Our history
This page is also available in Arabic
The Humanitarian Forum was created from a vision of an inclusive, involved civil society in which humanitarian development organisations - secular and religious, local and international - could come together and work in cooperation and trust.
In the beginning...
In 2004, Oxfam, The British Red Cross and Islamic Relief began discussions with a range of European organisations and governments, to find ways of integrating Muslim organisations into the international field of humanitarian relief and development cooperation. The discussions resulted in a London conference, where a number of humanitarian actors came together with other stakeholders, including the US Embassy, DFID, the FCO, the Charity Commission and international NGOs.
Our current Advisory Group emerged from this conference, bringing together key humanitarian organisations from the West, Islamic countries and the multilateral system to solve problems "in the field". So began The Humanitarian Forum.
Up and running...
Over the course of 2005 - 2006, The Humanitarian Forum held workshops in 13 Muslim-majority countries, where dozens of Muslim and non-Muslim organisations came together to discuss the needs, hopes and fears of humanitarian and development actors in their countries. Because of the interest created by the discussions, we were able to support the development of partner Forums in the region. Humanitarian Forum Sudan was set up with 25 core members. Humanitarian Forum Yemen was also created in 2005; originally with 19 members, it has since rapidly expanded.
The Humanitarian Forum was registered as a UK charity in its own right in 2008, and Humanitarian Forum Indonesia was also created in that year. From the word 'go', HFI has taken the lead on community interaction, creating resources for humanitarian and development organisations across the country, including its highly successful PASTI project, dealing with emergency response. HFI has been heavily involved in the relief effort following the Padang Earthquake, providing excellent resources to help local organisations respond in the most effective way, with as little duplication as possible.
The present day...
Our youngest national forum, Humanitarian Forum Kuwait was set up in 2009, with 35 founding member organisations.
In 2009 The Humanitarian Forum convened well attended Emergency workshops, to discuss the humanitarian situations in both Somalia and Gaza. We're addressing the most current issues in both these areas, and supporting the national forums in Yemen and Indonesia in dealing with humanitarian situations there. We're expanding our online capacity, and our aim is to bring together actors across the region from countries above and beyond those where we have national forums. We're constantly looking into new ways to interact with our partners, on and offline.
