At the December Quarterly Meeting of the United Nations joint Logisitcs Center (UNJLC), the Steering Group (comprised of the Representatives of the UN Agencies and the NGO community) requested that UNJLC host a workshop in January (prior to the World Economic Forum - WEF) to discuss the following:

'How best to utilize private sector expertise and assistance in furthering the concept and implementation of the Humanitarian Response Network (HRN).'

CARE International offered to co-organise the workshop together with UNJLC.

Background

The humanitarian ecosystem is dynamically changing through the interaction of different stakeholders. Recently a lot of changes have been seen with regards to the private sector. Companies are increasingly interested in becoming more than just a supplier, or more than just a simple donor and becoming "partners" for different reasons and purposes.

Through this process there are natural issues and concerns that come about while we all begin to learn from each other. Through research collected (interviews, press, organizational documents) concerns have been identified about about the following:

• Commitment

• Transparency and accountability

• Lack of mutual understanding

• Roles and responsibilities

• Managing the relationship

Private Sector

The Private Sector is currently undertaking a number of worthwhile initiatives seeking ways in which the Private Sector can assist in the area of Humanitarian Disaster Relief Logistics.

Humanitarian Sector

It is of vital importance that the Humanitarian community plays a more proactive rather than reactive role in these initiatives which has not always been the case in the past.

Consolidation of Initiatives

The logistics advantages that consolidation of the current initiatives would yield include:

• Better response times.

• Better response mechanisms for logistics in humanitarian disaster relief.

• Better access to information.

• Low cost warehouse operations.

• Freight cost reductions.

• More cost effective procurement of goods.

• Pre-positioning of stocks in strategic locations to obtain global coverage.

Humanitarian Requirements of the Private Sector

• Overview of current initiatives to include mandate, objectives, ownership, time-frame and activities.
• A clear statement on possible categories of Private Sector involvement including differentiation on humanitarian assistance provided 'free of charge' and that provided on a 'commercial basis'.
• Other categories of Private Sector assistance.
• Identify the main linkages between the Private Sector and the Humanitarian Community in view of the establishment of HRN.
• What forum, if any, is required by the Private Sector to bring forward and follow up on these consolidated initiatives?
• If such a Forum is agreed, what form should it take (commercial, joint and what legal format should this Forum have and how often should it meet?
• What standards should be established in respect of conflict of interest? (Partnership responsibilities and Code of Conduct?)
•  Item standardization.

The Way Forward

It is hoped that through discussion, research and analysis a model can be established where these challenges and that of organizational cross learning can be established.

The method agreed should identify action points related to these concerns and to improve relations between both sectors regardless of whether the interaction is purely commercial, purely humanitarian or a combination of both.