Bernadette Sexton

As the Global Partnerships Conference brings together governments, donors and humanitarian organisations, there is a clear opportunity to move beyond commitments on localisation and focus on how to deliver it at scale.

What needs to change

1. Scale predictable, flexible, multi-year funding directly to local actors

Local leadership will not be realised while funding remains short-term, project-based, and routed through multiple intermediaries. To enable meaningful change, donors must:

• Expand multi-year, flexible funding mechanisms (including Country-Based Pooled Funds and similar instruments), ensuring equitable overheads for national partners
• Require implementing agencies to demonstrate genuine delegation of decision-making, not just “participation” by local organisations

Without these shifts, local actors will continue to operate within constraints that limit their leadership

2. Fund collective, country-level approaches rather than scattered pilots

Localisation efforts remain fragmented and too small to shift systems. Greater impact will come from investing in:

• National capacity ecosystems, including learning networks, surge pools and technical quality assurance bodies
• Consortia designed to be locally led, with international organisations playing a supporting or incubator role

This approach reduces duplication, builds institutional, not just individual, capacity, and creates viable pathways to scale.

3. Embed proportionate due diligence and shared risk across funding architectures

Risk allocation remains a significant barrier to localisation. Current approaches often transfer disproportionate risk to local actors, limiting access and trust.

A more enabling model requires:

• Proportionate due diligence requirements and the adoption of sector-wide passporting initiatives
• Risk-sharing frameworks that prevent responsibility being pushed downstream to local organisations

These reforms are essential to unlocking greater flows of funding to local actors at scale.

4. Invest in standards-based capacity strengthening as a core pillar of localisation

Local leadership cannot be achieved without sustained investment in high-quality, contextually relevant capacity strengthening. This includes:

• Adoption of recognised quality standards for humanitarian competencies, learning and technical capability (such as the HPass standards developed with partners including HLA, IFRC, Bioforce and Oxfam)
• Capacity strengthening that is co-designed with national partners, adapted to context, and delivered in the languages practitioners use

This ensures investments translate into long-term institutional resilience, rather than short-term, project-level skills gains.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, RedR is working with CONAFOHD—representing more than 500 local and national NGOs—to deliver a Digital Humanitarian Academy. The platform provides modular, certified training pathways in French, Lingala and Congolese Swahili, functions offline for organisations in low-connectivity environments, and includes an AI assistant to support personalised learning.

Critically, certifications are linked to organisational profiles, enabling local NGOs to demonstrate their capabilities to donors in real time, addressing persistent barriers around visibility, access, and recognition.

Similarly, in Ukraine, RedR has delivered in-person training to approximately 800 water utility professionals. Delivered in Ukrainian and tailored to operational realities, this work has strengthened the capacity of senior managers, engineers and operators to maintain essential services under pressure.

5. Support meaningful inclusion of local actors in global and national policy fora

Shifting funding alone is not sufficient; influence must also change. This requires:

• Facilitating direct engagement of local organisations at global convenings, including forums such as this Conference
• Embedding “people-first governance”, ensuring local leadership is reflected in planning, oversight and accountability structures

This is critical to ensuring localisation reshapes decision-making, not just delivery.

The role of INGOs in accelerating the shift

As an INGO focused on engineering humanitarian effectiveness, RedR recognises its responsibility to actively support this transition.

Our Commitments

Scale high-quality, standards-based capacity strengthening that enables system-wide change

RedR is committed to uniting globally recognised standards with deeply localised practice. We embed the HPass framework for humanitarian learning and competency assessment across our work, while tailoring delivery to local contexts and languages.

Developed through consultation with more than 400 organisations across over 60 countries, HPass reflects the realities of humanitarian work globally. It provides a shared benchmark that enables practitioners to build recognised, transferable competencies.

We will:

• Expand competency-based learning, assessment and credentialing for national actors, grounded in HPass standards
• Support locally led training ecosystems, including national partners, trainers and centres of excellence
• Ensure all programmes are co-designed, contextually relevant and delivered in appropriate languages

This strengthens the system, not just individual organisations.

Reinforce models that transfer power

RedR will:

• Prioritise local delivery models, investing in national experts and institutions
• Increase shared governance through co-led needs assessments, programme design and quality assurance systems

Promote fair and transparent partnership models

We commit to:

• Applying proportionate due diligence and contributing to sector-wide passporting initiatives
• Ensuring equitable overheads for local partners
• Avoiding subcontracting models that limit agency and influence
• Embedding risk-sharing approaches, rather than risk transfer

Support long-term resilience of local systems

RedR will strengthen the ability of local actors to sustain operations before, during and after crises by:

• Reinforcing organisational systems, including HR, MEAL, finance and preparedness
• Supporting interoperable competency and quality systems that enhance professional mobility and recognition

Share evidence on what works

We will continue to generate and share evidence on:

• The value for money of locally delivered, quality-assured learning
• The link between strengthened competencies and improved humanitarian performance

Conclusion

The Global Partnerships Conference presents an opportunity to focus on how a more effective humanitarian system can be delivered in practice. 

Fragmented, project-based approaches do not create the conditions for sustained impact. What is required is investment in coherent systems, where funding, standards, capacity strengthening, accountability, and governance are aligned to support national and local actors to lead.

As digital and AI tools become more common in humanitarian work, it’s vital they are used ethically, safely, and in ways that protect the people and communities we work with. We aim to strengthen skills, share knowledge, and support better, more responsible humanitarian practice.

RedR is pleased to announce a new Memorandum of Understanding with Data Friendly Space, furthering a shared commitment to strengthening AI literacy in the humanitarian sector.

By collaborating with Data Friendly Space, we’re combining our humanitarian capacity-strengthening expertise with their responsible AI and data stewardship knowledge to help humanitarians and communities navigate today’s complex digital landscape. The partnership reflects a shared commitment to using data and AI responsibly in the humanitarian sector.

Bernadette Sexton

Day 1 of COP30 commenced with a heavy afternoon downpour. Belém, a city set in the Amazon rainforest, saw rain so intense that organisers soon had buckets scattered around the convention centre to catch leaks. If there is a god, the timing felt pointed. The UNEP Emissions Gap Report of 2025 estimates that global warming projections over this century, based on full implementation of Nationally Determined Contributions, are now 2.3-2.5°C. Under current policies alone, warming could reach around 2.8°C.

We are already living inside a world of intensified heatwaves, extreme rainfall, prolonged droughts, melting of ice sheets and glaciers, heating of the ocean, and rising sea levels. As temperatures increase, the effects will be most profound affecting those most vulnerable. Consecutive climate shocks displaced 2.2 million people in 2023 in Somalia, for example.

Throughout COP30, several Indigenous communities used their panels to sing, dance, and play music. Coupled with the rain falling outside, their presence drew the attention of attendees. It felt fitting, symbolic even, that these communities were finally having their voices centred. Yet the question remains: have they truly been listened to?

These communities are not simply cultural contributors to COP30. They are adaptation leaders whose knowledge systems have sustained ecosystems for centuries. These are communities who did not create the climate crisis, yet they will face some of its most extreme consequences: rising waters, prolonged droughts, and devastating floods. When rain finally does come after extended drought, the land is often too dry to absorb it, causing rapid flooding and further erosion of already fragile ecosystems.

COP30 made clear what frontline practitioners already know; adaptation is the first line of defence for human security. Adaptation is no longer a secondary concern to mitigation. It is foundational for stability, resilience, and human welfare as highlighted in the Returns on Resilience flagship report. For RedR, whose mission is to strengthen local capacity for crisis resilience, climate change intersects with humanitarian need in ways that are increasingly visible across our programmes globally.

In this context, what works?

National Adaptation Plans exist in most climate-vulnerable countries, yet the institutional capacity to implement them requires support. Finance ministries, local authorities, and civil society actors often lack the skills and systems to translate plans into action. This resonates with RedR’s recent work in partnership with the Government of Somalia, Global Centre for Adaptation, and the World Bank to strengthen public service delivery at the local level, improve access to climate-resilient urban infrastructure and services, and enhance readiness to respond to future crises and emergencies through targeted training programmes.

A defining takeaway from COP30 is that adaptation must be locally owned, inclusive, and equitable. Funders should align with country-led strategies and support community-driven approaches to avoid fragmented, top-down interventions. For over six years, RedR has worked with local organisations to strengthen climate resilience across countries including Philippines, Bangladesh, Uganda, Afghanistan, Kenya and Somalia, providing training, coaching, microgrants, and developing climate change adaptation and disaster risk resilience communities of practice. This equips participants with the tools to conduct climate risk assessments, implement adaptation strategies, and advocate for the inclusion of climate resilience within their organisations and communities. The demand is there. In our most recent cohort, 409 applications were received for 88 available positions.

Adaptation as systems strengthening

Adaptation must be systemic and cross-sectoral, bridging silos between agriculture, water, health, infrastructure, and ecosystems. Climate adaptation ultimately succeeds or fails on the strength of everyday systems: water, sanitation, health, transport; and the people who maintain them. This resonates at multiple levels. RedR’s humanitarian skills for engineers, a partnership with the Ugandan Institution of Professional Engineers and Makerere University, trained engineers to integrate humanitarian and climate resilience standards into national infrastructure systems. Our structural detailing and damage assessment work in response to earthquakes in Myanmar, Afghanistan, Türkiye, and Syria, is strengthening and has strengthened technical capacity for safer, climate-resilient reconstruction of critical infrastructure. Resilient infrastructure underpins health, water, sanitation, and protection systems, making engineering expertise a critical adaptation enabler.

Prioritise gender responsive planning

As I discussed on a panel with UNFPA, climate change is not gender neutral. Its direct and indirect effects, whether through slow-onset degradation like drought or rapid-onset disasters like earthquakes intensify pre-existing inequalities, undermine sexual and reproductive health outcomes, and dramatically increase the risks of gender-based violence due to disruption of health systems, reduced access to essential health care services, displacement, and harmful coping mechanisms. Meanwhile, climate change exacerbates structural inequalities, limiting women’s livelihoods, safety, agency, and participation in decision-making.  These risks reverberate across generations, undermining girls’ education, household income, and long-term economic stability. Integrating gender equity across adaptation, infrastructure and technical systems, preparedness, early action and disaster risk resilience, and workforce development is a high return investment.

This is reflected in RedR’s trainings on Gender Equitable Nutrition, Gender-based Violence and Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse that has been rolled out across countries affected by conflict, displacement, and climate. It was also reflected in the work of RedR member, Annet Nsiimire’s project in the Rwamwanja Refugee Settlement which renovated cooking stoves, reducing the daily risk of violence and sexual abuse for women and girls who previously had to collect firewood.

Why this matters?

Adaptation is now central to humanitarian effectiveness, stability, and development. It is the backbone of resilience. Adaptation investments generate high returns, but only if countries and communities have the capacity, systems, and people to implement them. RedR occupies a niche at this intersection: bridging engineering and humanitarian systems, translating global adaptation priorities into practical local action, and building the human and institutional capabilities that enable adaptation to achieve real outcomes.

Investing in the people, systems, and skills that make adaptation real is one of the highest-return decisions governments and funders can make. It’s time to implement.

At COP30, our CEO, Bernadette Sexton, joined a panel hosted by UNFPA at the Luxembourg Pavilion focused on the impact of climate change on sexual and reproductive health, gender-based violence, and gender equality. She also met Mary Robinson, first female President of Ireland, former UNHCR High Commissioner, Elder, and leading climate justice advocate.

Climate change is not gender neutral. Pre-existing inequalities are intensified directly or indirectly, whether through slow-onset degradation or rapid-onset disasters. There are solutions.

Key to the conversation:

Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH)
Climate change amplifies SRH risks through disruptions to health systems, harmful coping strategies, displacement, and reduced access to essential services. In many contexts, SRH services, including antenatal care, contraception, menstrual hygiene, and safe delivery, are among the first to collapse following climate-induced shocks, whilst heat stress increases risks for pregnant women, including stillbirth and complications.

Gender-Based Violence (GBV)
Resource scarcity and economic strain escalate domestic violence and intimate partner violence during droughts, failed harvests, or lost livelihoods. Displacement and shelter insecurity increase exposure to sexual exploitation and abuse, trafficking, and harassment. Inadequate WASH infrastructure forces women and girls to travel long distances for water or latrines, heightening the risk of assault. Child marriage rises as a coping strategy during climate-induced economic stress. Breakdown of protection systems in disasters leaves communities without safe reporting pathways or survivor services.

Climate Change and Gender Equity
Climate change exacerbates structural inequalities, limiting women’s livelihoods, safety, agency, and participation in decision-making. Unequal labour burdens, especially in water and fuel collection, intensify as droughts worsen or ecosystems degrade. Women’s livelihoods (agriculture, informal work, small enterprises) are disproportionately impacted by climate variability. Exclusion from climate decision-making persists in local and national adaptation planning processes. Limited access to climate finance for women-led organisations prevents equitable adaptation implementation. Education disruptions driven by climate shocks reduce future economic resilience for girls and young women.

Solutions

1. Integrate SRH, GBV, and gender equity into climate adaptation
   Investments should prioritise gender-responsive planning and risk assessments, including through practical training and capacity development for frontline actors.
2. Infrastructure and technical systems are critical for gender protection
   Infrastructure failures, collapsed clinics, inaccessible water systems, and unsafe shelters create downstream GBV and SRH risks.
3. Preparedness, early action, and DRR reduce gendered harm
   Early warning, community preparedness, and risk-sensitive planning reduce not only economic losses but also GBV and SRH impacts.
4. Invest in the adaptation workforce
   Strengthening the global adaptation workforce, including gender-aware humanitarians, engineers, and government planners, is a high-return investment area.

Devastating 6.0 Magnitude Earthquake in Eastern Afghanistan

Assessment Date: 5 September 2025
Location: Epicentre and Surrounding Villages, Nangarhar Province

On the night of 31 August 2025, a powerful 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck north-eastern Afghanistan. The epicentre, located 27 kilometres northeast of Jalalabad City, caused widespread destruction across the region.

The humanitarian impact has been catastrophic:

• Over 2,000 lives lost
• More than 3,500 people injured
• Nearly 6,800 homes destroyed
• Approximately 497,000 people affected, including 263,000 children

Relief operations remain extremely difficult, with blocked roads, rough terrain, and limited communications hampering access to many of the worst-hit areas.

In the face of overwhelming challenges, Afghan communities have shown extraordinary solidarity. Local volunteers quickly mobilised, pooling their resources to transport the wounded, clear debris, and deliver emergency supplies. This grassroots response reflects the resilience of the Afghan people. Yet it also underscores the urgent need for structured, technical support to ensure recovery is safe, sustainable, and future-proof.

RedR’s Engineering Response: Building Local Capacity for Safer Recovery

In early September, Dr Noor Kuchai, RedR’s Senior Coordinator in Humanitarian Engineering, conducted a field assessment in the epicentre and surrounding villages. His visit identified critical gaps where RedR’s expertise could provide life-saving and long-term value:

1. Damage Assessment Training – Delivering tailored training for local engineers and Afghan NGO staff on how to conduct safe, effective damage assessments, preventing further loss of life and guiding appropriate shelter interventions.
2. Earthquake-Resilient Shelter Design – Collaborating with communities and experts to develop culturally appropriate, earthquake-resilient shelter designs using locally available materials such as stone and timber.
3. Retrofitting and Repair Guidelines – Providing practical guidance and training for local responders on safe repair techniques that would have sector wide applicability. Many homes can be salvaged through retrofitting, reducing the need for full reconstruction, and preserving community heritage.

Dr. Noorullah Kuchai

RedR UK’s Senior Programmes Coordinator, Dr. Noorullah Kuchai, spoke about RedR’s impact and mission at our recent Annual Reception. Focusing on RedR’s work in Ukraine, Dr. Kuchai shared moving examples of how we are equipping local responders with the tools and knowledge to lead recovery efforts on their own terms. His remarks highlighted the urgent need for locally led responses and the importance of shifting power to those closest to the crisis Read his full speech below.

The world is facing an era of compounding crises. The demand for humanitarian assistance is escalating, while resources are shrinking. In this landscape, the effectiveness of the response is not just important – it is vital. And this is where RedR’s work truly matters. Tonight, I’d like to share with you two specific examples of how we put our mission into action through our response to the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine. 

Nearly 3 years ago, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine leading to a devastating impact on Ukrainians causing massive civilian casualties and the destruction of infrastructure. Resulting in millions being in need of humanitarian assistance – including more than 2 million children. 

Within just two months, RedR responded by designing and delivering 27 training sessions to 360 humanitarian responders. We then continued to expand our reach, ultimately training more than 6,000 Ukrainians. These were individuals supporting communities under extraordinary pressure. 

Our trainings equipped them with tools & skills to respond more effectively, covering topics such as humanitarian principles, blast-induced damage assessment, repair methods, retrofitting technologies and more. 

We trained local people, so the knowledge stays there.  

We hired and mentored local Ukrainian trainers. We delivered trainings and produced resources in Ukrainian. And we rooted the training contents in the reality of the situation in Ukraine, drawing on local case studies and Ukrainian building standards to make our trainings relevant and immediately applicable in the field. And this local capacity strengthening is hugely important. 

Recently the Mayor of Mykolaiv has communicated with us that “capacity strengthening” is one of their key needs. We have grouped up with our industry engineering partners in the UK and the Engineering Without Borders to train local professionals to support the safe return of displaced communities. 

In response to the acute shortage of qualified experts – damage assessors – we will train Ukrainian engineers and university lecturers. These lecturers will then train future generation engineers, thereby enhancing long-term in-country capacity. 

In one example shared by Engineers Without Borders, 750 children were not able to go to school because there was not enough capacity to determine whether their school building, which had been partially damaged by a missile strike, was safe to use or not. So, its not only the immediate impact of the destruction being caused, but the longer-term impact on the entire community which is also affected. In this way, our training on damage assessment unlock the capacity of more professionals to carry out “safe-building entry checks”, and in this case, hopefully to get those 750 children back into school. 

This initiative addresses critical societal challenges caused by war, including widespread displacement and infrastructure damage that compromise safety, health, and dignity. By equipping engineers and educators with essential skills, the project supports recovery efforts and promotes the reconstruction of built infrastructure. 

Our training strengthen the quality of the humanitarian response. It enhances local ownership. And ultimately, it saves lives. 

And crucially, we could not have done any of this alone. 

The speed and scale of our Ukraine response—and our ongoing work in conflict and climate-affected areas—has been driven by RedR’s core mission: uniting diverse expertise across humanitarian and private sectors to empower and train local responders for more effective, locally led humanitarian action in an increasingly complex world. 

That is why this work matters. And that is why your continued support matters.  

Read our strategy here. 

Bernadette Sexton

To mark RedR’s 45th anniversary, CEO Bernadette Sexton delivered a speech at our recent Annual Reception, reflecting on the organisation’s evolution and continued relevance in today’s humanitarian landscape. She addressed the growing global need for assistance, the challenges posed by shrinking funding, and the vital role of RedR’s locally led approach and partnerships in delivering lasting impact. Read the full speech below.

When we developed the strategy last year, we engaged with many stakeholders to determine how best we could deliver our mission: to develop the capacity of aid workers and organisations to respond to humanitarian needs and mitigate the impact of crises on the most vulnerable people.

Our mission remains sadly relevant because the demand for humanitarian assistance has never been higher. 1 in 22 people worldwide require humanitarian assistance.

This need is informed by escalating natural disasters, protracted conflicts, and deepening social inequities. At the same time, we are observing extreme weather events, with 2024 being the hottest year on record. So, the need has never been greater.

In this context, RedR’s impact is clear: we strengthen local responders to improve delivery, reduce waste, and contribute to a more effective humanitarian system.

That was in 2024. Since then, at the start of 2025, there have been significant cuts to humanitarian funding globally. This presents an existential challenge for the humanitarian sector as the sector considers how to fundamentally rethink how we create global impact.

In this landscape, RedR’s locally led approach has become even more acutely necessary.

Through our training and technical assistance, we gain localised insight regarding the immediate challenges being faced in disaster situations, allowing us to inform improvements through convening and sharing at the sectoral level.

That’s where our partnerships come to the fore. Whilst we are a small core team, our reach is wide.

We hosted our strategy launch at the offices of Arup, one of our longstanding partners. It’s just one visual example of how we engage within an ecosystem of partners where values align and where we benefit from synergies.

Those partnerships allow us to extend and amplify our impact.

What does this look like in practice? It includes:

1. Developing standards for camp management to support the flow of refugees and internally displaced populations in Nigeria and Ukraine
2. Designing resources to support responders to conflict related sexual violence in several languages including Burmese, French, Ukrainian, and English
3. Building climate resilience in drought and conflict vulnerable contexts in Somalia and Afghanistan
4. Training local NGOs delivering nutrition in emergencies in Mali to address extreme hunger
5. Delivering engineering in emergencies services in response to earthquakes and floods in Morocco, Libya, Turkey and Syria
6. Supporting global commitments to provide clean water, and improved sanitation and hygiene systems through the WASH roadmap.
7. Conducting blast damage assessments to allow safe return to homes; and supporting reform and repair of the water utilities in Ukraine.

RedR’s work is only possible through this ecosystem.

We have relied on your training and technical expertise that allows us to deliver our work to a high standard.

We have tapped into your networks that have connected us to key stakeholders to ensure a contextualised approach that builds on best practice.

We have benefited from your funding as individuals, as trusts and foundations, and as companies that has allowed us to deliver this work.

This year marks the 45^th anniversary of RedR. Our founder Peter Guthrie remains an enthusiastic supporter.  Anytime, I meet up with Peter, I come away from that discussion with a renewed sense of urgency from one of the most inspiring people I’ve ever met and a sense of how RedR has evolved to continue to be relevant and make a difference.

RedR was established in 1980. Since 1988 Her Royal Highness has been our President and has remained steadfast in her support of RedR, and has displayed an active interest in our work.

What we see in our work in crisis-affected areas – is that investing in people, knowledge and skills creates a ripple effect that has long lasting impact.

Thank you for your ongoing support.

Read our strategy here. 

RedR UK Celebrates Achievements and Launches Strategy with Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal

On Wednesday 7^th May 2025, humanitarian NGO RedR held its Annual Reception, hosted by its long-standing partner Arup, at its Charlotte Street offices. The event brought together RedR’s diverse community of staff, partners, and supporters from across engineering and humanitarian sectors to celebrate the organisation’s achievements and reaffirm its continued commitment to driving impact through its strategic priorities amidst emerging global challenges.

RedR’s President, Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal, was in attendance and emphasised the importance of working with local responders to strengthen existing humanitarian capacities.

Over the course of the evening, attendees had the opportunity to network and listen to inspiring speeches from RedR’s CEO Bernadette Sexton, RedR’s Senior Technical Programmes Coordinator Dr. Noorullah Kuchai, and Her Royal Highness, who has been President of RedR since 1988. Their remarks echoed the organisation’s strategic direction, prioritising localisation, climate resilience, and strengthening the skills of those on the frontlines of crisis response.

The evening also marked the launch of RedR’s 2025-2027 Strategy, which builds on the organisation’s roots in humanitarian engineering, and reinforces its broader commitment to strengthening local and international response capacity through training programmes, technical assistance, and convening.

This strategy comes at a vital time, as the humanitarian sector faces unprecedented funding shortfalls amid rising global need and instability. RedR’s work to equip local responders with the skills and support they need is more critical than ever. By strengthening local leadership and knowledge, RedR helps make humanitarian response more sustainable, efficient, and equitable.

Bernadette Sexton, CEO of RedR said: “At a time when humanitarian funding cannot match the unprecedented demand, efficiency is crucial. Learning and development transforms the ability of humanitarians to efficiently deliver lifesaving aid to those that need it most. This is at the heart of RedR’s strategy to equip local agencies and communities with the knowledge and skills to prepare, respond and rebuild in the face of disasters.”

If you’d like to give financially to support projects for disaster-affected communities all over the world, you can do so here. 

“Innovation is very simple in my humanitarian work.”

This feedback, recently given in RedR’s training on humanitarian innovation in Addis Ababa, may not strike a chord with you. In fact, while we all recognise on the power of innovation, we also find it quite intimidating. By its very nature, there is no blueprint for innovation. Which leaves us with an uncomfortable conclusion. Whose job is it to innovate? It might be me. 

Our recent innovation training for the ToGETHER Programme led by NGO Welthungerhilfe brought together 113 participants from local and international NGOs based in nine different countries: Bangladesh, Pakistan, Myanmar, Indonesia, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Germany, and Colombia. The training was designed to build a culture of innovation, and equip participants with the tools to create innovation in their own roles and organisations, to better serve communities affected by disaster. 

We speak to two RedR Trainers, Alejandro Castañeda and Ahmed Hassan, who facilitated two of the five innovation training sessions we held in four cities around the world. What does real innovation look like? Whose responsibility? And how do we make it happen? 

Simpler than you think

Real innovation always arises from the space given for understanding real problems, and listening to the right people. Alejandro is an experienced Sphere trainer. In the Venezuelan Migrant Crisis in Colombia which intensified in 2015, Alejandro became convinced that the best support for Venezuelan migrants would come from cash transfer – an innovative and burgeoning form of humanitarian support. 

Yes, innovation is your responsibility

Innovation often seems as if it can only be pursued on a macro scale. How can we implement it as a culture in the humanitarian sector? As Ahmed explains, at the beginning of the training in Addis Ababa the participants “never thought about innovation as something related to their work. Innovation seemed too big, and not suitable for where we are.”  

Similarly, in the Colombian context for the RedR innovation training in Bogotá, Alejandro says “there were great expectations on the first day … some were expecting direct answers on how they should innovate in the humanitarian sector. In the end, they understood that the training provided tools that allow them to innovate. In the end, it is up to each humanitarian worker to generate spaces for innovation, thinking of the people affected.” 

Innovation happens when each humanitarian shifts their mindset. Rather than a task for someone else, it is integrally linked to the approach they take to their own role. Far from placing a burden of responsibility onto the individual, however, this mindset shift that Ahmed and Alejandro facilitated through this training should give new freedom and capacity to the individual to bring innovation in their own context, in relation to their own responsibilities. The training gives participants the space and tools to consider the question – are the methods I use really the best way of solving the problems I face? 

As Ahmed, an experienced humanitarian leader, notes, “if you stay the same you will be left behind.” As an illustration of this mindset shift in action, some participants in Addis Ababa brought a real example from their own roles – managing the life-threatening flooding of the Shebelle river in Hiran region, Somalia. Giving space in the training the diverse group of participants including young and old, experienced and newly recruited Ethiopian and Somali participants from different organisations, able to discuss outside the box ideas – using fencing, or bells to create an early warning system, and working harder to understand the community response. Ethiopian participants shared ideas from their own experiences with  flooding, and they also discussed how to able such a solution – specifically, how to effectively pitch innovation to a potential donor. 

“Innovation”, as Ahmed explains, “is about empowering individuals with the tools to discover   their own solutions. By providing these tools, individuals can adapt them to their unique contexts and circumstances.” 

Those tools, transferred by the training, centre on the Human Centred Design approach to innovation, distinctive for its emphasis on empathy and deep understanding of the needs, behaviours, and experiences of users, insistence on user involvement throughout a design process, and iterative model of testing and refinement. 

Yes, innovation is possible

People need space to consider, listen, and discuss. They need tools and knowledge. They need – in a word – capacity. 

“Building capacity among local people creates innovation”, says Ahmed. “While abundant resources exist, the issue often lies in the lack of access to these resources for local communities.  By bringing together spaces, people, resources, and tools , individuals can access what they need to develop innovative solutions to the challenges they face in responding to disasters.  

If humanitarian innovation is as simple as giving talented, experienced humanitarians some breathing space and the tools to think, it’s as simple as a new way of viewing ourselves. Ahmed says that his training participants had never thought about humanitarian innovation before – in fact, they had thought that humanitarianism is singularly not innovative. “Now”, he says, “they were able to apply innovation in their own real problems”.

Commemorating the 20th Anniversary of the Canal Hotel bombing in Iraq on this World Humanitarian Day, guest contributor and RedR Associate Trainer Ian Woodmansey reflects upon the profound impact of this event on the humanitarian community.  

This blog was written by guest contributor Ian Woodmansey. Ian is a RedR UK Associate Trainer. You can find him on LinkedIn and Twitter.

We want to honour the memory of those humanitarian workers who lost their lives. The day also, however, serves as a stark reminder of the evolving security risks faced by aid workers. Since that event, security risk management within the humanitarian sector has never been the same.  

In this blog, we will delve into the changes that have taken place over the past two decades, the evolving security landscape, the efficacy of World Humanitarian Day, and the steps we can take to ensure the safety of those who selflessly serve in times of crisis. 

A changing security landscape

22 people lost their lives in the Canal Hotel bombing in Iraq in 2003. The bombing marked a turning point for the humanitarian community’s approach to security risk management, underscoring the vulnerability of aid workers and the pressing need for a comprehensive security framework. 

The landscape of security threats faced by humanitarian organizations has evolved significantly since the Canal Hotel bombing. While traditional risks such as armed conflict, natural disasters, and disease outbreaks persist, new and complex challenges have emerged or grown. Terrorism, cyberattacks, political instability, and the rise of non-state actors have added layers of complexity to the security equation. 

Humanitarian organisations now grapple with the need to adapt. The blending of security and humanitarian action has become imperative, demanding a delicate balance between delivering aid and ensuring the safety of aid workers. 

The sector’s approach has switched from reactive to proactive

Over the past 20 years, there has been a notable shift from a reactive to a proactive approach in addressing security risks. Humanitarian organisations have become more vigilant in assessing potential threats, implementing risk reduction strategies, and providing specialised training for staff operating in high-risk environments. Advancements in technology have played a crucial role, from satellite imagery and geospatial analysis to communication tools and digital security measures. Collaborative efforts between governments, NGOs, and the private sector have further facilitated the sharing of information and resources, contributing to a more coordinated response to security challenges. First the European then the Global InterAgency Security Forum, as well as INSO, have played a central role in improving information sharing and coordination between agencies. 

World Humanitarian Day is an important reminder

World Humanitarian Day serves as a global platform to recognise and celebrate the unwavering dedication of aid workers who risk their lives to alleviate human suffering. It sheds light on the risks they take and raises awareness about the challenges they face. While it may not directly impact the security measures put in place by organisations, it contributes significantly to acknowledging the importance of humanitarian work and fostering a sense of solidarity among people worldwide. 

There are several ways to strengthen safety measures

• Training and Preparedness: Continuous training in security protocols, first aid, and conflict resolution is essential for aid workers operating in high-risk environments. Organisations should prioritise developing specialised training programs that cater to evolving security threats. 
• Collaboration and Information Sharing: Humanitarian organisations must strengthen collaboration with governments, security agencies, and local communities to gather intelligence and exchange information about potential threats. 
• Adaptive Security Strategies: Flexibility and adaptability are crucial. Organisations should constantly evaluate and adjust their security protocols based on changing conditions on the ground. 
• Mental Health Support: Providing psychological support to aid workers exposed to trauma and high-stress environments is paramount. Mental health services should be readily accessible and destigmatised. 
• Technological Innovation: Investing in cutting-edge technology, such as real-time tracking systems and encrypted communication tools, can enhance the safety of aid workers and the effectiveness of their operations. 

The Canal Hotel bombing serves as a sombre milestone. It galvanized the humanitarian community into action, leading to significant advancements in security risk management. 

While challenges persist and the nature of security threats continues to evolve, the unwavering commitment of aid workers remains a beacon of hope. World Humanitarian Day continues to shine a spotlight on their vital contributions. It’s a reminder that there is more to be done to ensure the safety of everyone caught up in humanitarian crisis. In fostering collaboration and embracing innovation, security can advance, rather than hinder work to support affected communities. 

Clean water. Hot food. Safe roads. These are everyday necessities. But for many people, they are still out of reach.

RedR has embarked on an innovative partnership to support humanitarian engineering innovations looking to meet some of these challenges in Uganda. This is in collaboration with the Uganda Institution of Professional Engineers (UIPE) and the College of Engineering, Design, Art and Technology (CEDAT) at Makerere University, and made possible thanks to generous donations from WSP, Ramboll, and The Royal Academy of Engineering.

First, our Humanitarian Skills for Engineers training course strengthened the capacity of engineers in Uganda to lead such a project. Then, participants were awarded a microgrant of £3000 to enable them to practice the new skills acquired in the training, in partnership with a local NGO, for the benefit of a local community. Read on for the transformation brought by four different projects completed across Uganda.

Annet Nsiimire: Clean Energy and new life in Rwamwanja Refugee Settlement

The Rwamwanja Refugee Settlement in South-western Uganda is home to more than 78,000 people. Most are women and children, who have fled over the border from the conflict in North Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Rwamwanja had an urgent need for clean energy. At the Mahani reception centre, residents with specific health issues receive cooked meals. The clean energy system used by the residents was, however, in disrepair and difficult to use.

Annet Nsiimire was able to use her microgrant to bring change. She began a partnership with NGO Advance Africa to renovate twelve cooking stoves at Mahani, allowing the residents to cook with clean energy. The installation also included dimmer switches to allow heat to be regulated, greatly improving the cooking experience.

For Annet, it was a significant priority to empower the women and girls in Rwamwanja to use clean energy. Almost all households sampled in Annet’s community engagement exercise use firewood as a primary fuel, taking women and girls a minimum of two hours per day, every day, to collect. “It takes not less than six hours to collect firewood and get back home”, said one respondent. The women in Rwamwanja explained that in such daily journeys, the women and girls who go risk violent attack and sexual abuse, as well other threats such as snake bites. “Many times”, explained another respondent, “children are abused and beaten by landowners when looking for fuel, which may include agricultural residues and dung. Running away, they are cut by barbed wire.” Another respondent revealed that “the energy crisis is worse for refugees, because trees in settlement zones are marked, and no refugee is allowed to cut any tree. Members of the host community cut them.”

“Collection and use of fuels is a life-threatening activity”, says Annet. The use of clean energy, however, liberates women and girls from this dangerous daily labour, which causes conflict and degrades the environment. Annet has already seen the impact of repairing the clean energy stoves.

“Immediately after the project,” she says, “new arrivals came in, two mothers among them and gave birth. Because of the easy access to clean fuel, it was very easy to fix quick meals and access warm water to bathe the newborn babies. When I heard of this it was really fulfilling to my heart. Our project was making a difference in the community, supporting the babies’ first moments along with their mothers at such a significant time.”

Annet is now a Trainer on the Humanitarian Skills for Engineers course, passing on her skills and experience to new cohorts of humanitarian engineers, and multiplying the impact of her expertise.

Oryem John Speke: Access and empowerment in Iyer Communities

The rural access road to the Iyer village communities in Agago District, Northern Uganda, is often submerged. During the rainy season, residents are forced to travel an extra ten kilometres for basic services. No vehicles reach them. Humanitarian Skills for Engineers participant Oryem John Speke met members of the Organisation for African Social Development (OASD) at a RedR UK event in Kampala. With RedR UK microgrant funding, they planned a project to install culverts and drainage systems under the road, to transform the lives of people in the three Iyer village communities.

Previous culverts installed to draw water away from the road were not effective – they had been laid as part of political campaigns, without professional guidance. John’s team reinstalled this old material, along with a new bridge, so that the way to markets, employment opportunities, and health and education facilities would never be cut off by floodwater. The new culverts were tried and tested during the rainy season in April and May, where they swept away flash flood water without affecting the new bridge or the road.

Mobilising the community made the project a success. John and the dedicated OASD team collaborated tirelessly, engaging local and district leaders, stakeholders, and community members with the right message. “There has been an increase in the community’s awareness of their role in community development”, says John. The people of Iyer were mobilised to provide local resources, including finance, tools, and labour. “The project has also promoted unity in the community”.

A significant achievement was the participation of women and girls. John took care to ensure they contributed to the decision-making process and planning, as well as implementation. “I helped them to know that they can do anything the men do, from setting out project site and masonry, to clearance of the site, and the reinstatement of the environment”, shares John. “I had to give them opportunities to show what they are capable of”. 20 women and girls worked on the installation of the project. “Thus,” explains John, “women have come to learn and participate in the community at large, and they are seen as valuable. When it started, people in the community would say that women cannot do this job. But during implementation phase, they were seeing the benefits!”

The Iyer communities still face many challenges, including the most pressing – no access to safe water during dry seasons. OASD has introduced a social development plan to community members. They will continue to work with them in the coming months, opening an office at Iyer Tekulo to implement more life-changing projects.

John and OASD have already jointly written a proposal for water supply, irrigation, and a solar powered water pump, and they are now looking for a sponsor to help provide clean water year-round for the whole Iyer community, as well as installing additional culverts for other access roads.

Swaib Semiyaga: Water and welcome at Rhino Camp Refugee Settlement

Rhino Camp Refugee Settlement in Madi-Okollo, northwestern Uganda, houses more than 130,000 refugees. Most of them have fled conflict in South Sudan.

Engineer Swaib Semiyaga, a Humanitarian Skills for Engineers participant, used a RedR UK microgrant to bring change for new arrivals to the settlement, partnering with the Arua District Water and Sanitation Association (ADWASA).

Two refugee reception centers in the Rhino Camp Settlement did not have easy-to-use handwashing points. Swaib explains, “a WASH project in a refugee setting requires regular maintenance to ensure that channel blockages and leakages are worked on. Pipes and valves are always vandalized.”

Working with ADWASA, Swaib coordinated the installation of four new water points, with reduced energy needs from previous models. The ease-of-use system eliminates valves at the user end point. They have improved the handwashing practice in the reception centres, encouraging new arrivals to use the taps in a safe and non-destructive way. 

The team’s vision is to expand this successful initiative to other humanitarian settings, enabling more communities to benefit from improved WASH practices. Through their dedication and innovation, they have proven that small changes can make a big difference in transforming lives in even the most challenging of settings.

Taban Denis: Protection for young girls in Kira, Bweyogerere

In the heart of Wakiso district, engineer Taban Denis partnered with the Teenage Mothers and Child Support Foundation (TMCSF), to bring about a life-changing project – the construction of a community spring well.

This initiative aimed not only to provide safe water for thousands of households, but also to protect girls from teenage pregnancies and child marriages.

Prior to the project, the local community relied on a shallow and contaminated ponded spring for their water needs. The spring was often polluted by runoff surface water during rainy seasons, and littered with plastic. For 3,500 households, this meant compromising their health and well-being on a daily basis.

Joining humanitarian and engineering expertise, these projects have assisted communities to respond to disaster and prepare for upcoming risks. Affected communities are empowered to safeguard their local environment, their health, and their economic prospects.

Could you help bring basic provision to transform communities around the world? Give to RedR UK here, or contact fundraising@redr.org.uk to enquire about how you can support us.

If you’re interested in developing your skills, get in touch at training@redr.org.uk or browse our open courses here.

This article contains elements that may be distressing. 

In mid-March, soon after the February earthquake, we sent our Emergency Response Coordinator Mohammed Bashein to Türkiye.

He accompanied the Earthquake Engineering Field Investigation Team (EEFIT), from the Institution of Structural Engineers, on a research trip to earthquake sites. Mohammed spent ten days with the team as they carried out their research into structural, infrastructural, geotechnic, and humanitarian work that is required. 

For RedR, this was an opportunity to understand the situation on the ground first hand, to inform our ongoing response. “Humanitarians always talk about serving populations,” says Mohammed. “But if we only operate from siloes, ivory towers, and computer screens many miles away we won’t really know or understand.” Insights from the trip have been invaluable in informing our Learning Needs Assessment, freely available to all working in this context.  

Coordination saves lives, and this trip has helped us make more connections. We’re looking forward to bridging the humanitarian and engineering sectors in the region to build a coordination group. We have good connections, for instance, with engineer syndicates in Syria, and we’re also part of the Shelter cluster. We can use our positionality to connect them. 

How can this trip inform ongoing conversations about capacity, power, and privilege? Here, Mohammed shares his reflections and insights.

What was it like to be on the ground? 

“I’ve been to Türkiye many times before, and some of the culture and politics overlaps with Libya, where I’m from. My personal experience in Libya gave me some insight. In the 2019 conflict in Tripoli, my house burnt down, so I had a lot of empathy for how damage affects people’s lives first hand. In each storey of those damaged buildings, you can see a life.

Do any interactions with people you met there stick in your mind? 

“One of our first conversations was with an elder, fixing and building some tents. I greeted him.  

“‘Hi uncle, I hope you and your family are well. I thank God for your safety.’ Lots of people needed to hear that kind of thing. On the night of the earthquake, he had taken his daughter to another city for routine medical treatment. When he returned to a ruined house, he couldn’t get a tent from the government. Someone else had given these to him. He told us that being from Syria undermines you. ‘We’re not a high priority’, he said. ‘But I’m thankful my family are safe, and people help us’. He insisted we stay and have coffee with him.” 

“On another occasion, an elder lady asked us to see her home, even though we explained that we could not carry out any government assessments. She and her four sons were from Syria, but they had been renting this now partially collapsed house for ten years. I tried to give her some psychosocial support. Standing in her courtyard, next to her collapsed house, I told her I recognised her pain. People in this part of the world always pray for you as you speak. ‘I know you can’t do anything’, she said, ‘but you entered my heart. I hope to meet again in better circumstances.’ She said her daughters-in-law could make us some lunch. The moment made me realise the number of shocks these people have been through. I wasn’t sure if I was seeing resilience, or numbness.”  

“Another woman asked us to see her house, although authorities had already told her it must be demolished. I tried to manage her expectations. I didn’t have the authority nor the capacity to assess its structural integrity, and her house had a lot of cracks. She told us she came every day just to be near it. I know from my experience in Tripoli that feeling, of trying to figure out where to start.”

The earthquake has now completely fallen out of the news cycle here in the UK. What are your thoughts about the ongoing need? How can we make a difference? 

Even if you are on the wrong side of those linguistic and cultural barriers, anyone who wants to do good can find a way. It’s a matter of recognising your positionality, including from a socio-historical perspective. Be aware of how you see people, and how they see you.  

“The needs are still there, and there is lots to be done. Many of us are privileged to be in parts of the world, where these are not our problems. That gives us a responsibility to try and mobilise resources.  

In my conversations with friends in the UK, I see that people are very interested to know what’s happening and donate. They want to make an impact. They just want to know how.”