Strengthening Collaboration Between the Humanitarian and Private Sectors in Canada

This project seeks to identify more concrete areas for collaboration between Canadian non-governmental organizations and Canadian corporations in order to enhance Canada’s overall capacity to respond to humanitarian crises. At present Canadian humanitarian and private sector actors have very limited contact with each other and little common understanding of each other’s abilities and motivations. This lack of understanding and engagement has made the exploration of mutually beneficial partnership opportunities more difficult. Project activities include: (1) producing cross-sector research supporting collaboration between Canadian non-governmental organizations and corporations for humanitarian response; (2) holding meetings and workshops with a range of humanitarian and private sector stakeholders; (3) developing and launching a cross-sector platform model; and (4) facilitating planning and negotiations for one to two innovative cross-sector partnerships initiatives.

The expected outcomes of this project include: (1) improved access to information about cross-sector collaboration opportunities processes and challenges in the area of humanitarian response; and (2) improved mechanisms supporting the development of cross-sector partnerships between Canadian NGOs and Canadian corporations. The expected ultimate outcome is lives saved suffering alleviated and human dignity maintained in countries experiencing humanitarian crisis or acute food insecurity.