World Vision at the 2025 European Humanitarian Forum
What's the European Humanitarian Forum?
The 2025 European Humanitarian Forum (EHF) is organised by the European Commission (DG ECHO) and the Presidency of the Council of the EU and took place on 19 and 20 May at the Square Brussels Convention Centre and live-streamed.
The EHF 2025 was held in a context of escalating humanitarian needs, shifting geopolitics, and growing multidimensional crises. With over 305 million people requiring urgent aid due to conflict, climate emergencies, food insecurity, and economic instability, it is paramount for the EU and its Member States to address these challenges in a Team Europe spirit, fostering an integrated approach to fragility and enhancing humanitarian diplomacy efforts – the two key themes of the 2025 edition of the EHF:
- Humanitarian diplomacy: promoting the respect of international humanitarian law and humanitarian principles, and safeguarding humanitarian space. The EHF will reflect on existing tools and explore ways to enhance these efforts within the EU and globally.
- Integrated approach to fragility: ensuring that humanitarian, development and peace actors work together to better link urgent relief efforts with longer-term solutions. The EHF will support the development of an EU approach by showcasing success stories, addressing challenges, and offering recommendations for future EU engagement.
Learn more about the Forum at https://europeanhumanitarianforum.eu/
World Vision at the European Humanitarian Forum
World Vision joined a wide variety of humanitarian stakeholders, including EU institutions, UN agencies, governmental bodies, international NGOs, academia, and think tanks. We are grateful for all the collaborations, partnerships and shared work at the 2025 European Humanitarian Forum, contributing to crucial discussions shaping the EU humanitarian aid's policy and action.
Some of the World Vision's activities at the Forum includes:
The Humanitarian Talk “Integrated Approaches to Education in Times of Crisis: Ensuring Protection, Building Resilience, Inspiring Hope”
World Vision co-organised the session together with Save the Children, UNICEF, ChildFund Alliance, the Global Education Cluster, the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) and WeWorld Onlus. This session focused on the importance of coordinated, integrated approaches to rapid education responses in fragile and conflict-affected contexts. It also considered nexus approaches that bridge immediate humanitarian response with longer-term development and peacebuilding goals. Children themselves informed the talk by sharing their recommendations on the importance of supporting learning, protection and wellbeing during crises.
Lilian Dodzo, Regional Vice President & Regional Director, World Vision East Africa Region, moderated the talk and Afaf Abu Dayeh, Zonal Manager for the North West Bank Zone, World Vision Jerusalem-West Bank-Gaza, was one of the speakers, sharing insights into World Vision's programming about education in the West Bank.
"Education is often one of the first things children lose in a crisis - and one of the last to return."
Lilian Dodzo, Regional Vice President & Regional Director, World Vision East Africa Region, at the humanitarian talk on integrated approaches to Education in Emergencies.
Read more about Lilian Dodzo's thoughts on why the EU should be investing in child protection and education in emergencies: https://www.wvi.org/europeanhumanitarianforum/lilian_dodzo_oped
The child-led exhibition "The School I Dream of"
A child-led exhibition about disruptions to education in the West Bank, showcasing eight drawings from children about their ideal school, developed during World Vision’s Summer Camps.
Putting children at the centre was at the core of World Vision’s engagement at the European Humanitarian Forum 2025 on 19 and 20 May. We realised this in practice, both via the child-led exhibition "The School I Dream Of" and also facilitating the online child participation, via video testimonies at different sessions of the event, of three child advocates from the West Bank, Narsiyan, Osaid and Ameer, and one child advocate from Somalia, Asma.
Simon Mane, World Vision Sudan's National Director and Multi-Country Response Director, was also present at the Forum and contribute to the discussions, especially about the current crisis in Sudan.