Thursday 23 December 2010

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!


Season's greetings from The Humanitarian Forum!

Monday 6 December 2010

Economic growth and poverty reduction in Africa

According to a graph by by Maxim Pinkovskiy and Xavier Sala-i-Martin, if you want to reduce poverty in Africa, you should concentrate on economic growth. Read the full story on Owen's blog.

via Owen Abroad

Friday 19 November 2010

NGO keywords


Saundra Schimmelpfennig from Good Intentions are not enough has compiled a list of aid and development sayings. If you want to know what chuggers are and what is the negative impact of Swedow, read her blog post: Aid and development sayings.

Tuesday 16 November 2010

Happy Eid!





Eid Mubarak from us all at The Humanitarian Forum!

Tuesday 9 November 2010

The President's Pages: The elephant in the room...

Dr. Hany talks about why he thinks the international community chooses to overlook some international issues:

The President's Pages: The elephant in the room...

Friday 5 November 2010

Happy Diwali!

Thursday 4 November 2010

On my way: Defining governance

On my way: Defining governance: "'...What power have you got? Where did you get it from? In whose interests do you use it? To whom are you accountable? And how do I get rid ..."

Tuesday 2 November 2010

Owen Barder on Development Policy

A brilliant presentation from Owen with a thought-provoking conclusion: "As change-makers, we should not try to design a better world. We should concentrate on building better feedback loops."

Enjoy:

http://www.owen.org/blog/4018

Friday 22 October 2010

Alliance of Civilizations – Group of Friends Meeting


Our own James Shaw Hamilton will attend the UN AoC Group of Friends Meeting as a Keynote speaker.
The United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) is an initiative of the UN Secretary-General which aims to improve understanding and cooperative relations among nations and peoples across cultures and religions, and to help counter the forces that fuel polarization and extremism.

James will talk about some successful examples of cooperation between Western and Muslim NGOs and what the future holds for building bridges between key humanitarian and governmental actors.

Read more about the Aoc here.

Tuesday 19 October 2010

Global Hunger Index 2010

Tuesday 12 October 2010

Meet the staff - part 3

Last but not least, meet Ghada and Tareq:

Ghada Al-Nasseri, Office Manager and Executive Assistant to President (Ghada@humanitarianforum.org)

Ghada liaises with the organisation's contacts, organises functions and conferences, and looks after Dr El Banna's travel arrangements, commitments and diary.  She has a Bachelor's degree in English Language and is a Certified Business Professional. Before coming to The Humanitarian Forum, Ghada worked in various roles in the UK, including as an Administrator for the charity Liveability, and in Iraq where she was a Business Development Manager for the internationally prestigious security firm Armourgroup.
     

Tareq Bakri, Partnership Manager (tareq@humanitarianforum.org)

In his role, Tareq identifies opportunities for engaging individuals and organisations in The Humanitarian Forum programmes and building resources for the organisation to continue.  Over the last 20 years, he worked in many national and international organisations in Palestine, UK and the US including Near East Foundation, Quaker Service and Oxfam. He is married with two daughters and enjoys spending time with his family.        

Our green credentials


We, the staff at Humanitarian Forum, believe that humanitarianism and offering aid doesn’t have to impact the environment.

We try to do good without affecting the environment and understand that, for example, cutting trees to provide shelter and firewood can help a suffering community in the short term, however it might impact the same community negatively in the long term, by threatening the natural balance of the forest’s habitat, declining the number of wild animals.

We aim to recycle and reuse paper and general waste, keep printing to a minimum, use low-energy flat screen monitors and keep correspondence via email rather than paper.

When we travel, we tend to use trains, car share and other greener alternatives. Sometimes, due to the nature of our work, we need to fly to far away destinations. On these occasions, we always try to offset our carbon print.

We are always looking for more ways to improve our green credentials as individuals and we’re open to ideas.

Thursday 23 September 2010

Open Forum for CSO Development Effectiveness


Shahira Maarouf, our Programme Manager, will attend the Open Forum for Civil Society Organisations Development Effectiveness Global Assembly in Istanbul, between 28th and 30th September.

This conference aims to explore the emerging perspectives on CSO development effectiveness, including the rights, roles and responsibilities of CSOs as actors in development. Another goal is to initiate a multi-stakeholder debate with governments, donors and other development actors on CSO development effectiveness and the enabling environment for CSOs.

Charity effectiveness brings better accountability and ensures that the money from donors reach the ones who are most needy.

Note: Photo via http://www.cso-effectiveness.org/

Wednesday 22 September 2010

Meet the staff - part 2

Here are our Finance Manager, Max and our eCommunications Manager, Andreea. Find out more about them:

Andreea Sharman, eCommunications Manager
(andreea@humanitarianforum.org)

Andreea handles the online side of the Humanitarian Forum, running and maintaining the website and looking for new technologies to expand and improve the reach and contact of the Forum. Andreea has a diverse experience with online communities, having worked as a Community Manager. She has a BA(Hons) in Theatre, Film and TV Production. She loves pets and enjoys reading and travelling.


Manzoor (Max) Wahid, Finance Manager
(max@humanitarianforum.org)

Max manages the Finance assignments of the Secretariat in the UK. He graduated with an MBA, specialising in Finance and Accounting, from the USA. During the past 8 years, he's been responsible for the finances and administration of numerous education and health projects, for organisations including USAID and Save the Children in Asia. Max has also worked in the private sector for many years. In his spare time he enjoys reading and playing a game of chess.

Tuesday 21 September 2010

Meet the staff - part 1

A small secretariat supports the Trustees, Steering Committee and National Chapters, raises funds and works with other stakeholders in the West and in Muslim countries/communities. Meet James Shaw-Hamilton and Shahira Maarouf:

James Shaw-Hamilton, Director 
(james@humanitarianforum.org)

Before joining The Humanitarian Forum, James was the head of the Charity Commissions International Programme, which works with Governments and NGOs in several countries to a build healthy, independent and accountable sector, and was previously Legal Counsel at the International Save the Children Alliance. James has a MA in International Relations and is a qualified lawyer.

                                   
Shahira Maarouf, Programme Manager 
(shahira@humanitarianforum.org)

Shahira assists the national Humanitarian Forums in our pilot countries to develop national forums, and acts as their first point of contact with the other parts of the Humanitarian Forum.Shahira was a Senior Researcher at the World Food Programme in Cairo,conducting joint research projects and monitoring programmes.She has also worked at the Egyptian Ministry of International Cooperation,where she carried out macroeconomic studies and designed impact evaluations of foreign funded programmes.

 
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