12 September 2023 09:00 - 14 September 2023 12:00 CEST

People-centric humanitarian response in conflict: strategies, insights and dilemmas

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), in collaboration with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), invite you to participate in an upcoming learning event aimed at challenging our thinking and approach to the concept of 'Accountability to Affected People' in conflict settings.

About the event

After years of growth of aid budgets and a matching evolution of the professional standards that come with it, the current pressure on funding, felt by the ICRC and others, sees humanitarian organisations at a crossroads. We find ourselves left with all the commitments made in terms of compliance, system improvement and reporting requirements while also trying to put in practice increasingly nuanced approaches to accountable, inclusive, localised and sustainable humanitarian response.

Poster for the event 'People-centric humanitarian response in conflict.' Photo of woman and man with their backs to their camera as they look in distress at bombed apartment buildings. Poster includes text '12 to 14 September 2023. Hybrid format at the ICRC Humanitarium and online.'

With aid workers spending an increasing proportion of their time tied to their desks and working on administrative tasks rather than in proximity to people affected by conflict, have efforts to professionalise the humanitarian sector generated more harm than good when it comes to bringing tangible impact on one hand and operationalising the principles of humanity and impartiality on the other hand?

This, combined with the contextual challenges in conflict zones due to growing access constraints, polarized information landscape as well as security and duty of care concerns, introduces new layers of considerations for humanitarian organisations when it comes to engagement with communities. Faced with hard choices to reorient priorities and activities, how should humanitarian organisations navigate this opportunity to put people affected by conflict and frontline workers in the driving seat to define people-centric humanitarian response?

Navigating information provision in polarized spaces, moving beyond survival towards dignity and the overall well-being of affected communities, assessing data handling practices, exploring participatory approaches to sensitive issues, grappling with the feasibility of a « do no harm » motto in conflict settings or preparing for a new world of climate change driven crises.

These are some of the thematics the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), in collaboration with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), invite you to participate in an upcoming learning event aimed at challenging our thinking and approach to the concept of 'Accountability to Affected People' in conflict settings. Organized over three days, from 12th to 14th September 2023, the event aspires to stimulate thought-provoking dialogue, innovation, and collaborative problem-solving within the sector, focusing on both significant paradigm shifts as well as tangible, actionable solutions.

The event will take place in hybrid format with sessions live streamed from the ICRC Humanitarium in Geneva and in-person seating available for those wishing to attend in person. For any questions or concerns, please contact sbonyadi@icrc.org.

The full program schedule can be seen on our event registration page. Please note that the event registration is happening through an external site, Eventbrite. If you would like alternative means of registration, please contact the organising team.