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Discussing the future of the humanitarian sector in live online events

By Markus Forsberg (*)

The World Humanitarian Summit (WHS), a global initiative aimed at bringing humanitarian stakeholders together to find new ways of addressing humanitarian needs in our fast-changing world, will be held in Istanbul in 2016. Lead-up consultations are being organised regionally as well as globally on the four themes of the Summit while a series of online consultations contribute to maximize the outreach of these efforts.

As the only sector-wide professional association of individuals engaged in humanitarian action, the International Association of Professionals in Humanitarian Assistance and Protection (PHAP) has been able to mobilize its large and diverse network of experienced professionals willing to contribute their expertise, perspectives and time to the Summit consultations.

This support is taking the form of hosting live online consultation events in different formats. To date, the events have included a question and answer session with UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos; a multi-threaded discussion event with Jemilah Mahmood, head of the WHS Secretariat and Linda Poteat, Chair of the WHS global online consultation forum; and substantial discussions to prepare for the regional consultations in North and Southeast Asia and West and Central Africa.

The initial onsite and online discussions have helped to identify the issues that stakeholders find most pressing for reforming humanitarian action. PHAP now looks forward to helping to carry forward and enrich the discussions along both regional and thematic lines in upcoming events.

If planned and carried out appropriately, live online consultation events can reach large numbers of stakeholders in the humanitarian sector in a cost-effective and inclusive manner. But as with any kind of event, organising successful online events is both an art and a science.

Online events can be accessible for anyone with an Internet or phone connection anywhere around the world. And global interest in taking part in these events is high – the latest WHS online event gathered participants from more than 90 countries.

While hosting consultations online opens up participation for many who would not otherwise be able to take part in such discussions, many important stakeholders are in locations where Internet connectivity is weak, making it difficult to connect to the events.

In order to ensure accessibility for as many as possible, it is often necessary to implement alternative modes of interaction. These include integrated audio conferences for both Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) and phone call-in; live closed-captioning and simultaneous translation; and open chats and moderated question and answer sessions. Additionally, completely separate live feeds, for example via Twitter, may be made available to those unable to connect to the main platform.

Online events can be an excellent avenue for collaboration and partnerships between organisations, as an opportunity to bring together complementary subject matter expertise and consultation efforts with technical expertise and communication networks. Anyone interested in discussing possibilities for collaboration is warmly invited to contact PHAP.

(*) Markus Forsberg is the Membership and Communications Coordinator of the International Association of Professionals in Humanitarian Assistance and Protection.