Announcing the 4th Annual International Humanitarian Partnership Conference 2016

©CBM

Dates: 21- 22 September 2016

Venue: Boma Hotel, Nairobi, Kenya

Theme: Disability and Age Inclusion in Humanitarian Practice: Scaling up progress toward the achievement of Agenda 2030

Organizers: IAWG in collaboration with CBM


Background

The Humanitarian Partnership Conference (HPC) is an annual conference championed by the Humanitarian Learning and Partnerships (HLP) sub group under the Inter Agency Working Group on Disaster Preparedness for East & Central Africa (IAWG). The IAWG was established following discussions during the OCHA Regional Contingency Planning exercise in June 2002. It was formed to enhance information sharing for humanitarian workers in the larger East and Central African region.

Humanitarian practitioners, academicians and age and disability champions in Africa and the world over will be attending the 4th Humanitarian Partnership Conference (HPC) in Nairobi, Kenya on 21 - 22 September 2016 at the Boma Hotel owned by the Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS). The venue was seen to be ideal as it is considered accessible to older persons and persons with disabilities as well as a novel best practice case of how KRCS is using local social enterprise to meet the ever increasing humanitarian needs in Kenya sustainably.

The first conference was held in 2013 and it was hosted by University of Nairobi, the (IAWG) and Enhancing Learning and Research for Humanitarian Assistance (ELRHA) which is hosted by Save the Children. The second conference held in 2014 at Boma Hotel Nairobi and was a great success attracting participants from Asia, North America, Europe and Africa. HPC 2014 sessions focused on the 5 themes of the World Humanitarian Summit on Sustainable Pastoralism Development, Addressing the Education Needs for Humanitarians, Serving the Needs of People in Conflict, Reducing Vulnerability to Climatic Shocks, and Humanitarian Effectiveness.

The 3rd conference which had the theme of “incorporating private sector in emergency response” was equally a resounding success as for the first time, the academia, private sector and humanitarian practitioners held tripartite consultations and sharing of experiences.


Rationale for the conference theme

According to the 2011 World Report on Disability by the World Health Organisation/World Bank, there are an estimated 1 billion persons with disabilities worldwide. This is about 15% of the world’s population.

Globally, one in eight people are over the age of 60.  By 2050, the number of older people is expected to increase to two billion, or more than one fifth of the global population.

In conflicts and natural disasters, the risk of acquiring disability increases due to injuries, poor health care and failure to manage non-communicable diseases among other causes. Older people and people with disabilities, therefore, make up a significant and growing proportion of disaster-affected populations, yet they continue to face neglect in disaster preparedness as well as disaster response.

It is for this reason that the theme the theme for the HPC 2016 shall be: Disability and Age Inclusion in Humanitarian Practice: Scaling up inclusive practices toward the achievement of Agenda 2030.

Objectives of the Conference

By the end of the conference, participants should be able to:

  1. Understand the concepts of disability, age and gender and their application in humanitarian action.
  2. Have the know how on how to adopt minimum standards for age and disability inclusion in their humanitarian action.
  3. Share good practices around disability, age and gender inclusion in disaster preparedness and emergency response.
  4. Enhance networking by creating a community of practice for continuous sharing of learning.

Activities during the conference

In order to achieve the objectives of the conference, the following activities shall be carried out during the conference.

  1. Plenary sessions
  2. Panel discussions.
  3. Break-away sessions. Poster/Photo exhibitions.
  4. Outdoor exhibitions.
  5. Cocktail/networking session.


Presentations during the conference shall revolve around the following themes:

  • Data, Research and documentation of best practice (Sex, age and data disaggregation, quality, tools, real time, accessibility, decision making)
  • Advocacy and mainstreaming (Participation, barriers to participation, empowerment, policies, program responsiveness – disability, gender, age)
  • Financing and partnerships (Resource allocation, partnerships, networking, leveraging, accountability, measuring change).
  • Technology and Innovation


Conference charges

  • IAWG MEMBER ORGANIZATIONS - USD 100
  • NON-MEMBER ORGANIZATIONS - USD 120


FILL THE PARTICIPANT REGISTRATION FORM THROUGH THE FOLLOWING LINK: http://goo.gl/forms/ApCCnizslAYvoJBD3 

For more information, please do contact:
Inter-Agency Working Group on Disaster Preparedness for East & Central Africa

  • Email: coordinator@iawg-africa.org
  • Tel: +254 (0) 723 887 449
  • Website:
  1. https://humanitarianpartnershipconference.wordpress.com/
  2. http://iawg-africa.org