Webinar transcript: What's missing? Adding context to the urban response toolbox

This is a transcript for the webinar launch of ALNAP's new study, 'What's missing? Adding context to the urban response toolbox'. This webinar featured presentations from Concern and International Rescue Committee, to organisations currently using these tools. Throughout the webinar, participants had the opportunity to ask questions and share their own experiences which were discussed at the end.

Responding to urban crises effectively means grappling with complex, interconnected environments. Although the number of crises in urban areas has risen in the past decade, evaluations of urban humanitarian response have consistently found that humanitarians have had little understanding of contextual issues. These criticisms aren’t new, they have been made following responses to urban crises in Haiti, Afghanistan, CAR and West Africa. 

Does the humanitarian sector require a cultural shift to recognise the value of understanding context? And, what does ‘understanding context’ mean anyway? 

New research from ALNAP has explored the potential of using tools to better understand context and how this can improve response to urban crises. You may ask, what are these tools? Don’t we already have enough tools? And, where would one get started to learn more? 

Read the full study here, and visit the Urban Response topics page for additional materials.