Now Available-Recording of the NRC Study Launch Event on COVID-19 Financing

If you missed the PHAP and NRC online launch event that happened on 15 September, you can now access both the video and audio recordings of the event. 

On 15 September, PHAP together with the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) organized a launch event to introduce a “think piece” study looking at what can be learned from how the response to COVID-19 has been financed – even though the pandemic and our response to it are still in an early stage. To launch this study and to help stimulate reflection and debate on the future of humanitarian financing, the webinar presented the main findings and recommendations emerging from the study. This set the stage for a panel discussion on the role and fitness of the existing humanitarian financing structure and on how the recommendations from the study might be aligned with pre-existing donor commitments.

The starting point of the webinar was an overview of the study and its findings with one of the main authors, Lydia Poole. In the following panel discussion, themes from the study were discussed by the panelists. Jan Egeland, the Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, started out the discussions by speaking on how the pandemic has illuminated gaps in crisis financing, and called for increased preparedness and timely financing mechanisms that can adapt to immediately meet increased needs. 
Mark Lowcock, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, spoke on anticipatory financing and how the current problem is disproportionate funding and not the lack of knowledge on how to tackle funding issues. The Director of the NEAR Network, Hibak Kalfan, underlined the need for donors to focus on a diverse ecosystem for localized funding mechanisms, more specificity with grantees, risk sharing and better collaboration, innovative financing solutions, and reclaiming of local NGOs within this collective ecosystem. 

Participants also got a chance to hear from Ben Parker, the Senior Editor at The New Humanitarian. He highlighted a need for crisis financing to have a greater recognition and emphasis on the roles and concepts of justice, neutrality, political engagement, and solidarity in the humanitarian space as the non-profit sector navigates inequality, climate issues, racial injustice and other forms of inequality and oppression. Susanne Mikhail, the Head of Humanitarian Aid, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) spoke on flexible funding and Sida's role in crisis financing in humanitarian operations. She highlighted the program-based approach (PBA), and the rapid response mechanism as the strongest tools in Sida’s flexible financing.  

If you missed this event, you can now access video recordings and audio podcasts versions of the session on the event page.

You can also access the NRC report: Make or break – the implications of COVID-19 for crisis financing on the event page.