Humanitarian Relief Initiative (HRI)
Saving Lives, One Partnership at a Time

The issue The frequency and impact of natural disasters and conflict are increasing worldwide, causing economic losses of over US$ 200 billion and over 180,000 deaths in 2005 alone. The result is the need for an unprecedented level of life-saving humanitarian relief. While the private sector has been increasingly generous, corporate response to humanitarian emergencies generally has been reactive, limiting its overall effectiveness and efficiency. The Humanitarian Relief Initiative aims to increase the global impact of private sector engagement in humanitarian relief. The HRI develops public-private partnerships (PPPs) that match the core competencies of the private sector with the priority needs of the global humanitarian community in advance of humanitarian crises.

The Opportunity

The HRI is a valuable element of global corporate citizenship, offering the following benefits to corporate partners:

• More lives saved as a result of increased efficiency and effectiveness of contributions
• Enhanced public relations opportunities as "corporate first-responders" to major humanitarian crises worldwide
• Means to showcase their core competencies to internal and external stakeholders through participation in humanitarian relief
• Opportunities for high-level public recognition during Forum-sponsored events throughout the year
• Forum to foster industry-level engagement in the area of humanitarian relief

• Platform to productively engage with humanitarian actors across the cultural divide
  

How to participate?

• Support the HRI at the strategic level across industries as a Strategic Partner
• Join at an industry level through an Industry Partnership to develop an industry-wide commitment to humanitarian relief
• Provide direct support to the humanitarian community through action-oriented PPPs

What has HRI achieved?

Since its launch at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in January 2006, the HRI has been working to increase the impact of private sector engagement in humanitarian relief through the following activities:

1) Matching the priority needs of the humanitarian community with key industry competencies, resulting in concrete, action-oriented PPPs

• Advanced matching in the area of emergency logistics
• Recently commenced for emergency health
• Planned for other humanitarian sectors, including water/sanitation, telecommunications, shelter, recovery, etc.

2) Establishing cohorts of companies committed to industry-level engagement with humanitarian relief

3) Developing a set of cross-industry and industry specific guidelines and standards for private sector participation in humanitarian relief

Who is involved?

The current key partners of the HRI are:

• Citigroup
• UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
• UN World Food Programme (head of the UN Logistics Cluster)

As a newly launched initiative, the HRI is planning to significantly expand its initial set of partner organizations to include other corporations, donor agencies and humanitarian actors on a sectoral basis.

Contact

For further information please contact:
hri@weforum.org