'Can international humanitarian organisations adapt to face the challenges of this century?' with Yves Daccord

Past Event

Date
 06 March 2023, 5:00pm - 6:15pm

Location
 Oxford Martin School & Online
34 Broad Street (corner of Holywell and Catte Streets), Oxford, OX1 3BD

Event Recording:

The history of humanitarianism is one of vulnerabilities, power, mobilisation and adaptation.

This has been true since humanitarian aid became an industry in its own right and continues to be so today.

The reaffirmed sovereignty of states, the zero risk practices of the major donors, and the rapidly changing needs and expectations of people and communities affected by wars and disasters are all challenges to the relevance of international humanitarian action. From Kiev to Damascus, from Bamako to New York, the adaptation of the humanitarian organisations will have to be radical. Join Yves Daccord, Executive Chairman of the Edgelands Institute & Former CEO of the International Committee of the Red Cross, as he asks 'is that still possible?'.

Daccord Yves

Yves Daccord
Executive Chairman of the Edgelands Institute & Former CEO of the International Committee of the Red Cross

Yves Daccord is a renowned humanitarian leader, international strategist, influencer and changemaker. Yves is currently leading the first-ever Harvard’s Pop-Up Institute – the Edgelands Institute - to imagine the terms of new social contracts that work for cities and people in the age of pandemics and digital surveillance. Yves also co-chairs the #Principles4Peace initiative to reshape peace processes around the world and chairs the Board of the leading Swiss newspaper LeTemps, the board of International Human Rights Film Festival of Geneva and the board of Our Common Home, an organisation that promotes civic participation to build solutions to our changing natural environment. Yves is member of the Board of Trustees of ODI a leading global affairs think tank working to inspire people to act on injustice and inequality, and of the board of Trial International working towards fighting impunity for international crimes and supporting victims in their quest for justice.

From 2010 – March 2020 Yves was Director-General of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), a global humanitarian organisation employing 20,000 staff. A former journalist, TV producer and international relations expert, his ICRC career spanned more than two decades in a variety of posts and challenging contexts – including Israel and the Occupied Territories, Sudan, Yemen, Chechnya and Georgia.

Yves holds a degree in political science and an honorary doctorate in social sciences from the University of St. Gallen, awarded in 2017.