WHS Eastern, Western Europe and Others - Online Consultation

Hi Daniele,

The online consultation is taking place to gather various stakeholders' views on the four WHS themes (humanitarian effectivenes, vulnerabilities and risks, innovation, and conflicts). The online responses will feed into the outcomes of the WHS regional consultation for Europe and Others that will take place on 3-4 February 2015 in Budapest. This is thus an occassion for all those who will not be able to join the Budapest event to share their views online. Untimately, the goal is to find solutions on how to improve our collective and individual humanitarian response in the years to come given the growing needs and pressures on resources.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to let me know.

Best,

Gosia

ECHO A1

This time next week, we'll be enjoying beautiful Budapest (or at least the stimulating conversation in the inside of a hotel meeting room).  On innovation, there'll be discussion around problem identification; enabling structures; creating the space for responsible risk and failure and buidling evidence and the 'long-term' into humanitarian action.  Am hoping to blog from there.

Julia

You can follow the Opening (03.02, 07:45GMT) and Closing (04.02, 15:00GMT) Sessions of the 'Europe and Others' Regional Consultation live from Budapest via the webstream .

Feel free to share you thoughts in anticipation/during/following the consultation on this blog! For twitterphiles, you can contribute via #ReShapeAid

So here we are finally in Budapest, a growing buzz as organisers, facilitators, rapporteurs and participants arrive ready for discussions to begin in earnest tomorrow.  Expectations have been set high for some progressive recommendations to emerge from our two days of talks on a series of key questions around what it takes to 'do things better in new ways' in humanitarian action. What are the next set of big problems in the sector; how do we stimulate innovation; what about scale-up and better understanding of new threats and challenges? 

As so often at such big consultation events the coffee-break conversations get to the crux of the matter.  How do we create a humanitarian innovation "market-place" without market (or other major) incentives?  What can we learn from the medical sector's approach to building evidence?  How do we invest wisely in pilots so that we are n't just duplicating efforts across the multitude of humanitarian organisations?   Indeed do technological advances in aid delivery imply that we might go well beyond our current aid structures? 

Let's hope in the days to come we get a real push forward towards ensuring the innovation potential for improved aid outcomes.  Stay tuned or join in via webstream and 'pigeonhole' (for questions).  

Dear Julia,

Thanks for your insider's views on the ongoing consultation. Looking forward to hearing about the discussions on challenge 3 - Transformation through Innovation.

Already on Twitter some interesting contributions by twitterfiles on innovative initiatives , a demonstration of the momentum and potential for innovation in humanitarian aid. Here are just a couple inivitiatives I picked up:

- Dengue fever application in Costa Rica, via a Guardian article;

- Humanitarian information dashboard presented in an interesting blog post;

I look forward to hearing more about the outcomes of today's discussions and learning more about other interesting innovative projects out there.

Andrew

Finally after two hours of two hundred people discussing issues around innovation, here we are in plenary discussing risk-taking, innovation, whose resposibility it is, how to link-up and broker innovations, ethics and principles, who drives innovation, how can we build-up knowledge and evidence. 

Finally after two hours of two hundred people discussing issues around innovation, here we are in plenary discussing risk-taking, investment, whose resposibility it is, how to link-up and broker innovations, ethics and principles, who drives innovation, how can we build-up knowledge and evidence. 

Now someone asks about 'blue sky' and leaving space for the unknown.  What is 'that world out there' doing and thinking about.

In closing panel and last remark from me 'live' from Budapest...

Mike Penrose, Executive Director ACF succinctly states what it takes for successful innovation:  "Plan from the future, adapt to the current, learn from the past".

http://www.worldhumanitariansummit.org/whs_eog

Back from Budapest and having seen the co-chairs' summary (does not yet seem to be online at WHS site but must be 'coming soon'), there was an encourging degree of consensus around tackling complexities of crisis, better supporting risk management efforts and reducing vulnerability, strong stress on local as part of effectiveness and everything else done in humaniatrian aid, including innovation.  Endorsment too of the need to innovate, invest in innovation (both people and money), link-up, share learning and find spaces for exchange - such as this one? Pleased to see an explicit recommendation point around enhanced knowledge-management - a professional passion (but no it was n't my point!)

Aside from the recommendations, I felt the 'intangible' strength of an establishing innovation focus beyond a buzzword. People thinking together about what innovation looks like and means in their organisational context. Good start: now the challenge is to move toward the Summit and beyond with actionable and actioned commitments.