ALNAP Director, Juliet Parker's Review of 2022

20 December 2022

2022 marked ALNAP’s 25th anniversary and also (though perhaps not quite so significantly!) the end of my first full year as Director. As with any anniversary it is a time of reflection, to look back on where we’ve come from and think about where we’re going. We’ve been doing exactly this at ALNAP. We’ve been looking back at ALNAP’s work to understand from the perspectives of our different members where our work has made valuable contributions to the sector over the years, and through our series of studies shining a Spotlight on Learning, we’ve reflected on what we know about how and when the humanitarian sector learns (and when it doesn’t!). These two processes have been coupled with the publication of our 5th edition of the State of the Humanitarian System report which we launched in September, setting out an absolute wealth of data and analysis on where the sector is making progress and where it is faltering.

Together these efforts have given us a lot to chew over. Certainly, the sector does not look the same as it did 25 years ago. Going back through 20 years of ALNAP Lessons Papers is a good reminder of the progress we have made: language has moved on, as have understandings of good practice in many areas, and there are many good illustrations of positive learning and improvement in many technical intervention areas such as cash and many others.

ALNAP itself looks pretty different than it did all those years ago where the 30 or so members could sit around one table together to now, as a vibrant and diverse network of over 100 members. The State of the Humanitarian System report also depicts a sector that is moving forward and improving in many areas, and continues to challenge itself to do better. 

But we can also see areas where the sector is not progressing in the way that it wants to. Our lessons of lessons paper shows examples where recommendations around localisation and accountability to affected populations are almost word for word the same as they were 20 years ago. And the State of the Humanitarian System report depicts a sector that has committed itself to become more diverse and more localised, but where the resources are actually becoming more concentrated coming from and going to, a smaller group of large humanitarian actors.

Why is it that a sector that knows what it wants to do, and has a wealth of learning and evidence to support it, is struggling to make the shifts needed to put that learning and commitment into practice?

Today the sector is rich in evidence, knowledge, and documented learning. Now the challenge is more around how to make sense of it all and the extent to which individuals and organisations are able to instrumentalise all this learning to affect change in the sector. And that’s a tough one to crack.

At ALNAP our view is that the learning challenge has changed. 25 years ago, when ALNAP was set up, the challenge was more about a lack of evidence in terms of evaluations, research and analysis, to inform the learning the sector needed. That isn’t the problem now. Today the sector is rich in evidence, knowledge, and documented learning. Now the challenge is more around how to make sense of it all and the extent to which individuals and organisations are able to instrumentalise all this learning to affect change in the sector. And that’s a tough one to crack.

At ALNAP we are increasingly being asked to help make sense of the vast array of evidence that exists for humanitarian across the world who don’t have the time or space to engage with it. Our work to support the sector around the responses to Ukraine and Pakistan this year is a good example of this.

ALNAP has been designed to act as the institutional memory of the sector. To harvest and curate learning and to make it accessible and usable. We are increasingly being asked to help make sense of the vast array of evidence that exists for humanitarian across the world who don’t have the time or space to engage with it. Our work to support the sector around the responses to Ukraine and Pakistan this year is a good example of this. As we look forward to next year, this need to make sense of evidence in a timely and easily accessible way will certainly be an increasingly important part of ALNAP's evolving role.

Juliet speaking at report launch

What we found out from our Communicating Humanitarian Learning study was that the learning we share has to emotionally resonate with the people we’re trying to engage with. And that’s because, much as we may try to systematise it, so much learning is about human connection. In 2022, I was struck by the eagerness with which humanitarians came back together in shared learning spaces. It has certainly been one of the pleasures of this year to deliver State of the Humanitarian System report events in different locations across the world, bringing together humanitarians from across the sector in person to share and reflect together. Learning requires honest reflection, which in turn requires trust and safety. At its core learning depends on mutuality, on human interaction. During COVID-19 we lost some valuable learning spaces within the sector, and its gratifying to see the enthusiasm with which they are now returning.

In all of this work ALNAP, and I personally, have benefited hugely from the wisdom and support of our outgoing chair Johan Schaar. One of the best parts of my job is the opportunity to work and engage with so many experienced humanitarians across the sector, and Johan is very definitely one of those! You can read his interview with one of our newest global recruits, Viji Viswanathan, here. As we bid him farewell, we’re excited to bring Hesham on board and learn as much as we can from his experience and perspective.

Twenty-five years after ALNAP was founded, the context of complex crises and climate change means that learning is as important now as it’s ever been.

Twenty-five years after ALNAP was founded, the context of complex crises and climate change means that learning is as important now as it’s ever been. ALNAP is committed to providing a safe space in which humanitarians can share honest reflections and learning, and as we go forward we will continue to amplify the knowledge that members and friends share with us. Despite the enormous challenges facing our sector that we’ve set out in the State of the Humanitarian System report, I’m excited for what lies ahead.