of this age have become reference books that first sat on my shelves and are now buried somewhere on my harddrive. Now, the fastest way to find information is to ask AI.
ReplyDelete