
The Liaison Agency (LA) is a coordination mechanism used by the Caritas confederation during major emergencies. The LA is carried out by a Caritas member organisation (MO) that takes on the role of coordination at the request of, and on behalf of, Caritas Internationalis (CI1). In 2000, CI began a process of review of its approaches to responding to emergencies and has since produced new guidelines and new mechanisms. This assessment of the LA model is part of the overall review process. The changing context within which Caritas members are working, the introduction of new mechanisms which affect the functioning and role of the LA and, not least, its contended status, led CI to commission an independent, separate review of the LA mechanism. This document presents the finding of the review of the LA model.