The Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) is an inter-agency forum of United Nations and non-UN humanitarian partners founded in 1991 to strengthen humanitarian assistance.
[1] The overall objective of the IASC is to improve the delivery of humanitarian assistance to affected populations.
[1] IASC members are:[1] Standing invitees of the IASC are: Following the recommendations of an independent Humanitarian Response Review in 2005, the cluster approach was adopted in 2005 as a way of addressing gaps and strengthening the effectiveness of humanitarian response through building partnerships.
The IASC clustered similar humanitarian organizations and appointed lead agencies for each.
There are 11 clusters which are humanitarian coordination mechanisms of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee:[2]