Risky Business: Reframing the fundamentals of risk management for humanitarians

The discipline of risk management is not new, and there has already been a significant amount of work to translate risk management practice and tools for use in humanitarian operations. Despite this, humanitarian organizations continue to struggle with applying risk management in their decision-making process. On 21 November, ICVA and PHAP organized the first webinar in a series aimed at exploring the current state of risk management in the humanitarian sector. This webinar provided an introduction to the concept of risk management and an overview of the particular challenges to apply this in humanitarian work. As part of framing how these challenges can be overcome, we heard from Jeremy Rempel, Head of Humanitarian Financing at ICVA, and Patroba Otieno, Risk and Financial Specialist at World Vision Somalia.Participants in the webinar learned about the need to balance management of the risks inherent to the work with the desire to reach people in need in the most difficult contexts. They also learned about the importance of developing an organizational culture that understands risk management as a discipline that cuts across all levels of an organization.