Making humanitarian response more flexible: ALNAP workshop background paper

Drawing on original research and recent work by ALNAP Members and colleagues in the development sector, ALNAP organised a workshop to explore what flexible humanitarian action looks like and how to support it. This is the background paper to inform those discussions.

This workshop brought together a diverse set of participants, drawn from across the humanitarian system, as well as experts on adaptive management from the development and business sectors. It provided a unique opportunity for participants to:

• Discuss the core concepts of flexibility and adaptive management, and how these can apply to humanitarian operations.
• Learn from concrete examples and consider how these can be applied to the participant’s own organisation.
• Have a holistic conversation that encompasses the programming, financial and logistical approaches required to support adaptation and flexibility