Humanitarian Assistance Webcast 2: The Challenges of Professionalizing Humanitarian Action
Held on Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Watch the recording (click here)

According to ALNAP there are currently over 200,000 individuals working in humanitarian assistance and protection globally. Growing at a pace of 6% per year, this workforce is expected to double in size by 2020. Members of the workforce are composed in majority of professionals from the Global South with their specific needs in terms of professional development and limited access to traditional educational opportunities. This need for professional training that is at once specialized and universal presents the humanitarian sector with a number of challenges. Building from conversations from a survey conducted by the Harvard Program, this Humanitarian Assistance Webcast reviewed the type of challenges of providing professional development opportunities to these workers as part of efforts to professionalize the humanitarian sector. While there are a number of conversations about core competences and skills as well as certification programs, this event focused on the capacity and resources required to reach out to this audience mostly located in field operations in the global south. It also considered the particular needs of humanitarian workers.

This Humanitarian Assistance Webcast engaged participants in a dynamic discussion with the leading actors in the professionalization of the humanitarian sector. Participants conversed about the challenges and potential solutions in their own efforts to enhance their professional capacity.

This discussion was moderated by Claude Bruderlein (Director, HPCR) and Christina Blunt (ATHA Project Coordinator).

Panelists:
Jess Camburn (Director, ELRHA)
Dr. Ahmad Faizal Mohd Perdaus (President, MERCY Malaysia)
Martin Gottwald (Leadership Development Coordinator, United Nations - OCHA)