2020 GeOng Forum
Roundtable: The role of language for data-driven humanitarian action
Tuesday 3 November 2020 | 16:00  - 17:30 CET
Register here

Language diversity, long underrated in humanitarian contexts, is emerging as an essential component of effective community engagement. Links between vulnerability, accountability, and language are increasingly recognised. Yet, data on the languages affected people speak and understand is largely unavailable to organisations to inform communication strategies. Language barriers further hamper organisations’ ability to understand people’s needs, capacities, and concerns and respond accordingly. Without accessible and reliable data, organisations default to potentially unsafe assumptions that hinder the effectiveness and reach of community engagement efforts.

• What is the learning from evidence and practice to date on the impact of the language data gap?
• What tangible actions and new partnerships can fill this critical data gap?
• How can this be done in line with good data collection and processing measures?

With the aim of answering such questions, this session will bring together a diverse panel of organisations to share good practices developed and learning acquired on multilingual data collection and language data use. Drawing on experiences in a range of responses, including the COVID-19 response, they will explore the relevance of language for better data-driven humanitarian action. Following a round of presentations, participants will be invited to contribute with experiences and questions for an interactive conversation.

With the participation of Eric DeLuca from Translators without Borders, Nayana Das from IMPACT Initiatives, David Okutu from Mercy Corps Nigeria and Chloe Sydney from IDMC. This session will be facilitated by Mia Marzotto from Translators without Borders.

Find more info here. 

Online presentation and Q&A on the Words into Action Guidelines on Disaster Displacement
How to reduce risk, address impacts and strengthen resilience
recorded at the Occasion of the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction

Tuesday 13 October 2020 | 14:00-15:00 CEST 
Watch the recording here. 

Held every 13 October, the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction (IDDRR) celebrates how people and communities around the world are reducing their exposure to disasters and raising awareness about the importance of reining in the risks that they face. In 2020, the focus of the IDDRR is on Target (E) of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 (Sendai Framework): ‘Substantially increase the number of countries with national and local disaster risk reduction strategies by 2020’. With a focus on “It’s all about governance”, the IDDRR is an apt opportunity to explore the integration of disaster displacement considerations into disaster risk reduction (DRR) policy and practice, as a means to improve risk governance. This online event will identify key issues related to disaster displacement and the tools available to address displacement risk in DRR strategies towards the achievement of Target (E).

Programme 

14:00-14:05 
Welcome and setting the context: an online presentation and Q&A on a tool developed for DRR practitioners to address disaster displacement. 
Moderator: Sarah Koeltzow, Policy Officer, PDD Secretariat

14:05-14:10
What is disaster displacement? 
Bina Desai, Head of Policy and Research, IDMC

14:10-14:15
What can DRR actors do about disaster displacement? 
Ezekiel Simperingham, Asia Pacific Regional Migration and Displacement Coordinator, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)

14:15-14:20
Why do we talk about disaster displacement at International DRR Day focusing on Target E? 
Animesh Kumar, Deputy Chief of UNDRR Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific

14:20-14:25
Which global tools other than the Sendai Framework address disaster displacement? 
Atle Solberg, Head of the Secretariat, PDD

14:25-14:30
Which tools are available for DRR actors to address disaster displacement? 
Silvi Llosa, Consultant, NRC

14:30-14:35
What support can interested DRR actors obtain to implement these tools? 
Nina Birkeland, Senior Adviser on Disaster Displacement and Climate Change, NRC

14.35-14.40
How does it look like at the regional level, to implement the WiA on disaster displacement? 
Juan Carlos Méndez, PDD Regional Adviser for the Americas and the Caribbean

14:45-14:55 
Answers to frequent questions submitted before the session by interested stakeholders and/or submitted during the session via the Q&A box

14:55-15:00
Wrap Up and Closing

Find more info here. 

World Data Forum session 

Watch the session on the World Data Forum’s website from Monday 12 October

Join the live Q&A discussion on Thursday 15 October at 14:00 BST / 15:00 CEST

The world has united around the pledge to ‘leave no one behind’, yet for many children this is not a reality, especially during the current COVID-19 pandemic. Vulnerable groups of children, such as those who are internally displaced, street-connected, living with disabilities, or in care institutions, have become even more hidden and invisible, and are largely out of reach from data collection and service provision, leaving them even more vulnerable.

Although the circumstances of their lives are very different, these children are united insofar as standard data collection methods, such as household surveys, fail to reach them. The lack of reliable quantitative and qualitative information on them means that not enough is known to make informed policy decisions to improve their lives or to measure the impact of interventions, including during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the context of the pandemic, this means they are not considered in policies designed to halt the spread of the virus or distribute relief to vulnerable groups.

The objectives of this session will be:

1. Draw attention to the exclusion of vulnerable groups of children from data and the implications of this exclusion in the context of COVID-19.
2. Share potential or ongoing initiatives to improve data on these groups.

The presentations cover:

• Internally displaced children and using demographic models to disaggregate data (Christelle Cazabat, IDMC)
• Street children and tailored quantitative and qualitative data collection methods (Lizet Vlamings, CSC)
• Children in alternative care or institutions (Chris Cuthbert, Lumos Foundation).

The presentations will be followed by Q&A with the audience (moderated by Kate Richards, GPSDD).

Side event to the 71st session of the Executive Committee

Friday 9 October 2020 | 13:30 - 14:45 CEST

Climate-induced displacement is a harsh reality for millions of people and impacts communities and individuals differently. Referring to recent reports from non-governmental organisations, this side event will highlight the need for building the evidence base on the links between environmental degradation and displacement, drawing specific attention to displacement caused by droughts in Somalia and southern Iraq. On the subject of increasing community resilience, one panellist will highlight gender transformative approaches towards achieving more durable solutions. Findings and recommendations will be discussed with UNHCR, member States and other stakeholders.

Moderated by Ms. Loise Daï Rocheteau, Policy Officer, ICVA

Speakers:

• Mr. Sven Harmeling, Global Policy Lead, Climate Change and Resilience, CARE International
• Mr. Pablo Ferrández, Research Associate, Internal Displacement Monitoring Center
• Mr. Roger Guiu, Co-Director, Social Inquiry

This side event will be held entirely virtual and in English only.

Please RSVP by Wednesday 7 October 18:00 to: secretariat@icvanetwork.org
(The connection link will be provided to registered participants an hour before the start of the event.)

Flyer available here. 

Friday 9 October 2020 | 10:00 - 16:30 BST / 11:00 - 17:30pm CEST

This one-day webinar, organised by the UCL Humanitarian Institute, will bring together scientists and policy-makers from South Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Pacific Islands to explore the ongoing debates on the patterns of human mobility in the face of anthropogenic climate change.
 

Workshop programme 
(In British Summer Time)

10:00 – 10:30  Conference digital platform login on Zoom
10:30 – 10:40 Welcome Speech by Professor Peter Sammonds, Director, UCL IRDR 
10:40 – 12:00 Panel Discussion 1: Disaster-displacement and Climate Migration in South Asia (Moderator: Professor Saleemul Huq)
12:00 – 13:00 In-conversation with Professor Ilan Kelman (Moderator: Christopher Gunness)
13:00 – 14:00  Lunch break
14:00 – 15:00 Keynote Speech by Dr. Kanta Kumari Rigaud, the World Bank Group (Moderator: Dr. Bayes Ahmed)
15:00 - 16:20  Panel Discussion 2: Climate Migration in Latin America and Africa (Moderator: Dr. Bryan Jones)
16:20 - 16:30  Closing Remarks by Dr. Bayes Ahmed
 

IDMC's Head of Policy and Research, Bina Desai, will be participating in the first panel discussion. 

More information available here.