Responding to the World’s Largest Humanitarian Disasters: A Conversation about Collaboration in Crisis

Event Information

Moderator: Frank Schott, Global Program Director, NetHope

In the last decade, the frequency, severity, and complexity of disasters has dramatically increased around the globe. In the immediate aftermath of many disasters, individual response from humanitarian organizations around the world can overwhelm communities, infrastructure and, impact the effectiveness of emergency relief and long-term recovery.

How do the largest humanitarian agencies coordinate their emergency and long-term response?  

How are humanitarian organizations individually and collectively rising to meet increasingly rigorous accountability and impact measurements?

What has been learned from the emergency response to recent disasters in Japan, Libya, Côte d'Ivoire and other crises over the past decade such as the 2003 Tsunami in South and Southeast Asia, the crisis in Darfur, Sudan, the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti, and the 2010 floods in Pakistan?

The World Affairs Council and Mercy Corps present emergency response directors from the Interagency Working Group (IWG), composed of emergency response leadership from seven of the largest operational humanitarian agencies, for an exclusive networking event and panel discussion.

The Interagency Working Group was established in 2003 to improve the speed, quality and effectiveness of the humanitarian community’s emergency preparedness and response.   The seven agencies that compose the working group are CARE, Catholic Relief Services (CRS), the International Rescue Committee (IRC), Mercy Corps, Oxfam, Save the Children, and World Vision.  The IWG agencies have combined budgets of more than $3 billion annually and work in more than 100 countries benefiting at least 300 million people per year.  The IWG has undertaken a number of joint projects, most notably the $15 million Emergency Capacity Building (ECB) Project supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Microsoft and other donors.   Collectively, the IWG represents a critical mass for effecting change in the humanitarian sector.
 
Our Panel Includes:
Gillian Dunn, Director of Emergency Preparedness & Response, International Rescue Committee (IRC)
Ms. Dunn has led disaster response programs for thirteen years, working on major crises including the wars of Kosovo, Chechnya, Liberia, Congo, Afghanistan and Iraq as well as natural disasters such as the Indian Ocean tsunami, Pakistan earthquake, Myanmar cyclone and Haiti earthquake.  She is responsible for the overall management and leadership of IRC’s emergency programming, including oversight of the Emergency Response Team.  She is the recipient of the Sarlo Distinguished Humanitarian award for dedication and service to victims of violent conflict.

Mark Janz, Planning Director, World Vision International
Mark has worked with World Vision in the area of humanitarian emergencies for the past 19 years and is currently the Humanitarian Planning Director.  He spent more than 25 years in the DR Congo both as a child and later as a professional working for the Zaire Council of Churches (ECZ).  His work with World Vision has taken him to Cambodia, Romania, Sudan, Croatia, Bosnia, Albania, Rwanda, Burundi, Haiti, DR Congo, South Africa, and Niger.  In efforts to improve the quality and accountability of humanitarian aid, Mark has been involved in developing collaborative humanitarian groups including the Inter-Agency Working Group (IWG) and was involved with the inception and development of the Emergency Capacity Building project (ECB).  Mark is co-author of Complex Humanitarian Emergencies: Lessons from Practitioners which gathered experienced, grassroots relief and development experts to examine disaster mitigation and response from the practitioner’s perspective. Mark is a research advisory group member for Feinstein International Center at Tufts University, a stakeholder advisory group member for the Humanitarian Futures Program at Kings College London, and a faculty advisor for the Humanitarian Certificate program at Loma Linda University.

Michael Klosson, Vice President for Policy and Humanitarian Response, Save the Children
Mr. Klosson oversees the agency’s public policy and advocacy work as well as global emergency response.  He has represented Save the Children at recent G20 and G8 conferences.  He helped steer Save the Children’s response to the earthquake in Haiti and floods Pakistan in 2010.   Prior to joining the agency, Mr. Klosson served as a career Foreign Service officer with posts including U.S. Ambassador to Cyprus, U.S. Consul General in Hong Kong and Macau, and Deputy Chief of Mission at several U.S. Embassies.   He has served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs for Secretary of State Albright, and Special Assistant to both Secretaries of State Haig and Shultz.

Randolph Martin, Director of Global Emergency Operations, Mercy Corps
Mr. Martin has been engaged in international work for over 25 years, serving in senior management positions in the field and at headquarters.   He has lived and worked in Egypt, Sudan, Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Pacific and has traveled widely, providing oversight to relief operations and rehabilitation programs in Africa, Asia, the Caucasus and the Balkans. Since joining Mercy Corps in 2003, Mr. Martin has lead the agency's response to over 30 emergencies from the earthquake in Iran in 2003, through Darfur and the tsunami to Haiti, the Pakistan floods and the current response in Libya.  He has been a principal member of the IWG since its founding in 2003.

Moderator: Frank Schott, Global Program Director, NetHope
Frank Schott has spent almost 25 years in the technology sector.   Since 2005, Frank has served as a  NetHope Global Program Director in charge of the Field Capacity Building and Emergency Response initiatives.  During his time with NetHope, Frank has worked closely with member agencies, corporate partners and NetHope staff to design, develop and deliver ICT related programs which are shared by the humanitarian sector.  Prior to joining NetHope, Frank worked with public and private sector clients developing programs and solutions around the use of technology in the developing world.  His client list includes UNHCR (the UN Refugee Agency), the University of Washington, Naguru Teenage Medical Centre and Microsoft Corporation.   His developing world experience is “hands on” with time spent on programs in Africa, Southeast Asia, Central America and Eastern Europe. Frank worked for ten years at Microsoft Corporation in a variety of general management product and sales positions in Redmond and Paris.  Prior to that, Frank worked for a variety of software startups in various executive level capacities. In a much earlier life, Frank was a Certified Public Accountant with Arthur Andersen & Company.

NOTE: Free pre-event networking and breakfast is included in the price of the ticket. Event schedule is as follows:
8:00 – 8:30 am Registration and Networking
8:30 – 10:00 am Presentation to be followed by informal networking

Photo taken by: Cassandra Nelson, Mercy Corps

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