<P> The Steering Committee for Humanitarian Response (SCHR) is an alliance made up of chief executive officers representing nine humanitarian networks or agencies (CARE International, Caritas Internationalis, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, International Save the Children Alliance, Lutheran World Federation, Oxfam, ACT Alliance, and World Vision International). </P> <P> The SCHR was created in 1972 to improve cooperation among humanitarian agencies involved in disaster assistance . The five founding agencies were Oxfam, the League of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (later to become the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies), the World Council of Churches (WCC), the Lutheran World Federation, and Catholic Relief Services (CRS). In 1983, Caritas Internationalis took over the seat held by CRS, and the International Save the Children Alliance joined in 1992 . Care International and Médecins sans frontières (MSF) were added in 1997 and the International Committee of the Red Cross in 1999 . In January 2007, MSF decided not to renew its membership, leaving the SCHR . The most recent new member is World Vision International which joined in July 2008 . The ACT Alliance now represents the WCC . </P> <P> All of its members are internationally focussed and involved in humanitarian emergency assistance . The SCHR was the founder of the Code of Conduct for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and NGOs in Disaster Relief and its members are all signatories to the code . </P> <P> The SCHR agencies implement most of international humanitarian assistance either directly or as operational partners with intergovernmental humanitarian agencies such as the UNHCR or the WFP . An important role of the SCHR is to introduce the field experience of its members into humanitarian decision making process of the United Nations, particularly through the UN's Inter-agency Standing Committee (IASC) which is made up of the heads of the principle UN agencies involved in humanitarian assistance . </P>

Steering committee for humanitarian response (schr)