Elrha reposted this
It’s been a reflective 3 days at the #HumanitarianInnovationForum, wonderfully convened by Elrha and facilitated by the brilliant Paula Gil Baizan, with incredibly passionate and innovative people, thinking together on maximising resources, knowledge, and networks to meet the needs of crisis-affected communities. Several recurring tensions in the humanitarian sector stood out – many I resonated with through my work researching and evaluating humanitarian programmes: 🔸Long-term sustainability vs immediate crisis response: how do local / community led organisations expand their capacity for sustained impact while meeting urgent needs? 🔸Recognising and utilising diverse perspectives vs timely decision-making: can we weigh multiple ideas / innovations while acting decisively and delivering the most value? 🔸Global learning vs contextual programming: how do we consistently apply sector-wide insights without losing sight of community-specific needs? 🔸Agile programming vs institutional reflection: how possible is it to move fast enough to respond to innovate, meet changing needs and while ensuring lessons are absorbed and used before making decisions? 🔸Managing risks, time and resources vs giving innovations the space to fail: maintaining a "Do no harm" approach while embracing the inherent risks of humanitarian innovation and giving innovations room for trial, error, and growth. 🔸 Long term funding vs short-term realities: how do funders increase funding cycles for innovators despite having unpredictable pipelines and aid cuts? This continues to demonstrate the difficult trade-offs humanitarians face in an increasingly constrained environment. I'm curious to hear how you experience these dilemmas and difficult choices in your work, and how you approach them. Photo by Elrha