BRAC’s humanitarian response is governed by a comprehensive institutional structure which provides policy guidance, leadership and management support in an effective manner. The governance mechanism is led by BRAC’s leadership at the highest level, extended towards various levels for geographical coverage and supported by experts to serve emergency response needs. The humanitarian response governance follows three layers:
- Disaster Management Steering Committee (DMSC)
- District Disaster Management Team (DDMT)
- Upazila Disaster Management Team (UDMT)
The Disaster Management Steering Committee (DMSC) is the strategic decision-making and oversight forum of BRAC’s disaster management, chaired by the Executive Director. DMSC provides strategic leadership in all areas of disaster preparedness and emergency response programming, and strengthens BRAC’s overall humanitarian response initiatives. This committee consists of mostly directors from different programmes and support departments. The committee meets every three months during normal time, and daily or based on needs during an emergency period to provide overall strategic decisions and guidance to the emergency response programmes.
At district and upazila level, we have trained District Disaster Management Teams (DDMT) and Upazila Disaster Management Teams (UDMT) consisting of BRAC’s district and upazila level senior officials. These teams are responsible to coordinate and assist preparedness and emergency response activities at the district and upazila levels using all assigned resources and expertise from other programmes.