ALNAP Webinar | Beyond assumptions: How humanitarians make operational decisions

The ability to make good decisions – particularly under urgent and uncertain circumstances – is fundamental to effective humanitarian response. Yet decision-making to this extent has received little academic attention. Our new ALNAP Study ‘Beyond assumptions’ seeks to address this gap and it is the result of over two years’ work exploring the nature of humanitarian contexts, the different types of decisions that they require, and the most suitable approaches to making these decisions at the country/field level.

This research builds upon ALNAP’s previous work on humanitarian leadership and coordination, where the importance of good decision-making emerged as a key theme. Time and again humanitarian evaluations have also flagged it as an issue, with decision-making receiving regular criticism for being too slow, disconnected from strategy, opaque and unaccountable.

In this webinar,  Leah Campbell and Paul Knox Clarke present the research process and key findings in the study. They are joined by Alexandra Levaditis (World Vision) and Jonathan Beloe (IRC) who discuss and reflect on concrete steps decision makers and organisations can take to improve leadership and decision-making on the ground.

Chair:

Leah Campbell, Senior Research Officer, ALNAP

Leah is a Senior Research Officer at ALNAP and co-author of this report. In her role she focuses on ALNAP’s research on urban response, leadership and coordination. She joined ALNAP in 2012 and is currently leading research about responding effectively to the complexity of urban environments, and working alongside Paul Knox Clarke on new research about humanitarian decision-making. Leah facilitates ALNAP’s Urban Community of Practice and urban webinar series and also contributes to ALNAP’s Lessons Papers and State of the Humanitarian System work. Leah holds an M.A. from the Centre for Development and Emergency Practice (CENDEP).

Panellists:

Paul Knox Clarke, Independent Consultant. Former Head of Research, ALNAP.

Paul is an independent consultant, co-author of this report and lead author of The State of the Humanitarian System 2018. Former Head of Research at ALNAP, Paul joined at the beginning of 2011. He supported all of the ALNAP research and was particularly engaged with issues of accountability, humanitarian effectiveness, urban response and leadership. Before joining ALNAP, Paul was the director of a consulting company specialising in organisational effectiveness in international organisations. Paul has also worked for WFP, where he established the UN’s food security monitoring unit for Afghanistan before working on issues of policy (and particularly policy related to accountability and participation) and organisational effectiveness at WFP’s HQ. He has a background in anthropology and began his career with Save the Children UK, where he worked on food security issues in several SC (UK) programmes.

Alexandra Levaditis, Senior Director, Humanitarian Strategy, Effectiveness and Digital Capabilities, World Vision

Jon Beloe, Senior Director of Strategy, Learning and Innovation, International Rescue Committee (IRC)

Over the last 18 years Jon has worked in 23 countries across four continents. Before his current position, Jon has been IRC's Director of Adaptive Programs and Deputy Regional Director for West Africa. Prior to joining the IRC, Jon designed and implemented community development, disaster risk reduction and WASH programs. Jon transitioned into the humanitarian sector from human rights, where he worked as a senior legal advisor to asylum seekers. Jon holds an MA in human rights law and an MSc in development studies.