06 March 2009

GPPi and CTR publish conference report from second Transatlantic Dialogue on Humanitarian Action

The second Transatlantic Dialogue on Humanitarian Action (TDHA) entitled “Practitioners and Policymaking: Building Effective Transatlantic Action on Disaster Relief and Preparedness” took place on 15-16 December 2008 at the Center for Transatlantic Relations, Johns Hopkins University, Washington DC. This conference is part of the “Raising the Bar: Enhancing transatlantic governance of disaster relief and preparedness” project.

In order to foster joint transatlantic action “Raising the Bar” conducts multi-stakeholder dialogues. In this context, the conference brought together more than 40 decision-makers and professionals in the humanitarian field from both sides of the Atlantic for strategic debate on the key issues of humanitarian aid. Building on the first Transatlantic Dialogue on Humanitarian Action, the second dialogue compared and contrasted policy approaches of the United States and the European Union with reference to doctrine, programming principles and sectoral priorities in humanitarian aid. The preliminary research findings of the project were discussed during working group sessions. These sessions were structured along the four research themes that are being pursued as part of the “Raising the Bar”Project:

1. Linking Relief to Rehabilitation and Development
2. Improving Humanitarian Assistance Through the Implementation of Lessons Learned
3. Business Engagement in Humanitarian Action
4. Civil-Military Relations

Working groups were complemented by three panel discussions. To promote a lasting transatlantic dialogue on humanitarian aid, participants included highly qualified professionals from academia, the UN, European Commission, various NGOs and the US government, including Howard Roy Williams, Former Director, Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance; Linda Poteat, Director, Disaster Response, InterAction; Carol Lancaster, Director, Mortara Center, Georgetown University; and Johannes Luchner, Head of Unit for Policy and Evaluation, European Commission, among others.

Topics addressed during the panel discussions included: disaster response and foreign policy; transatlantic approaches to preparedness and disaster response; and organizational innovation in humanitarian agencies.

The conference also hosted a public event entitled, “The Impact of Afghanistan Relief on International Humanitarian Assistance Cooperation.” To listen to the opening speech by CEO and President of the International Rescue Committee George Rupp please click here.

The third Transatlantic Dialogue on Humanitarian Action is scheduled to take place on June 8th, 2009 in Brussels, Belgium.

To download the conference report please click here.

For more information on the “Raising the Bar” project please visit www.disastergovernance.net.

For more information please contact Kelly Johnson.

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