The COVID-19 pandemic was a crisis unlike any other. It offered the sector a chance to rewrite the rules of humanitarian action. But four years on, the humanitarian response to the pandemic feels like a missed opportunity for change. Inadequate preparedness, traditional power dynamics and sector-driven priority-setting have limited the transformational potential of the pandemic, instead revealing perennial problems in how the international system operates.
But it is not all doom and gloom – the pandemic showed us that working differently is indeed possible, and there are pockets of actors who have used their experiences during COVID-19 to catalyse change.
On October 17 2024 ALNAP invited the sector to reflect on what has been learned from COVID-19 and how it can make better use of these learnings for the future:
- How can we better prepare for future pandemics?
- What will it take for the system to put affected people at the centre?
- How can we implement learnings from the pandemic to build a more equitable sector better equipped for the global challenges ahead?
At the event ALANP launched their evaluation synthesis on the humanitarian response to COVID-19 and explored opportunities for learning and transformation. Watch the recording and hear from leading humanitarians in the response on what the sector got right, the missed opportunities and what gives us hope for the future of humanitarian response.
Relevant resources
- Links to MercyCorps research on Participatory Adaptations in the COVID-19 Era (PACE) and the Impact of COVID-19 on Conflict in Nigeria, Colombia, and Afghanistan
- More on the COVID-19 Global Evaluation Coalition
- Relevant Documents from the FCDO and GIZ-funded SPACE Facility (Social Protection Approaches to COVID-19 – 2020-21):
- Framework for shifting bilateral programmes to local actors – in the context of the COVID-19 social protection and humanitarian cash response
- Programming Guidance: Embedding Localisation in the Response to COVID-19 -
- Integrating gender and social inclusion in the social protection response to COVID-19: What have we learnt?
Speakers & Contributors:
Pre-recorded reflections from:
- Sir Mark Lowcock | former UN UnderSecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, and head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
- Sudanshu Singh | Founder and CEO of Humanitarian Aid International
- Ndubisi Anyanwu | Country Director, Mercy Corps Nigeria
Live discussions and Q&A with:
- Jeremy Konyndyk | President Refugees International; former Executive Director of the USAID COVID-19 Task Force, senior policy fellow at CGD on humanitarian response and pandemic preparedness
- Dr Sylvie Briand (MD, MPH, PhD) | Director; Global Preparedness Monitoring Board (GPMB) Secretariat, World Health Organization (WHO) Director General office
- Courtenay Cabot-Venton | Founder and Executive Director of ShareTrust; former co-lead of Social Protection Approaches to COVID-19 Expert Advice Service (SPACE)
- Dr. Sultani Hadley Matendechero 'ndc'(K) | Deputy Director General for Health State Department for Public Health and Professional Standards, Ministry of Health, Kenya
Hosts:
- Namukabo Werungah | Journalist, The New Humanitarian
- Alice Obrecht | Head of Research and Impact, ALNAP
This event was part of ‘The Learning Curve’ - a new online learning experience featuring humanitarians from all over the world for opinion, live debate and video reflections. Expect a collaborative, fast paced, and varied format created to bolster your online collective learning experience.
