When the Taliban ramped up their offensive in May 2021, there were few indicators that it would lead to an immediate collapse of the Western-backed Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, the multi-trillion-dollar project of the last twenty years. Unlike past…
This year’s International Women’s Day seeks to ‘break the bias’, moving past biases and stereotypes to create a world that recognises, involves and enables women to succeed. This is critical for effective humanitarian security risk management. Men and…
Humanitarian programmes have been forced to slow down and adjust to staff and resource shortages while adhering to COVID-19 guidelines. Balancing Duty of Care procedures and differing lockdown measures across international, national, and regional contexts has proven difficult for…
What is resilience? Resilience is a term that is increasingly used in the humanitarian sector, whether in relation to security risk management (SRM), staff well-being or business (operational) continuity. However, we rarely discuss what the term actually means. The Oxford…
Over the past few weeks, we have seen increasing pressure by the Ethiopian government on the humanitarian community over the Tigray crisis. This pressure has taken the form of increased checks on staff and new processes and procedures for entering…
Over the last decade, many humanitarian organisations have increasingly used private security providers (PSPs) to manage security risks. Generally, contracted guards posted in front of compounds are the most visible manifestation of this and have become part of the daily…
The OSACO Group Ltd has a network of professional investigators, security/risk professionals and trainers working for clients across the humanitarian and commercial sectors. Most of what we deal with falls into three categories. There are administrative issues…
The global conversation in our sector about race is essential and overdue. Diversity in our global workforces contributes toward our ability to meet our missions, just as surely as healthy employees who are confident in risk mitigation measures do. Every…
A focus on gender and diversity One of GISF’s most notable characteristics is the diversity of experience within its membership. A telling example is Simona Mortolini, who, in her role at Save The Children International, leads a new area…
There is no better opportunity to demonstrate the value of your network than during a time of crisis. In 2021, we’ve again seen disasters and conflicts unfold that significantly impacted our ability to operate and, in some cases, resulted in our…