Aidex 2023 | Duty of Care Pavilion

GISF is excited to be participating in this year’s AidEx, a global humanitarian aid conference and exhibition occurring from 25 to 26 October in Geneva, Switzerland. Working with our affiliate International Location Safety (ILS) at their Duty of Care Pavillion, we are co-curating an exciting ‘conference within a conference’; offering a thought-provoking, educational, and inspiring agenda of discussion panels, workshops, and case studies on duty of care and security risk management. Executive Director Jon Novakovic and Deputy Director Heather Hughes are leading several sessions.

GISF are also hosting a collaborative networking and peer-support space, providing access to thought leaders and consultants who are pushing forward the duty of care agenda in the sector.

We encourage you to register for AidEx, visit our stand (G6/a), and attend as many Duty of Care conference sessions as you can!

Planned sessions at the Duty of Care Pavilion include:

Day 1: 25 October

• Opening Panel – Looking to the future of integrated Duty of Care for the humanitarian and development sector (11:00-12:00). A panel of industry leaders will consider the future direction of the duty of care agenda in the humanitarian and development sector. The panel will consider how staff care will be managed in changing legal and funding contexts.
•  Panel – Developing a person-centred approach to Duty of Care (12:00-13:00). The panel will consider how organisations can develop a person-centred approach to duty of care management that considers the varying work duties and personal vulnerabilities of all its workforce.
• Workshop – Navigating the impact of humanitarian work: Pathways to thriving (13:30-14:30). This workshop will explore some of the psychosocial risks of humanitarian and development work such as secondary trauma, moral injury and compassion fatigue, and will look at how staff can thrive in impossibly difficult circumstances
• Interview – In conversation with Steve Dennis (14:30-15:15). Following his own ground-breaking court case, Steve Dennis has dedicated himself to supporting aid workers who have suffered injury at work. He helps them navigate the ‘recovery maze’, identifying personal goals, mobilizing essential resources and working with professionals such as psychotherapists, doctors, and lawyers. In this live onstage interview, Steve will talk to Heather about some of many cases he has supported and will consider the priorities for NGOs as they work with their staff affected by insecurity and violence.
• Case study – Lessons from Ukraine: Integrated Staff Care in Conflict (15:30-16:30). This case study delivered by the FCDO Humanitarian and Stabilisation Operations Team (HSOT) managed by Palladium, will showcase lessons learned in delivering a comprehensive duty of care programme in a complex conflict setting.
• Roundtable – Navigating the linkages between staff safety & safeguarding (16:20-17:30). This session will examine the linkages between safeguarding and security. What happens when a safeguarding incident becomes a security concern, and how should that be managed?

Day 2: 26 October 

• Panel – Employment risk management (10:00-11:00). This session will provide insights into sourcing, screening and selection of talent; navigating thorny issues from nepotism, artificial intelligence to CV fraud and hostile infiltration.
• Workshop – Benchmarking Integrated Duty of Care: how well are you doing? (11:00-12:00) This workshop will examine how to benchmark your duty of care against legal and best practice standards, from the perspective of policy and practice.
• Roundtable – State of Practice: evolution of security risk management (12:00-13:00) . Presenting a joint research project by GISF, Humanitarian Outcomes and ODI HPN. This project has reviewed SRM challenges and responses across the humanitarian sector to identify the latest best practice and innovations. The forthcoming report will be published jointly, and its finding used to inform the sector and for a planned revision of the GPR (Good Practice Review 8: Operational Security Management in Violent Environments). This session will provide participants with a final opportunity for input into the report.
• Panel – Digitisation: Combatting misinformation, disinformation & cyber breaches (13:30-14:30). This session will introduce lessons learned about misinformation and disinformation, the impact they have on aid and development programmes, and effective ways of countering their effects.
• Surgery – The power of peer support (14:30-15:45). This session will tap into the experience and expertise of our community to get advice on your own specific Duty of Care challenges.

You can find the full Aidex agenda here.