ICVA’s Virtual Annual Conference 2020: Protecting principled humanitarian action: an honest conversation on risk

Read more and register at https://phap.org/ICVA2020

At ICVA’s 2019 Annual Conference “Translating Commitment to Action” ICVA members and partners highlighted the importance to dive deeper into the risk to principled humanitarian action and in turn the risks taken by NGOs to deliver effective and efficient humanitarian assistance to those most in need. In order to deliver on our mandate, as humanitarian actors, we have committed to uphold and respect principles enshrined in international legal frameworks (i.e.Human Rights, International Humanitarian Law, Refugee Law and International Criminal Law), the humanitarian principles, the global humanitarian standards, the Principles of Partnership, principles on localization, safeguarding principles etc. In the meantime, NGOs often operate in volatile conflicts and extremely complex humanitarian settings and are placed under even more pressure to deliver better with less resources and under increased legal, bureaucratic, security and political restrictions.How does this all impact NGOs and our commitments on principled intervention? It definitely requires us as NGOs to take more risks. What are the additional risks and how do we choose whether to accept them or not? How does this all impact on the individuals and populations we are working with?

ICVA’s Annual Conference will bring together members, States, donors, UN agencies, experts and other stakeholders to share their experiences, lessons learned, challenges and ways forward around these issues. The Annual Conference will be held on 18 March in the format of three interactive webinar sessions, delivered in collaboration with PHAP.

Session 1
Principled humanitarian action may be more important than ever for humanitarian actors managing risk in highly political and volatile operational contexts. However, humanitarian principles are being challenged on multiple fronts. This first session will help frame the discussions of the Annual Conference, exploring the importance of protecting and promoting principled humanitarian action.

Session 2
With challenges to principled humanitarian action, NGOs are facing increased risks in their work. While NGOs accept risk as part of their work, many organizations are taking on more risk than they may be aware of and have the capacity to manage. In the second session, we will explore the types of risks faced by NGOs linked to the humanitarian principles, how they can be managed, and how the gap between risk appetite and risk tolerance can be addressed in the sector.

Session 3
In the first sessions of the conference, we will have been hearing from NGOs and other humanitarian actors on the challenges and risks related to principled humanitarian action faced in their work. In the third and final session, we will be looking at relevant initiatives for mobilizing collaborative and collective action among NGOs, UN agencies and Member States, donors, and affected people.