Fon Mathuros, Head of Media, Public Engagement, Tel.: +41 (0)79 201 0211; Email: fma@weforum.org
· The World Economic Forum together with its Members and Partners will participate in the first World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul next week
· Initiatives to be discussed include Logistics Emergency Teams, the Disaster Resource Partnership and the HelpNow app
· Read the Forum’s blog posts at www.weforum.org/agenda and follow us at #WEF and #ShareHumanity
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Geneva, Switzerland, 20 May 2016 – The World Economic Forum will participate in the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul, Turkey, on 23-24 May 2016. The purpose of the summit is to agree on a concrete set of commitments and actions that enable relevant stakeholders to better prepare for and respond to humanitarian crises.
“The growing interest in public-private collaboration in delivering humanitarian support is a strong positive that should be acknowledged and capitalized on,” said Espen Barth Eide, Member of the Managing Board at the World Economic Forum.
Existing response systems have become inadequate as they are faced with the exponential growth in numbers and the diversity of the challenge these crises present. The international humanitarian response system is searching for new solutions and new actors with whom to cooperate, but does not necessarily know where to look. At the same time, a significant number of private-sector leaders are seeking new or alternative ways to contribute meaningfully, while searching for the right conduit to make a difference. “Fragility, crisis and conflict affect businesses as much as governments, but the platform and means by which to collaborate are less obvious and still dominated by silo-thinking,” said Anja Kaspersen, Head of International Security at the World Economic Forum.
Three Forum-led Initiatives at the Summit
The World Economic Forum will feature three of its platform initiatives at the World Humanitarian Summit – including the Logistics Emergency Teams, the Disaster Resource Partnership and the HelpNow app. The main Forum side-event on “Improving Cross-Sector Responses to Humanitarian Crises” will take place on Tuesday 24 May at 11.00-12.30 in Marmara at the Lüfti Kirdar Convention and Exhibition Center (LKCC).
The LET comprises three of the largest global logistics and transportation companies – Agility, UPS and Maersk – that work together to support the Logistics Cluster led by United Nations World Food Programme. The partnership was facilitated by the World Economic Forum in 2005. The companies join forces to support the humanitarian sector pro bono during emergency response to large-scale natural disasters and deploy worldwide upon request from the Global Logistics Cluster. The LET unites the capacity and resources of the logistics industry with the expertise and experience of the humanitarian community to provide more demand-driven, effective and efficient disaster relief. The LET was the first partnership of its kind, formalizing a multistakeholder cooperation between the private and public sectors.
The main objective of the DRP is to establish ongoing collaboration between industry, the public sector and humanitarian organizations to use the strengths and capacities of the engineering and construction community to deal with disasters. The DRP offers two levels of engagement: at the national level, through its national networks in India, Indonesia and Mexico; and at the global level, via the DRP global secretariat, which facilitates the deployment of technical experts after large-scale natural disasters to support humanitarian action through the international humanitarian cluster system. “As with the LET, the level and engagement depend on each company’s proximity to the disaster area, its assets and skills, and the needs of the affected communities,” said Pedro de Almeida, Head of the Basics Industry Team at the World Economic Forum.
The World Economic Forum’s Network of Global Agenda Councils is an interdisciplinary and global knowledge network that promotes and incubates innovative thinking on critical global issues, regions and industries. Featured at the World Humanitarian Summit will be the HelpNow app, sponsored by the Global Agenda Council on Space and built with the insights of the Global Agenda Council on Humanitarian Response. The app is undergoing field-testing and will be demonstrated at the summit. The HelpNow app aims to help humanitarian organizations gain faster and better understanding of a disaster area by integrating the latest satellite technology with intuitive and easy-to-use needs-assessment tools. “Assessing and leveraging the impact of new technologies in humanitarian crises will remain a key priority for the Forum,” said Espen Barth Eide.
Following the UN’s call for innovative thought leadership on better cash-based assistance as a method to support people in emergencies wherever possible, the World Economic Forum, together with select Partners, will announce a commitment to facilitate the Shaping of Principles for Public-Private Cooperation in Humanitarian Payments at the High-Level Leaders’ Roundtable on Investing in Humanity.
Notes to Editors
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