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Collaborating for Effective Humanitarian Action
ICVA
Virtual event
Africa region
Middle East and North Africa region
Asia region
Latin America
ICVA
The International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA) was established in 1962 as the successor organisation of the Conference on Non-Governmental Organizations interested in Migration, the Standing Conference for Voluntary Agencies Working for Refugees, and the International Committee for World Refugee Year.
This year, ICVA will be commemorating its 60th anniversary on Wednesday, 18 May 2022 through an on-line event and in person reception in Geneva. There will also be events in ICVA’s four regional hubs (Africa, Asia and Pacific, MENA and Latin America) scheduled for different dates.
For 60 years we have remained committed to our mission of making humanitarian action more principled and effective by working collectively and independently to influence policy and practice.
The External Impact Study concludes that ICVA has had significant impact whether viewing the work through the lens of the Focus Areas, the defined ways of working, the documented added value of ICVA or the collective achievements of the ICVA members, the ICVA board and the ICVA Secretariat team. The commemoration will be an opportunity to reflect on our past, present and future as well as re-enforce the ICVA 2030 ambitions.
Transformations from past, present to future: NGO perspectives
60th commemoration in-person reception
Regional events: All ICVA regional hubs will plan ICVA 60th commemoration events.
Agenda:
3:00 pm – Opening by Ignacio Packer, ICVA Executive Director
3:05 pm – A chat with former Executive Directors
3:25 pm – A panel discussion around the topics of the transformations (present and future)
4:25 pm – Wrap up by Jane Backhurst, Chair of ICVA board
Ignacio is the Executive Director of ICVA since January 2018. He strengthens the impact and collective voice of ICVA and leads its engagement with the highest levels of the U.N., governments, philanthropies, and civil society actors.
He has been working in the field of development cooperation and humanitarian assistance for over 30 years, the past 10 years in CEO positions at international aid organisations. Ignacio has worked for Terre des Hommes, the Swiss Tropical Institute, the European Association for Development and Health and Médecines Sans Frontières. As a strong supporter of inter-organisational collaborations, he has led strategic partnerships with these organisations.
He is an expert on human rights and social issues and has been strongly engaged in global advocacy on protection frameworks for people on the move with a focus on children and youth.
Transformation
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Speaker |
Transformation 1: our rootedness in principled humanitarian action
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Lisa K. Piper, ACBAR, Afghanistan |
Transformation 2: our ability to evolve, confront and respond to the impacts of climate change and take our responsibilities in mitigating the root causes
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Balla Moussa Sidibe, Regional Director, CARE International – West Africa (Africa)
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Transformation 3: the value we all bring due to our proximity to people in crises
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Ghida Anani, ABAAD, Lebanon |
Transformation 4: our strength in collective diversity
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Luis Enrique Gonzalez Araiza, Executive Director, Dignidad y Justicia en el Camino A.C., Mexico |
Transformation 5: our collaborative advantage to increase our impact
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Samer Daoudi, Policy Adviser, Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO), OPT |
ICVA Secretariat perspectives
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Mirela Shuteriqi, Director of Policy, ICVA
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Mirela joined ICVA in 2019 as Director of Policy where she leads a policy team focusing on forced migration, humanitarian financing, and coordination.
As a human rights lawyer from Albania, she has 15 years of professional experience on humanitarian and development issues working for both NGOs and UN Agencies. She worked with UNICEF as advocacy coordinator on the rights of refugee and migrant children in Europe. Prior to UNICEF, Mirela served as global protection adviser for Terre des hommes, covering programmes aiming at preventing child exploitation, trafficking and other forms of violence against children. For few years she provided direct legal services to vulnerable families and Albanian children exploited or living in the streets of Albania and Greece.
She holds an LLM degree and has authored various publications on human rights and migration law.
This review provides a decade-by-decade snapshot of ICVA’s first 60 years. It tells the story of its birth, evolution and maturity as an international mechanism for NGO humanitarian cooperation, highlighting changing areas of focus, core activities and major achievements.
There are two versions – a downloadable pdf, and an interactive online version.
Reaching middle age prompts many to start reflecting on their past. The same has been true with ICVA as it moved well into its forties. Over the years, ICVA, like any organisation, has kept track of its history, growth, and development. Two short histories of ICVA were previously written – the latest one being when ICVA turned 25. We felt that, more than 20 years later, it was time to produce a more comprehensive narrative of the story of ICVA.
In 1987 we commemorated our 25th anniversary. This was a testimony of our growth in membership and our work around addressing key issues of concern to NGOs involved in humanitarian assistance and development cooperation.
A brief history on the beginning of the International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA). This document was published in 1977.