What is the HFP?

Answer: The HFP is a humanitarian catalyst.  We try to challenge people to think differently.   We’re very good at challenging the orthodox.

Is the HFP just an academic indulgence?

Answer:No.   Put it this way - it’s like science itself.  It’s not that the Wright brothers invented the plane. They just got there ahead of the others.  Similarly many people are concerned about strategic capacities and about getting organisations to think differently.  What we’re doing is creating and extending general awareness that the systems we had left in the 20th Century for dealing with humanitarian crises, are systems  we still have now in the 21st Century and they will not be enough to get us through this century and another.  We’re trying to push that question – are the systems we have now good enough – and we are also pushing the answer – no they’re not.  Is the HFP an academic luxury?  No.  We’ve been caught up in a particular zeitgeist where there are so many people who realise that systems have to change and so, for the humanitarian sector perhaps, we’re the Wright brothers.   But remember, everything we do is for everybody’s use because we’re not promoting our work.  The challenge is far greater than that.  There are tremendous threats as well as opportunities out there and we need to share these.  The HFP is a key part of the spirit of the age.

If the HFP did not exist today what would be missing?

Answer: I’d like to think that more and more we are seeping into the psyche of organisations whom we need to influence.  We are helping them recognise what we need to prepare for and is the way that we’ve always done things adequate for the future.  If we are achieving that clear message, if it is getting into the policy frameworks, into the executive offices and into the operations of organisations around the world, then I think the HFP will have achieved significant gains. We’re saying that if you really take a look at the kind of crises we will face in the future it goes beyond the conventional sector.  It will have to include the corporate community in ways we have not achieved before.  The traditional idea that the corporates being philanthropists and corporate responsibility – all that will have to change and the corporates will have to be humanitarian actors as will the military.  The military are not just about logistics, not just about lift capacity or providing access to people in conflict areas.  We have to look a t the military in the way they strategies, they transform structures in the way they have   surge capacities – all critical in seeing the military in part becoming humanitarian actors.  And it goes beyond that.  We have to look at new networks such as the Diaspora – people who’ve left their homeland to live elsewhere in the world .  They are extraordinary sources of assistance and need to be seen as part of the humanitarian sector.  There is a host of other networks - Hamas, Hezbollah – why not?  Are we concerned about the politics or are we concerned about helping people survive?  These are all potential humanitarian actors.

What specific outcomes and outputs has the HFP produced?

Answer:We have of course produced a Stage One Analysis which can be scrutinised on our website.   Broadly speaking, we’ve created an awareness in the humanitarian sector and with its stakeholders but we must widen that awareness to other audiences.  This awareness was assisted in no small part by climate change where a key message was thrust starkly in front of decision-makers that we are not talking about tomorrow but perhaps catastrophic dangers looming from 2040 and we must start thinking about these dangers now.  With the climate change backdrop our message became less obtuse and we have been able to make more and more people more sensitive to the kinds of issues that the future will hold.  But to reach this point of understanding, all sorts of things have to be thought about in humanitarian and other organisations.  One is the very nature of strategic leadership.

Is HFP about predicting the future?

Answer: No, the Humanitarian Futures Programme is about sensitising organisations with humanitarian responsibilities to what might be. Organisations that will be needed in the future will commit themselves to being more anticipatory and more adaptive. That is to say, they will expend far more effort than they do today to be sensitive to possible threats and ways to overcome them. This approach says two things about such organisations. In the first place, it emphasises that anticipatory organisations are not resting on laurels that may not have relevance for different types of problems and solutions. Secondly it also emphasises that humanitarian organisations will not have the time to prepare for future threats unless they are investing in the sort of adaptive behaviours that will keep them agile and flexible.

Is HFP only for humanitarian organisations?

Answer: HFP is for all organisations that have responsibilities for preventing, preparing for and responding to humanitarian threats. Hence, most organisations that are concerned with development fall clearly within HFP’s purview. So, too, do a growing number of private sector and military establishments that perceive aspects of their roles as humanitarian in intent. Government bodies – both domestic and international – also fall into this grouping; and yes, so do a vast array of non-governmental and international organisations that have extensive experience in the field of humanitarianism.

Is HFP primarily about emergency prevention, preparedness and response?

Answer: The Humanitarian Futures Programme is fundamentally about human vulnerability. The conceptual premise of the programme is that disasters and emergencies are in the final analysis about the ways that societies structure themselves and allocate their resources. Hence, vulnerability reflects a variety of core societal concerns, including governance, equitable economic development and growth. A failure to address these sorts of factors makes human beings more susceptible to the range of hazards that crisis drivers expose.

Does the HFP provide solutions for organisations that want to be more anticipatory and adaptive?

Answer: Well, yes and no… HFP’s aim is to work with a variety of organisations, and in so doing to develop “tools,” approaches and methodologies with each of these “partners.” The programme has no set of pre-prescribed solutions, but finds possible solutions through close collaboration with its partners. Based upon findings and innovations that emerge out of these individual collaborative efforts, HFP intends to provide these lessons, tools, approaches and methodologies by disseminating them through a wide array of networks at national, regional and international levels.

What has the Humanitarian Futures Programme done to date?

Answer: Quite a lot since its inception at the beginning of 2006. It has worked with a large number of international, governmental and non-governmental organisations, including UN Country Teams in the Central African Republic, Ecuador, Philippines, Tajikistan, Venezuela and the Comoros. It has helped organisations such as the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies assess ways to develop future strategies and has begun work with the International Council of Voluntary Agencies on the dimension and dynamics of collaboration in the future. It has begun work with the Economic Community of West African States on future crisis drivers and conflict prevention, and has completed eighteen months of work with USAID/OFDA on ways to enhance strategic thinking within the organisation. In addition it has completed major studies including Dimensions of Crisis Impacts: Humanitarian Needs by 2015,  Responding to Catastrophes: US innovation in a vulnerable world and The Waters of the Third Pole. There has been considerable progress in HFP’s Futures Group, with, for example, a series of exchange programmes between climate scientists and humanitarian policy makers.

Most important, however, is that HFP is slowly but steadily putting together a growing number of tools, methodologies and approaches that will help those organisations responsible for humanitarian concerns to be more anticipatory, adaptive and collaborative.

What outputs does the Humanitarian Futures Programme provide, based on its work to date?

Answer: The HFP has produced a number of tools, studies and partner assessment reports that can be seen in the Resources Section. Under the Events section you can also see outputs from many of the conferences, seminars and workshops the HFP has hosted over the last 3 years.

How does one get involved in the Humanitarian Futures Programme?

Answer: There are various ways to become involved in the Programme. The “participant development” portion of the programme involves full engagement with HFP, including in-depth analysis of individual organisation’s capacities to deal with future humanitarian challenges, implementation of agreed recommendations and monitoring of the impacts of implemented recommendations. If organisations want to get some sense of involvement without committing themselves to full engagement, they can test their anticipatory and adaptive capacities with some of the methodology found on this website. Further information can be obtained from HFP directly about how this “virtual involvement” could be of use. Alternatively many organisations are principally interested in the future perspectives that come from the Programme’s Future Group activities, including seminars and workshops that deal with social and natural scientific findings that could be of assistance to humanitarian policy-makers and practitioners. There are various ways to become involved in the Humanitarian Futures Programme. It’s worth a telephone call to find out how.

How much does it cost to participate in the Humanitarian Futures Programme?

Answer: Cost depends upon the ways that organisations wish to engage with HFP. Attending the seminar series or most of the workshops costs nothing. Similarly using the methodology found on the website also is free. The cost for fuller engagement, however, depends upon the amount of time and the types of involvement in the organisation agreed between HFP and a partner. Even extensive engagement may involve costs that can be covered by HFP donors. Here, again, the question deserves a phonecall.

From where does the Humanitarian Futures Programme draw its technical capacity?

Answer: HFP combines highly experienced development and humanitarian practitioners with leading social and natural scientists from a wide range of sectoral disciplines. It draws upon the expertise of consultancy firms as well as the corporate and military sectors that offer their respective expertise to support HFP, its partners and the objectives which HFP pursues. There is no set combination of HFP expert missions and teams. Each team and mission is determined by the nature of the issues which defines its engagement with its partners.