Global Policy and Research Conference

Risk, Adaptation and Innovation in Humanitarian Action
OCHA Policy and Research Conference
New York, 12-13 December 2011

In December 2011, OCHA hosted a humanitarian policy and research conference on the theme of 'Risk, Adaptation and Innovation in Humanitarian Action'.  The conference aimed to identify priority policy research areas for the humanitarian community, and to strengthen partnerships with policy and research organisations. Over 50 attendees came from a global network of research institutes, universities, international NGOs and UN organisations.   

OCHA staff identified the following priority policy and research themes from the conference as a whole:

Information and decision-making

Humanitarian programming needs to be driven by timely and relevant information and analysis in order to ensure that that aid delivery is impartial and needs-based. But more work is needed to see how information is incorporated into the decision-making process, particularly with respect to driving preventative action.

Accountability

There is no overall framework for accountability in the humanitarian system and there are tensions between the need to be accountable to both donors and to affected communities. Development actors also need to be more accountable for reducing vulnerability and increasing resilience of people affected by humanitarian crises.

Risk and agility

The humanitarian system needs to be more effective at managing risk and more agile to cope with future crises.  There was a consensus on the need to foster a culture of innovation and learn better from failures.

Partnership

The most discussed issue – participants called for OCHA to build deeper and more strategic relationships with new actors that were contributing to humanitarian work. Rather than trying to simply co-opt partners into the existing system, OCHA was encourage to engage with humility, listen to partner experiences, and work to build a truly inclusive system.