New technologies are transforming humanitarian action in unprecedented ways. Smartphones and mobile payment systems, social media and e-learning, satellite imagery and aerial robotics - these are just some of the emerging fields presenting important questions and exciting opportunities for those tackling humanitarian crises and supporting refugee populations.

Join the ICRC Collaborative Platform, with ICRC Director General Yves Daccord and swissnex Boston, for a panel exploring how local communities, technology companies, online volunteers, and humanitarian agencies can responsibly harness new tech to advance humanitarian action.

Other panelists are Nathaniel Raymond, Director of the Signal Program on Human Security and Technology at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative; Yvonne MacPherson, Fellow at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University and U.S. Director of BBC Media Action; Joëlle Jenny, Associate at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University; Daniel Scarnecchia, Researcher at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative’s Signal Program on Human Security and Technology; the panel will be moderated by Anaïde Nahikian, Head of the ICRC Collaborative Platform at swissnex Boston and Program Manager at the Advanced Training Program on Humanitarian Action (ATHA) at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative.

Program

6.00pm Doors open

6.30pm Welcome remarks

7.45pm Panel discussion

7.30pm Networking reception

Speaker bios

Yves Daccord is currently the Director-General of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), a post he has held since 2010. A former journalist, TV producer and international relations expert, Yves’ ICRC career has spanned more than two decades in a variety of posts and challenging contexts – including Israel and the Occupied Territories, Sudan, Yemen, Chechnya and Georgia. Prior to his appointment as Director-General, Yves held the position of Head of Communication Division and Director of Communications at the ICRC Headquarters in Geneva. In January 2015, he assumed the chair of Steering Committee for Humanitarian Response (SCHR).

Nathaniel A. Raymond is Director of the Signal Program on Human Security and Technology at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI) of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He was formerly Director of Operations of the Satellite Sentinel Project at HHI, which was a co-recipient of the 2012 US Geospatial Foundation Industry Intelligence Achievement Award. He is a 2013 PopTech Social Innovation Fellow and a 2010 Rockwood Leadership Institute National Security and Human Rights Reform Fellow. Raymond is a co-winner of the 2013 USAID and Humanity United Tech Challenge for Mass Atrocity Prevention. He has co-written four major peer-reviewed articles on the use of information communication technologies in humanitarian response and human rights work.

Yvonne MacPherson is the U.S. Director of BBC Media Action, the international NGO of the BBC created to use media and communication for development, and a fellow at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University. She has lived on 3 continents and her work has taken her to nearly 50 countries. As US Director she leads the relationship with key funders and partners, including the US government, the United Nations and private foundations, and contributes to the strategic design of programs that use media to achieve development goals. Prior to her US position, she was BBC Media Action’s Country Director in India. In this role she was responsible for all strategic, program, financial and technical aspects of the organisation’s operations in India. Yvonne has designed and managed social and behavior change initiatives on Ebola, HIV/AIDS, maternal and child health, gender equality and livelihoods, among others. At Harvard, she is currently examining the role of digital solutions used to respond to global health emergencies and scrutinising the impact these solutions have on human behavior and social norms.

Joëlle Jenny is an Associate at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University and Honorary Associate Professor at the Strategy and Security Institute, University of Exeter, UK. Previously as Director for Security Policy and Conflict Prevention at the European Union’s External Action Service she led EU external policies on cyber, maritime and space security, non-proliferation/arms control, counter-terrorism, conflict prevention and peace building. She has extensive experience of working in conflict zones in Africa, the Balkans and the Middle East. She holds a Masters from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in Boston, USA.

Daniel Scarnecchia is a Researcher at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative’s Signal Program on Human Security and Technology. His focus is on standards and ethics in humanitarian data and technology use and the impact of technology on crises, the crisis affected, and on humanitarianism as a whole. His current work includes field research and consultations with practitioners seeking to understand and identify the risks resulting from data use in the field, research on obligations incumbent upon humanitarian organizations using information technology resulting from the rights and current humanitarian standards and principles, and research into the role of misinformation and disinformation on crises. Prior to joining HHI, he worked in the life sciences, where he built multi-stakeholder research consortiums using real-world evidence to study drug safety and consulted on the governance of sensitive data and the integration of new technologies the into the industry.

Moderator

Anaïde Nahikian is the Head of the ICRC Collaborative Platform at swissnex Boston and Program Manager at the Advanced Training Program on Humanitarian Action (ATHA) at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative. Through field-based research and engagement with humanitarian practitioners, Anaïde focuses on developing responsive research and professional tools to enhance the capacity of professionals in humanitarian environments, on issues such as frontline humanitarian negotiation, response to forced migration, and communities of practice. She leads field research and implements projects across the Middle East / North Africa, East Africa, Southeast Asia, and Europe. She also produces and co-hosts the monthly Humanitarian Assistance Podcast.

About the ICRC Collaborative Platform

The Collaborative Platform, launched in May 2017, initiates and manages projects and relationships between the ICRC and academic, policy, non-profit, and private organizations in the Boston area around key themes and priorities of the ICRC, in partnership with swissnex Boston. Through these interactions, the ICRC wishes to reflect in an open manner upon its operational experience on the frontline of conflicts, facilitate the interactions with other humanitarian agencies and organizations around the themes of the Collaborative Platform, as well as share its legal and policy expertize in addressing the protection needs of populations affected by armed conflict and internal violence.

Tech + Humanitarian Action: Accelerating Global Crisis Response