Davos Meeting 2019

The Global Humanitarian Action Executive Alliance (GHAEA) launched its first informal meeting during the Annual World Economic Forum in Davos Switzerland with support from the State of Qatar. The GHAEA is a unique private sector led informal alliance of corporate leaders responding to global calls for partnerships to address growing humanitarian challenges for more than 135million people in need. Present at the group’s first meeting were executives from Ericsson, GlaxoSmithKline, the GSMA, Henry Schein, Mastercard, Salesforce.org, Qatar Financial Centre, UPS Foundation and Willis Towers Watson. Chaired by the UN Secretary-General’s Humanitarian Envoy, Dr. Ahmed Al Meraikhi, the group met with the heads of OCHA, UNICEF, UNHCR, WFP and IOM to engage its collective expertise, knowledge and resources and to explore collaborative models for more effective, principled private sector engagement in emergency preparedness and response. Awareness and interest in collaboration to achieve common objectives is increasing across corporate sectors. Such collaboration can combine the unique competencies of businesses with those of humanitarian organizations to address humanitarian needs effectively, sustainably, at scale and in a principled way.

The UN Secretary-General’s Humanitarian Envoy, Dr. Ahmed Al Meraikhi said: “We are all in this together. The 2030 Agenda, with its 17 SDGs, is universal and it calls for action to ensure no one is left behind. This means mobilizing all resources - technology development, financial resources, capacity building - and dynamic multi-stakeholder partnerships to deliver effectiveness and impact. The Global Humanitarian Action Executive Alliance shows the commitment from the private sector and the UN to come together and address the 135million in need of lifesaving assistance.”

During the meeting the partners agreed to establish a working group to prepare for the next meeting and formal establishment of the GHAEA which will take place on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, September 2019.