WHFtalks Issue 11

Feraye Thumbnail

November 2020

Dear all,

As the CEO of the World Humanitarian Forum, it falls to me the task of closing this year’s last WHF Talks issue. A wrap-up issue of this turbulent year is an exercise of sobriety, of awareness and ponderance, with an underlying question: are we on the right track? In other words, it is easier said than done.

It is the moment of self-reflection, our achievements, and hopes. At the same time, it is also an opportunity to consider the reset of international priorities that has evolved and will continue to do so in the foreseeable future. Our progression at WHF through this difficult year, including how we have adapted to new ways of connecting our community while advocating for the humanitarian and development agendas and building or strengthening relationships.

I want to set the tone, with both feet on the ground, of conservative optimism. Not because of where we are in terms of what the international community needs to achieve - we have to be open to say that we are very far from delivering on the Sustainable Development Goals, but rather for the willingness and humanity showed despite so much adversity and struggle.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caught all of us off-guard, what started as a “few months of restrictions” quickly became a restructuring of convenings around the globe. Has this presented a challenge? Most certainly, it also allowed us to evolve, to be innovative, and take new paths. As a result, as the world changed, our portfolio grew with it.

The World Humanitarian Forum’s mission remains in the commitment of championing cross-sector dialogue. We still believe that when the storm passes, people will still want to meet face to face and shake hands, as it symbolises our unity and purpose and our sense of community that makes us who we are. We have, however, simultaneously learned that there are uncharted waters that can be navigated quite successfully. Therefore, I invite and compel all of you to delve into all the content we produced this year.

In this wrap-up edition of WHFtalks, we release the culmination of the work of our side stage during our digital summit, with 10 white papers on a multitude of topics derived from the discussions that took place during our Roundtables at the New York Digital Summit. A retrospective of our digital convening that happened in September, a look at the 144 distinguished speakers in attendance, the topics that formed our agenda and the outcomes that will drive us forward; and an article that puts our WHF portfolio and the World on rewind.

I cannot end this note any other way but in a tone of gratitude and appreciation for our advisory board, our partners - former and current - and our community, who have been patient and constructive about our changes and who have adapted with us, making us strive to do more and better to serve humanity and shape the future for a better tomorrow.

I sincerely hope you enjoy this issue and stay with us in the new year to come.

Feraye Ozfescioglu

CEO, WHF

Feature: Retrospective 2020

As Albert Einstein said “in the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity”, and so we had to soldier on to make lemonade out of lemons. We are under no illusion about the individual and collective hardships that everyone faced this year and, most of all, that some are more vulnerable and more affected than others. This year we hosted our first-ever digital event alongside the UNGA 75. Here is a look back at the good, the bad, and the awesome of WHF Digital Summit 2020.

WATCH HERE

White Papers

The WHF White Papers were created to summarise and find main points of agreement throughout WHF New York Digital Summit which took place on the 22nd and 23rd of September 2020. In these white papers, we introduce the issues discussed during the session, noting key quotes from each speaker and importantly noting how to overcome major challenges faced by the sector.

READ HERE

Youth Council

We are proud to announce some of the members of our Youth Council. We are joined by EY Foundation, Ariel Foundation, OYW, Future Leaders Network, which will be part of the group that will drive our youth agenda forward to shape the future for a better tomorrow.
READ MORE

WHF London: 19- 20 May 2021

With an eye to the not so distant future, come be a part of a hybrid experience of a virtual and physical meeting on our LARGEST stage to date! Book a stand today in one of the exhibitions of the portfolio or register for WHF main stage conversations!
BOOK HERE

Innovation Fund

Our call for action to all innovators and donor partners to join forces. WHF London 2021 will be a pitching stage for innovators to engage and build solutions for a more sustainable future.

READ MORE

A look back at 2020- WHF and the World in Rewind

As we finish the year off, we would like to highlight the content, the partnerships, the convenings we had and the issues that touched our community this past year. Our intention is to find areas of commonality and put a way forward through our vision, expectations and a call to action for next year. In the last year we’ve implemented numerous programmes, most notably our Digital Series which has hosted 10 webinars, 10 podcasts and 10 editions of WHF Talks. Through this we have engaged over 40 different speakers from organisations ranging from IFRC and WFP to Women for Women International, UNICEF, Vodafone Foundation and Mastercard, showing the diversity of organisations we aim to engage with.
READ HERE

WHFtalks Issue 11