Panel 1: Humanitarian Realities

Working Groups | Panel 1 | Panel 2 | Panel 3 | Panel 4

What information is needed to address the challenges presented by today’s humanitarian environment?

Wednesday 24 October (11:20 - 12:50) – Room XIX

In the last decade the humanitarian environment has changed dramatically, but the challenge remains the same: how to provide timely and appropriate assistance and protection in a crisis. This panel focussed on actors and needs using lessons that illustrate how information needs are evolving in today’s changing humanitarian environment. Some panelists looked at information needs and the challenges in acquiring information in emergencies where protection and human security is at high risk, as well as changing beneficiaries and delivering aid within the context of integrated peacekeeping or peacebuilding missions. Other panelists addressed issues arising from the interaction of climate change, infectious disease and globalised agriculture, and their effect on the incidence and severity of natural disasters as well as the threat of pandemics and the state of preparedness. What role does information play in this new world?

Biography

PETER WALKER Director, Feinstein International Center, Tufts University Moderator Peter is Irwin H. Rosenberg Professor of Nutrition and Human Security and Director of the Feinstein International Center at Tufts University. Active in development and disaster response since 1979, he has worked for a number of British-based NGOs in several African countries. He was Director of Disaster Policy for 10 years at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) before moving to Bangkok as Head of IFRC’s regional programs for Southeast Asia.

BINETA DIOP Director, Femmes Africa Solidarité Bineta is the founder and the Executive Director of Femmes Africa Solidarité, an NGO based in Geneva and Dakar. As Executive Director of FAS, she helped initiate the West African women’s movement, the Mano River Women’s Peace Network (MARWOPNET) which was awarded the UN Prize in the field of Human Rights in 2003. Bineta is the Vice-President of the African Union Women’s Committee, and she also chairs the Geneva-based United Nations Working Group on Peace, which is part of the NGO Committee on the Status of Women.

JEMILAH MAHMOOD President, MERCY Malaysia Jemilah is the founder and President of MERCY Malaysia, a Malaysian-born and now international NGO that operates in 14 countries. She is also the Chair of the Asian Disaster Reduction & Response Network, the Vice-Chair of the International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA) and is a member of both the Advisory Group of the UN Central Emergency Response Fund and the UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) Team.

DAVID NABARRO System Coordinator for Avian and Human Influenza David is the Senior UN System Coordinator for Avian and Human Influenza, on secondment from the World Health Organisation (WHO) since September 2005. A physician and public health specialist, David has worked in the UK National Health Service, taught at medical schools in London and Liverpool; in child health programmes in Nepal, at Save the Children Fund in South Asia as well as with the British Overseas Development Administration/Department for International Development (DFID).

DAVID SHEARER UN Deputy Special Representative for Iraq David was appointed the Deputy Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General (Humanitarian, Reconstruction and Development) in August 2007. In addition to serving as the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Iraq, David has extensive experience leading UN humanitarian operations in the Middle East, South Asia, Eastern Europe and Africa. He has also conducted various assignments with the International Institute for Strategic Studies, Save the Children Fund and the International Crisis Group.