Getting where needed: overcoming aid access obstacles

14:00 - 16:00 29 April 2013 (GMT+01 (BST))

Venue:
Overseas Development Institute and streamed live online

Programme:
Humanitarian Policy Group

Aid agencies have begged, pleaded and smuggled their way into hot spots, sometimes working with those in charge, sometimes defying them. In complex, fragmented and polarised contexts, humanitarians have had to innovate, retreat tactically, seek local partners, sub-contract, and re-package themselves and their work. When does negotiating and haggling lead to ugly compromise on sacred principles of impartiality and independence?

The Humanitarian Policy Group and the International Committee of the Red Cross invite you to a discussion on the practical challenges organisations face in reaching those in need, and the strategies adopted to overcome them. Panelists will address difficult access problems, setbacks and hindrances, and review what responses could be applied universally. The discussions will take humanitarian crises in Afghanistan, Sudan, Somalia, Syria and Myanmar as examples to focus the discussion.

Chair:
Dennis McNamara – Senior Humanitarian Adviser, Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue

Speakers:
Brian Tisdall – Head of Division, Multilateral Organisations, Policy and Humanitarian Action, International Committee of the Red Cross

Sara Pantuliano – Head, Humanitarian Policy Group

Marc DuBois – Executive Director, Médecins Sans Frontières UK

Iftikhar Shaheen – East Africa Head of Region, Islamic Relief