The President of QRCS, Dr. Mohamed bin Ghanem Al Ali Al Maadheed. Pic: Baher Amin / The Peninsula
With the participation of 96 people, Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) opened yesterday the Global Innovation Meeting in Humanitarian Action at Qatar National Convention Center (QNCC) to discuss with stockholders the innovations which help to enhance the operation of humanitarian and charity works.
The meeting, a three-day event, is being organised by QRCS in collaboration with the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and Solferino Academy.
The opening ceremony was attended by the Director-General of Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD), Khalifa bin Jassim Al Kuwari; President of QRCS, Dr. Mohamed bin Ghanem Al Ali Al Maadheed; Secretary-General, Ali bin Hassan Al Hammadi, and Chief Executive Director at QRCS, Eng. Ibrahim Abdullah Al Malik.
Addressing the opening ceremony, the President of QRCS said that one of the objectives of the meeting was to exchange ideas and insights on innovation in humanitarian work, and reviewed the challenges in this area, pointing out in a related context that humanitarian institutions are currently under a great deal of pressure, which creates a clash between management and activists.
“Innovation is part of the business. It is understood that you can take risks by introducing new technology that may work and may not, and that can be later developed. What about the humanitarian dimensions. I have been in Qatar Red Crescent for around 20 years,” said Al Maadheed.
He said that the problem with activists is discipline. “You want to go to the field and do many things. They have the spirit, which is a good thing. It is part of learning. Some of it will be useful, but it is not a systematic kind of approach to humanitarian action,” he added.
He said that now, humanitarian organizations are under a lot of pressure, so those in the management clash with the activists, it is a very difficult issue how to make the balance between empowerment and governance.
Shaun Hazeldine, Head of Innovation at IFRC said: This is the fourth time we hold a global innovation meeting. We held the first one three years ago in Denmark. With only 20 people attending. So, it has grown largely over the years. This reflects a kind of shift within the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement and recognition of the need to make things differently.” He said that the world is rapidly changing. “We live in a world that is dynamic and changing very rapidly. This is the biggest humanitarian network in the world, with 450,000 staff, some 13-14 million volunteers, and 160 branches,” said Hazeldine.
“We are here because we have to decide on what to change. I hope the coming couple of days will be a chance to talk to each other, to share your experiences, and to tell people what is going well as well as what is not going well. We are all in trouble. We all have troubles, just as we all have successes,” he added.
