The ICRC Regional Delegation for India, Bhutan and the Maldives announces the fourth edition of Humanitarian Tiffin Talk to be held at the delegation’s New Delhi office. This time, the topic of discussion is ‘Humanitarian Action in 2025 – What lies ahead of us?’

Prem Shankar Jha, a noted analyst and former information advisor to the prime minister of India, will be the key speaker. The talk will be chaired by Meena Menon, deputy editor with The Hindu. Also joining in as a respondent would be Adebayo Olowo-Ake, who is a former journalist and researcher from Nigeria, and has been working as a Communications staff of the ICRC for over fifteen years.

About the topic: The environment in which humanitarian action takes place is changing fast. In a global context of rising inequality, we see an increasing number of complex crises resulting from and amplified by inadequate political action, marked by unprecedented levels of violence against civilians. We also witness the repetition of climate induced-hazards and their negative impact on socio-economic gains. The resources that finance humanitarian action, although they have increased over the last decade, remain way below what would be required to respond to all the needs which result from these crises. Given the enormity and complexity of the humanitarian needs in crises around the world today, the need to find the right answers is no less than vital.

Humanitarian leaders are focussed on managing their institutions’ responses to the challenges that we are all confronted to today, while trying to anticipate and prepare for changes tomorrow. Humanitarian leaders need different perspectives to those available within the humanitarian sector to help them think through the implications of current trends for humanitarian action in 10 years’ time.

Apart from touching upon the above mentioned topics, Prem Shankar Jha — who recently attended a conference on future humanitarian challenges in Geneva — will also touch upon some of the trends, which are currently having an impact on humanitarian action and can project on what could constitute relevant humanitarian action for affected people in 2025.

ICRC New Delhi