2012 Humanitarian Policy Forum

Over the last few years the humanitarian policy community has extensively debated the topic of global humanitarian challenges. There is now broad consensus on what are the main challenges facing the humanitarian system. Numerous initiatives are in place to address the implications of these challenges; however, there is a need to identify where solutions are falling short, or where further research or better policy approaches are required. Subsequently, a discussion on ‘humanitarian innovation’ has emerged. Yet, for many, there is still a lack of common understanding on what it really means and where it should be applied.
In response, OCHA’s Policy Development and Studies Branch (PDSB) brought together a diverse global group of 70+ senior humanitarian experts to address these questions in OCHA’s second annual policy forum. The intention was for participants to leave the forum with agreement on the main dilemmas and the priority policy areas where the policy community should focus.
The Forum built upon OCHA’s 2011 Research and Policy Conference. It also linked into the outcomes from two regional workshops OCHA hosted in 2012, one for Southern and Eastern Africa region, in South Africa and one for the Middle East and North Africa in Egypt. This year it aimed to:

Be more diverse.
Hear from local, new and unconventional voices.
Identify priority policy areas.