© Humanitarian Congress Vienna / Globale Verantwortung

1. Women speak up – The impact of COVID-19 on women and girls in the Global South and its policy implication


23 March 2022, 10:00-13:00 CET
online (Zoom), free of charge


Join Global Responsibility and its partners for a conversation with discussants from the Global South perspective about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on women and girls and resulting policy implications.

Women representing civil society organisations from African and Eastern European countries will share their experiences and an analysis of the social and economic effects of the pandemic on women’s empowerment and gender equality. Based on these real-life accounts of women, various stakeholders working in development cooperation and policy will discuss how Austrian international development actors can support recovery and sustainable and inclusive development in these regions.

A selection of the guiding questions for the online event:

  • What are the reasons for women and girls being more affected than men and boys by the consequences of the pandemic?
  • What programmes were developed and what kind of measures were implemented by civil society organisations?
  • What options do governments in the Global South have to counteract the socio-economic crises?
  • How can Austrian development policy support conditions for an inclusive recovery and sustainable development as well as higher resilience of vulnerable groups in crises?

For more information about this event please see Women speak up.

Poster, Virtual Conversation hosted by Humanitarian Congress Vienna 2022
© Humanitarian Congress Vienna

2. Health Systems and Humanitarian Aid: The Race Against COVID-19


1 April 2022, 11:00 – 13:00 CET
online (Zoom), free of charge


COVID-19 revealed once more an ultimate truth: nobody is safe until everybody is safe, including the most vulnerable people on earth. In view of this, the team of the Humanitarian Congress Vienna will host a virtual conversation on the role of humanitarian aid during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, the resilience of health systems and the needs of affected populations.

We welcome you as our guests to a panel discussion of  humanitarian practitioners, policy makers, civil society representatives who will identify lessons learned and discuss the following topics and questions:

Affected populations in humanitarian crises

  • Which groups are affected most by the lack of support and how?
  • How to improve the equitable provision of access to healthcare by drawing on the insight and expertise of the humanitarian actors?
  • What does humanitarian aid need in the future in order to reach its target population and particularly  vulnerable people effectively?

Health systems for the future

  • How do health systems in the global north and the global south cope with this pandemic? What could the global north learn from the global south when it comes to pandemic response?
  • What is the toolbox that determines resilience of health systems in a crisis like the COVID-19 one – in particular in countries of the global south?
  • How can we strengthen health systems worldwide and what are the lessons learned for future health crises?

For more information about this event please see www.humanitariancongress.at.