GISF: Protecting People
GISF is committed to achieving sustainable access to populations in need and keeping aid workers safe. We drive positive change in humanitarian security risk management through original research, collaboration and events.
Business Partnership Programme
As a business, you know that looking after your people is your number one priority, wherever they are.
We share that priority.
We are experts in putting people front and centre. Our job is to safeguard the physical and psychological well-being of the thousands of people delivering humanitarian aid in the most high-risk countries in the world.
In 2022, 444 aid workers were victims of major attacks, with 116 killed, 143 injured, and 185 kidnapped.
In 2024, an estimated 235 million people were in need of humanitarian assistance and protection. This represents a significant increase on previous years. For instance, in 2024 more than 1 in 73 people were forcibly displaced, a ratio which has almost doubled in the past ten years.
By joining our Business Partnership Programme you can help keep aid workers safe while they deliver support to meet the needs of millions of vulnerable people, and you can use our resources and expertise to guide the safety of your own people.
About GISF
Watch this short video to learn more about GISF.
GISF is a global membership network with over 130 member organisations who have over 450,000 employees working in 130 countries. Some of our members are household name charities, some you may not have heard of.
Our membership is growing because the need for increased security and expertise is growing. We are seeking new member organisations in the Americas, Africa and Asia.
We are a global research and technology-driven centre of excellence for humanitarian security risk management.
We have 18 years of member engagement and research that informs our training and guides, which we use to ensure best practice on inclusive, people-centred, security for aid workers.
Our approach embraces diversity and the interconnected nature of disadvantage, including race, gender, age, sexual orientation, and religion.
Put simply, we look after aid workers while they are helping people in need. We facilitate immediate on-the-ground support, backed up by timely expert research.
We help organisations prevent, prepare for, and recover from security incidents such as assault, shootings, and kidnappings.
We are an independent, effective, and trusted member-led network of security experts.
We collaborate with everyone including companies, government and academia.
Some of the things we do
GISF_Online Chat: member channels to share information during acute crises. Below is a screenshot of our members sharing valuable information with one another to stay up to date on the latest developments during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Workshops, webinars and roundtables on topics including misinformation and disinformation, the convergence of digital and physical security, how the FBI manages international hostage incidents, and more. We also host sessions on security challenges in specific contexts, such as Gaza and Haiti. Following our events, we make the recordings and notes available to our members and subscribers.
Our online resource library is an internationally recognised knowledge-sharing platform on security risk management.
Original Research on topics such as The Evolution of Security Risk Management in the Humanitarian Space (January 2024), The Intersection of Physical and Digital Risks in humanitarian security (January 2024), and The Unique Challenges Affecting Security Risk Management in Urban Humanitarian Responses (December 2023).
Podcasts: topics include increased global vulnerability compounded by climate change and digital security in the humanitarian space.
Our 130+ members include large and small organisations working in 130 countries.
Our members work on the world’s most urgent global social and environmental issues and between them contribute to all of the United Nations’s Sustainable Development Goals.
By joining our Business Partnership Programme you can:
- help to safeguard the 450,000 people working for over 130 organisations focused on addressing the world’s most urgent social and environmental problems, and;
- use our people-centric resources to safeguard your own people, assess your own global security risks, and help your company to engage responsibly in the furthest reaches of where you work.
We will provide you with:
- access to our research and occasional webinars on a diverse range of security issues;
- regular updates that show the impact of the work you’ve enabled;
- speakers for your employee meetings or other events;
- access to a scenario-based hostile environment day, a taster to help staff understand the challenges and risks aid workers may face in difficult environments, and;
- the GISF BPP logo to use on your website and in your Annual Report.
What we could do together:
- co-develop a White Paper or research project on a particular area of security risk of interest to our members, and;
- develop and deliver a staff training session using our people-centred inclusive approach to security.
See the full benefits here:
We welcome practical support for our work such as:
- marketing, technology, planning or other expertise;
- help to run events or training for our 130+ member organisations, and;
- co-hosting events with us.
If you’d like to speak about supporting our work, please contact our Deputy Director, Heather Hughes, on heather@gisf.ngo. For more information about us, please see the GISF Terms of Reference.
Stories from a GISF member: Christian Aid
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone is the most dangerous place to give birth in the world. Through a partnership with RADA (Rehabilitation and Development Agency) our member, Christian Aid, is able to provide life-saving maternal health support.
In this photo, Tenneh Boweh brings her 3-month-old baby Ansumana Bangalie for a check up with Nurse Judith Lassie. Tenneh had a traumatic childbirth for her first baby, and sadly the baby died a few months later. But with the help of nurse Judith and a temporary health centre in her village, Tenneh gave birth to a healthy baby.
She says: ‘With the coming of Judith, so many lives have changed. We as mums know that with Judith, as long as we see the light at the end of the tunnel, we’ll be OK.’
What security threats do aid workers face?
In 2024, an estimated 300 million people around the world were in need of humanitarian assistance and protection, due to conflicts, climate emergencies and other drivers. The frontline is not becoming safer, and without support, GISF cannot continue to keep aid workers and their programmes safe. Although this puts vital aid and development work at risk, governments are reluctant to fund support activities, and institutional funding is disappearing.
In 2022, 444 aid workers were victims of major attacks, with 116 killed, 143 injured, and 185 kidnapped.
In March 2024, a logistics coordinator for a US NGO was killed by an airstrike in Gaza. The attack occurred despite the fact that coordinates of his shelter had been provided for the purpose of protecting him.
In February 2024, two humanitarian aid workers were killed and others injured when their vehicle was attacked in Kherson Oblast. The attack came amidst a context of indiscriminate attacks, urban bombardments and the use of explosive weapons in populated areas.
In July 2023, a gunman opened fire on aid workers from the World Food Programme (WFP). One aid worker, who had worked for WFP for 18 years, was killed and another injured.
OIn January 2024, three aid workers with French NGO Premiere Urgence Internationale (PUI) were kidnapped in northern Cameroon. The Far North region, where the borders of Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon meet, has long been plagued by attacks from armed groups.