The role of collective platforms, services and tools to support communication and community engagement in humanitarian action

It is time for the international humanitarian architecture to redefine its role. It should exist to augment national humanitarian capacities, fully engaging affected communities by providing them the right information at the right time, consulting them on decisions that affect them and enabling people to stay connected or reconnect to each other. For this to occur, leaders and policymakers urgently need to undertake policy and operational changes.

This paper confirms that the establishment of collective approaches to communication and community engagement – at national and global levels - is required and has significant support across the humanitarian sector.