"Towards More Effective Humanitarian Operations In Urban Areas" - Launch of the ICRC report on applying operational resilience and institutional learning in Gaza
On 28 June the Geneva Water Hub and the ICRC invite Prof. Mark Zeitoun, director general of the Geneva Water Hub, to discuss with a panel of leading experts his recent work "Towards more effective humanitarian operations in urban areas of protracted armed conflicts. Lessons learned from applying operational resilience and institutional learning in Gaza".
The launch will feature a panel of leading experts, including:
Moderator
- Guillaume Pierrehumbert, Head of Water & Habitat Unit, International Committee of the Red Cross
Speaker
-
Mark Zeitoun, Director General of the Geneva Water Hub
Panellists
- Mirko Winkler, Assistant Professor/Senior Lecturer, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute
- Omar Shatat, Operation and Maintenance Department Manager, Coastal Municipality Water Utility
- Kristen MacAskill, Assistant Professor in Engineering, Environment and Sustainable Development, University of Cambridge
More information about the event on the ICRC website.
Background
Many of today's armed conflicts are fought in urban areas and are increasingly becoming protracted. The average time that the ICRC has been present in its ten largest operations is 42 years. These protracted urban crises have caused unprecedented humanitarian needs that pose unique challenges with devastating consequences for public health, displacement and livelihoods.
The report presented in this event argues that all humanitarian actors keen to address the challenges of protracted armed conflicts more effectively must understand the situation in question thoroughly by investing extensively in data collection to improve the evidence base; design operations with operational resilience in mind, as such operations are likely to involve and benefit more people in the longer-term; and learn from the original design and actual execution of operations, so that self-improvement becomes a constant feature.
The author of the report, Prof. Mark Zeitoun, will discuss the opportunities and the challenges of the paradigm shift occurring in ICRC operations in Gaza with academic, practitioners and ICRC colleagues. The event will be hosted in the Humanitarium in the ICRC Geneva office and simultaneously it will be accessible by web.