• Operational cooperation
  In a country affected by armed conflict, the ICRC and that country’s National Society pool their operational resources. This type of cooperation covers various activities such as first aid and health care, distributing food, taking war casualties to hospital and restoring family links.
  
  It can also involve National Societies which wish to operate outside their own countries in contexts where the ICRC is working.

• Coordinating the Movement’s components
  In accordance with the distribution of roles within the Movement that has been agreed to by all components, the ICRC is the lead agency in situations of conflict or internal violence. This means that in addition to organizing its own operations the ICRC coordinates the activities of other components operating in the country, thereby maximizing complementarity of mandates and skills.

• National Society capacity-building
  Thanks to its operational know-how, the ICRC passes on its expertise to the National Societies in accordance with its statutory mandate, and more specifically in the fields of promoting international humanitarian law and the Movement’s Fundamental Principles, emergency aid and health care for those affected by conflict, and restoring family links.

• Cooperation in devising Movement policies
  As the founding organ of the Movement, the ICRC takes an active part in designing and implementing policies for the Movement which are adopted at statutory meetings such as the Council of Delegates and the International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.

See also the section International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement