In the last few years, I’ve been fortunate enough to work with several humanitarian organisations in my role at Walkgrove, creating courses that have opened my eyes not only to the suffering that exists, but also the huge efforts being made across the world to meet these emergencies head on by those organisations and individuals dedicated to making significant change in the lives of those in crisis.

As part of an internal campaign for Save the Children, we created a programme of courses to complement a new publication from their Swedish branch, focusing on a systematic application of children’s rights when programming humanitarian work on their behalf. We blended online modules with interactive self-assessments, giving practitioners the chance to appraise their current practice and gain insight into how their organisations could make small changes, resulting in big differences in the lives of the children they work with.

UNHCR needed a way to provide consistent, flexible and widely accessible training to those members of their organisation and government authorities responsible for determining the status of individuals who apply for refugee status. Our modules, including realistic case studies and true to life assessment scenarios, form part of a programme helping these decision makers to ensure the protection of refugees.

We are all part of the world community and have shared responsibility for our neighbours, whether they are close, or countries apart. Hearing heartfelt stories from subject matter experts who have worked in the field, or reading case studies from families who have been forced to flee their homes, I’m given a much needed window into a reality which goes far beyond the headlines I read in the papers. But more than that, I’m lucky enough to be witness to the ongoing work by our clients, organisations like the Norwegian Refugee Council or the World Health Organisation, who are constantly working both externally, and internally to promote, strengthen and fully represent the rights of human beings everywhere.  

Note: Walkgrove Limited supports the ten principles of the United Nations Global Compact with respect to human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption and has registered its support and intent as a participant of the Global Compact.

 Our COP statement can be viewed here.