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Princess Haya calls for innovative humanitarian aid

She called for establishing a data bank to allow governments to document their humanitarian work.

Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein, Chairwomen of International Humanitarian City, called for establishing a data bank to allow governments to document their humanitarian work. 
The Humanitarian Logistic Data Bank will depend on of the use of technology in charitable aid for a quick response to those in need, said Princess Haya, wife of Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, during the second day of the World Government Summit.
“We have to move away from conventional ways of providing aid. Innovation is necessary for humanitarian aid,” she said to a crowd of delegates. 
She highlighted the role of smartphones in changing forms of aid in developing countries such as limiting the spread of Ebola in west Africa and targeting those in need in a quick manner. Drones and satellites were among the technologies that helped in providing aid. “But crises is still on increase,” she noted. 
More than 65 million people were displaced due to the war crisis in Syria, Yemen, Iraq, and Nigeria, the largest number witnessed since the Second World War. Princess Haya said that over 800 million people still suffer from hunger and United Nations reports expect 50 million more to be displaced due to climate change within the next 10 years.  
However, Princess Haya noted requested aid has reached $22 billion, which is 10 times more than what was needed in 2000. She added that the UAE has topped the list of donors to foreign aid, reporting a 34 per cent increase in 2015 to reaching over Dh32 billion ($8.8 billion).
She praised the UAE food bank initiative, recently launched by Shaikh Mohammed for the Year of Giving. "While reports show that current food waste is worth $2.6 trillion, which can feed three times of world's population including the 800 million hungry people."
"The goal of our leadership is clear, which is to build a future city of security and humanitarian. It is our responsibility, it is out humanity that future generations will hold us accountable for,” she said. 
sherouk@khaleejtimes.com