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Mission and strategy
Mission
As the only individual-based professional association bringing together all parts of the humanitarian sector, PHAP’s mission is to enhance the capacity of the global humanitarian community to respond effectively and professionally to current and future crises.
A key means to this end is to focus on concrete, practical measures to enhance the availability, experiences, skills, competences, professional networks, and both formal and informal support structures of humanitarian personnel at all levels and in all parts of the system.
Strategic areas
PHAP’s four strategic areas of activity are as follows:
Train and develop. Build capacity of professionals to assist and protect affected populations through provision of targeted training events and resources developed in collaboration with leading scientific and policy centers and in coordination with key actors in the sector at both the international and national levels, including humanitarian employers and relevant governments.
Network and support. Cultivate networks and provide tailored information resources and other services to further the professional, social, and personal development of the full diversity of members of the professional humanitarian community, with a particular focus on the needs of professionals in the global South, thereby creating a space for peer‐to‐peer professional exchanges, dialogue, and collaboration in key locations of humanitarian activity as well as across institutions and regions.
Refine and share. Gather experiences, lessons learned, and good practices in a structured and inclusive manner from different parts of the humanitarian sector, in particular from the locations of highest concentration of humanitarian engagement (notably in Africa and Asia), and facilitate conversations among practitioners and agencies to distill these over time into standards of excellence in humanitarian action.
Review and reflect. As a neutral, broad-based association of individuals, offer a neutral space for agencies, governments, and other stakeholders to reflect and exchange views on policy issues affecting the humanitarian sector, particularly those which are most connected to the challenges that individual workers, managers, and leaders face in carrying out their work as professionals in humanitarian assistance and protection, thereby contributing to the design of practice-oriented humanitarian strategies.
Foundations for impact
Individual engagement. As a professional association, an active and engaged professional community is the fundamental basis for PHAP’s development and its ability to successfully pursue its mission and objectives. PHAP engages individuals at all levels, following the best practices of professional associations in other sectors.
Organizational relationships. The ability of PHAP to enhance the capacity of the humanitarian sector also depends on its ability to develop and maintain relationships with agencies and NGOs active in the humanitarian community, as well as with donor and host governments and other stakeholders. PHAP develops and maintains organizational relationships at various levels to ensure the timely and effective design and implementation of its activities, tools, and services.
Getting involved
Are you inspired by the mission of PHAP? Read more about membership in the association and consider joining today.
Does your organization pursue similar or complementary aims? Please contact us to explore how we might work together.