IECAH participates in the spring university of Groupe URD

Camille Nussbaum, Executive Coordinator of IECAH, and Victoria Silva, Research and Projects Officer, represented IECAH at Groupe URD’s Spring University.

The event, which took place at Groupe URD‘s headquarters in Plaisians (Rhône-Alpes region) from 8-10 June, brought together a large number of humanitarian actors from France, Europe and other countries.

Under the title “Humanitarian aid: the end of political innocence?”, the university held a series of conferences that sought to take a more critical look at the main issues currently determining humanitarian action. Issues such as political inaction in the face of migration, the place of climate change in humanitarian action, armed conflicts and the possibility of more radical humanitarian action were discussed by different speakers. Case studies from countries such as Haiti, Niger and Myanmar were presented by local actors. In addition, an Open Working Forum took up a large part of the event, where participants pooled their knowledge to work on issues of interest to humanitarian action, such as localization or the reform of the humanitarian system through radical and innovative approaches.

The event also commemorated Groupe URD’s 30th anniversary, with a retrospective presentation by Groupe URD founder François Grünewald, who passed the baton to the rest of the team. IECAH’s participation in this event provided an important opportunity for networking and advocacy, strengthening relationships with long-standing partners and forging new links with different humanitarian actors.

IECAH has a long-standing relationship with Groupe URD of nearly 20 years in which they have worked side by side on numerous projects at European level, including the Inspire Consortium and the current Inspire+ Consortium.