How to prepare the next generation of humanitarians

With ongoing global challenges like climate change, pandemics and forced displacement, the need for humanitarian assistance is constant. The UN Refugee Agency reported that at the end of 2021, a total of 89.3 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced. At the same time, traditional humanitarian aid organizations are facing mounting pressure to do more with less.

Anne Garçon, the head of communications and marketing at the Humanitarian Leadership Academy, or HLA, believes that we need to evolve beyond our normal humanitarian response model — calling for the implementation of a model based on “both local and international actors working together in an equal partnership.” Devex Business Editor David Ainsworth interviewed Garçon as part of Devex World 2022 to better understand how to build more effective humanitarian responses.

HLA is a global learning initiative that provides opportunities for people to prepare and respond to crises. During the interview, Garçon talked about a new generation of local humanitarian action, whereby, combining both online learning and localized learning in person, people can be better prepared to face a variety of future crises within their own country.