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Conference highlights need for greater collaboration

10 December 2007

An emerging theme to come out of the conference, Future Shocks: disasters and relief in a changing world, organised by disaster relief charity RedR on 5 December, was the need for charities to work together to address global issues as well as utilising expertise from the private sector.

One of the key aims of the conference was to provide a neutral forum for international aid agencies and other interested parties to meet and discuss pertinent issues relating to the sector and the global issues many of us are addressing. A common theme highlighted by many of the speakers was the need for international charities to work together, for the boundaries between aid and development to be blurred and for charities to form stronger relationships with other ‘actors’ including the key players in the private sector.

Dr Randolph Kent, Humanitarian Futures Programme Director, Kings College London stressed the need for collaboration: “We need to look at how we can adapt, collaborate and anticipate…The future dimensions [of disaster relief] go well beyond the current humanitarian sector. We need to look at new approaches, tools and techniques; part of this could be the private sector”.

Maximising resources

Traditionally seen as a sector with very different values to those of the voluntary sector, a greater number of private companies are now adopting more ethical approaches. Increasingly both charities and companies have similar goals and the question was raised as to whether charities were doing enough to use this to their advantage. Companies often have the skills base and experience that can both complement and augment charities’ work.

Another speaker at RedR’s conference, Sophia Tickell from SustainAbility, spoke about the benefits of the humanitarian sector working more closely with companies, in terms of funding but also with regards to partnerships as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes and the exchange of goods and services.

She cited the example of the World Food Programme working with TNT and capitalising on its distribution expertise.

Within the international charity sector, steps have been taken to form networking groups and share knowledge but, again, the question was raised as to whether we are collaborating and sharing nearly enough.

Lucinda Shaw, External Relations Director at RedR said: “The overwhelmingly positive feedback we have received following the conference illustrates how the international aid community welcomes this stress on collaboration both among ourselves and with the corporate sector in order to help tackle the huge issues that face communities in disaster stricken countries.”

Ends

Notes to the editor:

Each year millions of people's lives are devastated by natural disaster, conflict and poverty. RedR supports aid workers and other professionals who help people to rebuild their lives.

RedR does this through:

Running training programmes in the UK and in disaster areas.
Providing customised training courses for international relief and development
organisations.
A recruitment service for humanitarian professionals.
A Technical Support Service to help solve problems that aid workers have in the field.
A membership service for professionals who can make a positive contribution to humanitarian work.

RedR runs programmes both in the UK and in areas affected by natural disasters and emergencies. By working in the field we are able to run training courses in response to what happens on the ground, can utilise local knowledge more effectively and are better placed to contribute to the longer-term needs of a region. We currently have training programmes running in Sri Lanka following the devastating tsunami of 2004 and in Sudan in response to the increasing destabilisation of the region.

Please visit our website at: www.redr.org.uk

"I met a man working in Nepal who told me that 'thanks to your security training course, I am still alive'. This is the difference that we are able to make through the training that we have developed with RedR using their skills and enormous practical experience."

Peter Lehmann, Senior Security Adviser, Swiss Development Agency.

Press Contact Details:

Sarah Milnes
Communications Manager
1 Great George Street, London SW1P 3AA

+44 (0) 20 7233 3116
sarah.milnes@redr.org
www.redr.org.uk

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