25 th ALNAP Meeting Innovations in International Humanitarian Action

1. 25thALNAP MeetingInnovations in International Humanitarian Action London 17th- 18th November 2009

2. An innovations parable A man was walking home one dark and foggy night. As he groped his way through the murk he nearly tripped over someone crawling around by a lamp post. “What are you doing?” asked the traveller. “I’m looking for my keys” replied the man. “Are you sure you lost them here?” asked the traveller. “I’m not sure at all,” came the reply, “but if I haven’t lost them near this lamp I don’t stand a chance of finding them.”

3. Agenda • Improving the humanitarian system • What an innovations lens brings • Key questions for further exploration

4. Formal International Humanitarian System: main actors • The formal system is made up of • The providers: donor governments, foundations and individual givers • The implementers: Red Cross/Crescent Movement, INGOs; UN agencies and IOM; national and regional civil society • The recipients: affected populations

5. There are a number of other key actors who often seen to be outside the formal system, and a number of informal systems which are also of importance • Central but often neglected actors • Affected governments • The military • Businesses • Informal systems • Global remittances • Zakat system • Front-line, local humanitarian systems

6. International Humanitarian Footprint: staffing • Estimated humanitarian staff 595,200 • UN agencies and IOM 49,500 • Red Cross/Crescent 48,400 • INGOs 112, 900 • Aid worker population has increased by 6% over last 10 years

7. International Humanitarian Footprint: funding • International humanitarian resources $18 billion 2008 • Emergency aid flows $4.4 billion 2007 • Emergency aid flows $6.6 billion 2008 • Humanitarian aid rising faster than official development assistance (ODA)

8. The system is made up of multiple actors, relationships, resource and information flows INFORMATION RESOURCES

9. Over the last 10-15 years, aid agencies have attempted numerous strategies to improve humanitarian work • Three broad, overlapping approaches can be discerned... • Focusing on performance and results • Developing codes, standards and principles • Improving participation of affected communities and local ownership

10. Many different kinds of change and reform initiatives to help improve the sector QUALITY, ACCOUNTABILITY, LEARNING, ADVOCACY Sphere, HAP ICVA, Voice ALNAP, PiA URD, Coord Sud STRUCTURE • Clusters • Internationalisation / Decentralisation JOINT ACTION AND PARTNERSHIPS • Joint Ventures e.g. ECB, Good Humanitarian Donorship • Capacity Building Programmes • Partnership Building e.g. WEF PPPs THEMATIC DEVELOPMENT • Rights & Empowerment • HIV-Aids, Gender • LRRD • Protection • Participatory Approaches BUSINESS PRACTICES • Finance & Funds e.g. CERF • Leadership e.g. HCs • Communications & Media

11. But the tendency has been to work within existing mental models and paradigms of aid • “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse” • Henry Ford

12. As the TEC identified.... “...Agencies need to pay as much attention to how they do things, as to what they actually do...”

13. Agenda • Overview of the humanitarian system • Innovations in humanitarian response: key ideas and examples • Burning questions and reflections for the day

14. There are three broad kinds of learning in the international system • Single-loop learning is undertaken in line with existing practices, policies and norms of behaviour. The focus is on incremental improvements in practices • The lamp light

15. There are three broad kinds of learning in the international system • Double-loop learning involves reflection on the appropriateness of existing practices, policies and norms within an organisation. • Conscious process of re-designing products, processes and methods to generate new ways of doing things in response to changing contexts • Moving beyond the existing light

16. There are three broad kinds of learning in the international system • Most challenging is triple-loop learning, which represents the highest form of organisational self-examination. It involves questioning the entire rationale of an organisation, and can lead to innovative and concurrent transformations in structure, culture and practices • Rethinking the light

18. What does humanitarian innovation look like in practice?

19. Case Studies: Community-based feeding therapy • Utilising corporate knowledge, new products and participatory approaches to transform malnutrition treatment

20. Case Study: Cash-based programming • From Clara Barton to the Tsunami

21. Case Studies: Use of mobiles in emergencies • Partnerships with leading technology and mobile operators • Cash and food distributions

22. Case Studies: Transitional Shelter • Shelter as a process, not a product • Community-led process

23. More at the Innovations Fair 6-7pmShowcasing 23 Humanitarian Innovations

25. The 4 P’s

26. Innovation Processes

27. Innovation contexts are also critical

28. Bringing it all together 4 ‘P’s 5 Stages

29. Agenda • Overview of the humanitarian system • Innovations in humanitarian response: key ideas and examples • Burning questions and reflections to take forward

30. We don’t pretend that we have all the answers! But we do have a good sense of the questions...

31. Questions (1) • How can the humanitarian sector create incentives for innovation, while managing the different kinds of risks posed by innovation? • What is the role of codes and standards in promoting and fostering innovation? • What role should evidence – specifically evaluation and research – play in generating, piloting and testing innovations, and what are the related opportunities and challenges? • How can organisational approaches to develop, test and scale up innovations be strengthened?

32. Questions (2) • What kinds of partnerships are needed for effective innovations in the sector, and what are the implications for existing relationships? (e.g. consider relations between operational agencies, donors, private sector, academic, counterparts in affected states?) • What kinds of cross-organisational mechanisms can help to foster greater open and collaborative innovation across the sector? • How can humanitarian agencies best utilise new technologies for the benefit of humanitarian innovation? • How can 'user-generated innovations' be made more prominent in the humanitarian sector? How can international humanitarian agencies better capitalise on the innovative potential present in the communities and countries in which they work?

33. Innovation is especially important in the context of... • Increasing vulnerability, more disasters, global-local crises (food, fuel, finance) • Changing international order China, Russia, India, Brazil; G8 to G20; etc • Changing disaster management business models • Internationally driven (Darfur) • Hybrid (Pakistan Earthquake) • Nationally owned (Sichuan earthquake)

34. In the humanitarian sector, open innovation models may be essential • We will never have the resources of the private sector for innovation • But we must emulate cutting edge-private sector approaches, moving beyond parochial and organisationally-specific view of innovations • Need take a more open, collaborative approach from the outset

35. Need to work collectively to look and move beyond the humanitarian lamplight

36. ...We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them...

37. Thank you!