SOURCE: Sustainable Development

FOREWORD
Focus on the individual: responding
effectively and responsibly to
current and future crises
Global humanitarian need has increased
significantly in recent decades – in
terms of the frequency, severity, and scale of
natural disasters, as well as the number of
people affected by armed conflicts and other
situations of violence. Although the scale of
the global humanitarian response has also
been increasing, with humanitarian aid flows
having been on an upward trend for over a
decade, it has been in the context of an increasingly
complex humanitarian landscape.
The challenges associated with this new
operating environment call for a reaffirmation
and strengthening of core principles
and approaches, together with concerted efforts
to anticipate and address the questions
and concerns that arise among humanitarian
actors – both at the organisational and
individual level.
The International Association of Professionals
in Humanitarian Assistance and Protection
(PHAP) was established five years ago
in an effort to help address these challenges.
As a global and sector-wide professional
association, bringing together all kinds of
humanitarian actors at the individual level, it
is the first and only organisation of its kind.
The main strengths of PHAP’s unique
approach and structure are three-fold: it
encompasses diversity, it is complementary
to existing organis ational initiatives, and it
offers long-term sustainable support to the
humanitarian community.
First, an individual-based professional
association is ideal for fostering cross-sector
exchange and understanding. The membership
already spans all the major ‘divides’
in the humanitarian landscape: members
are affiliated with organizations that are
‘Northern’ and ‘Southern’; large and
small; secular and faith-based; and local,
national, and international. They include
staff and volunteers of NGOs, the United
Nations, the Red Cross and Red Crescent
movement, academia, and governmental
agencies. They are based in field and headquarters
locations around the world.
They have different areas of expertise,
such as health, nutrition, logistics, child protection,
international law, communication,
and management. PHAP offers members
the opportunity to share experiences and
learn from others beyond their current
organisational affiliations, which improves
understanding among different actors and
enhances humanitarian capacity as a whole.
Second, the overarching mission of
PHAP is shared by many important initiatives
operating at the organisational level,
which PHAP through its individual-based
approach can support and strengthen.
Initiatives and organisational networks that
PHAP has worked with in various ways
include ALNAP, the developers of the Core
Humanitarian Standard, ELRHA, ICVA,
InterAction, the IASC’s Transformative
Agenda, the World Humanitarian Summit,
and others. The membership of PHAP
has come together on multiple occasions
to provide their views and expertise, to
help clarify questions and issues that arise,
and to amplify the positive impact of these
organisational networks and initiatives.
Finally, the individual-based structure
of the association provides the basis for a
much-needed longer-term perspective in a
sector that operates – out of necessity – almost
exclusively in the short term. PHAP’s
more than 2,500 professional members, and
more than 30,000 active contacts in its larger
practitioner network, are a truly global
community, with a majority based in – and
from – the Global South.
By joining and participating as members
of PHAP, people from all over the world
demonstrate their individual commitment
to effective, responsible, and principled
humanitarian action. With this broad base
of membership, PHAP is able to serve as
a long-term resource, steadily enhancing
humanity’s capacity to respond effectively
and responsibly to current and future crises,
for years and decades to come.
Angharad Laing
Executive Director, PHAP
For more information about PHAP, visit
https://phap.org
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