Women Working in Humanitarian Crisis

No Keynote Speech
You can meet the following female experts in our “Humanitarian Cafe”:

Najla Tabet Chahda Director of Caritas Lebanon Migrant Center
Carla Haddad Mardini Chief Spokesperson, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
Jannat Durrani Gender and DRR Specialist, HOPE’87 Pakistan
Zeina Ghantous Assistant Head of Mission, MSF Lebanon
Biljana Stankovic Independent Consultant on Humanitarian Aid and Community Development

When talking on humanitarian aid from a gender perspective, discussions are mainly focussed on the beneficiaries and in how far women are targeted in humanitarian aid work. Our panel examines another perspective and asks in how far do gender perceptions influence the job as a female aid worker?

So, this panel is focussing on the experiences women gained through working in humanitarian crisis and explore the question whether gender matters. By talking directly to female aid workers working in the field, they will share their experiences and lessons learnt with us. Thus, we will examine advantages and challenges of female humanitarian aid workers in different contexts.


The panel will be held in a special format: the „Humanitarian Cafe“. We will have five chair circle settings with one female expert from the field of humanitarian aid each and a limited number of participants at each table (about 10 people). The speaker will give a short presentation on her experiences in the field and her respective expertise. Then the floor is open for questions and discussions.

The panel concentrates on gender perceptions within the work of female aid workers. In addition, each expert will focus on a special subtopic within humanitarian aid in her chair circle:
Najla Tabet Chahda will focus on her work for migrant workers and refugees within the activities of the Caritas Lebanon Migration Center.
Biljana Stankovic will concentrate on her current work on Gender Based Violence (GBV) in refugee camps in Jordan.
Carla Haddad Mardini will lay a focus on her experience of being a delegate visiting female and male detainees in Iraqi Kurdistan in 2001-2002, and in Baghdad in 2003.
Zeina Ghantous will share her experiences on her work for Syrian and Palestinian refugees in Lebanon.
Jannat Durrani will share her experience in different scenarios as a humanitarian worker in Pakistan and especially her expertise in Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR).