PHAP Congress
The primary objective of the World Congress on Humanitarian Assistance and Protection (WCHAP) is to offer a platform for informal exchanges among professionals engaged in humanitarian assistance and protection across organizational affiliations. By fostering such informal professional exchanges, the first WCHAP illustrates the core mission of the International Association of Professionals in Humanitarian Assistance and Protection (PHAP) within the humanitarian community as an independent forum for global sophisticated conversations among professionals on humanitarian assistance and protection.
WCHAP is centered on the interests and perspectives of individual professionals active in this domain, creating a privileged space for peer exchanges on standards and methods to address humanitarian challenges. The preliminary preparations of the agenda for the first WCHAP are already taking place in the form of a series of Regional Roundtable discussions with practitioners around the world. The first WCHAP will be open to members and nonmembers of PHAP. The results of these exchanges will be collected in a series of PHAP papers presenting the observations and various recommendations from each professional panel to be posted on PHAP website after the conference. The WCHAP will also provide an opportunity to humanitarian agencies, academic institutions, and private actors to present their activities and services in this field in a dedicated exhibit hall and conference website.
A critical aspect of the WCHAP will be the dual character of the Congress, as both a traditional conference, taking place over two and a half days onsite, as well as a full-featured online event engaging PHAP members at the global level. The online Congress will mirror as much as possible the agenda and features of the onsite meetings, where most of the panel discussions and side events will be broadcast live and deferred on the WCHAP web conferencing site. Equally, those participating online will be able to engage remotely to WCHAP onsite activities by downloading preparatory material, connecting to live discussions and recorded sessions, submitting live or advanced questions to panels, chatting with participants through relevant platforms, and, in some cases, joining as remote panelists “from the field.” Overall, participants registering for the online conference will have a similar status as those participating onsite in terms of sharing and networking of experience.
For more information on the PHAP World Congress, please contact PHAP Member Relations Associate Lena Zimmer.