WHS Innovation Outcomes: Agenda for Action

The World Humanitarian Summit (WHS) will be held in May 2016 in Istanbul, Turkey with the objective to “set a forward-looking agenda for humanitarian action to collectively address future humanitarian challenges.”

This HumTech2016 Invited Panel will focus on the discussions that take place at the WHS in Istanbul, with perspectives from across all sectors (public, private, ngo). Panelists will describe what they saw and heard at WHS, outlining relevant action items that emerge from WHS, and explain what they mean for innovation in the humanitarian system.

Moderator:

Phuong Pham, Ph.D., MPH, is an Assistant Professor at the Harvard Medical School and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Director of Evaluation and Implementation Science at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI). She has over 15 years of experience in designing and implementing epidemiologic and evaluation research, technology solutions, and educational programs in on-going and post-conflict countries such as northern Uganda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Central African Republic, Iraq, Cambodia, Colombia and other areas affected by mass violence and humanitarian crisis. She co-founded Peacebuildingdata.org (a portal of peacebuilding, human rights, and justice indicators) and KoboToolbox (a suite of software for digital data collection and visualization). Dr. Pham joined HHI after holding the positions of Director of Research at the University of California – Berkeley’s Human Rights Center and Adjunct Associate Professor at Tulane University’s Payson Center for International Development.

Invited Panelists:

Andrew Billo
Humanitarian Affairs Officer
Policy Development and Studies Branch
Policy Analysis and Innovation Section
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA)

Sara Spalding
‎Senior Director
New England Research & Development Center
Microsoft Corporation