Secretariat’s coordination efforts through the SCEPG
The Secretariat COVID-19 Emergency Programme Group (SCEPG) was established to enhance coordination of the Secretariat's activities across Headquarters' Bureaus and Regional Offices in support of States and the aviation industry following the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and to provide all necessary Secretariat services to the Council Aviation Recovery Task Force (CART).
The Group is composed of representatives from all Bureaus and Regional Offices and its work is centred around five technical work streams covering aviation medicine, facilitation, air transport and economics, aviation safety and technical cooperation and training. The SCEPG finalized a Global Implementation Roadmap (GIR) to support, coordinate and monitor States' implementation of the recommendations and guidance issued by the CART, as requested by Council. Under the direction of the SCEPG, a dedicated COVID-19 Response and Recovery Platform and a COVID-19 Response and Recovery Implementation Centre were created to centralize access to available information, as well as to implementation and monitoring tools.
The Secretariat provided extensive support, including Secretariat services and technical advice, to the CART.
Under the direction of the SCEPG, a dedicated
COVID-19 Response and Recovery Platform has been created on the ICAO public website, gathering all relevant information. In addition, the COVID-19 Response and Recovery Implementation Centre (CRRIC), contains, inter alia, implementation and monitoring tools, including a gap analysis tool for States to report on their implementation of the recommendations contained in the CART Report, as well as a database of measures. Furthermore, the SCEPG has been coordinating the development of Implementation Packages (iPacks), as an essential element of the Secretariat's implementation support strategy. iPacks are bundles of standardized guidance material, training, tools, expert support and, when applicable, procurement guidance.
Through the continuous reprioritization and adjustment of work programmes and key activities, more resources have been allocated to COVID-19-related activities, including support to the CART and the work of the SCEPG. As outlined in the GIR, which was disseminated in July 2020, these activities covered the development and roll-out of iPacks; the Collaborative Arrangements for the Prevention and Management of Public Health Events in Civil Aviation (CAPSCA) activities; implementation support for safety, facilitation, aviation security, economic and financial measures; resource mobilization efforts; coordination activities; and monitoring and reporting activities.
The GIR is the Secretariat’s high-level implementation framework (a package of activities, mechanisms and tools), aimed at supporting, coordinating and monitoring the implementation of the CART recommendations and guidance at the global level. It is complemented by aligned regional implementation roadmaps, developed under the leadership of the respective Regional Offices and according to the situation of each region.
