"I come from a professional background – the world of diplomacy – where information and words are absolutely key to everything we do. The collection and analysis of information, questions about with whom to share it – and more importantly sometimes – with whom not to share it, were and are fundamental to understanding and to success. And how this information and analysis was expressed and conveyed – the exact words, the precise nuances, the constructive ambiguity, the hidden as well as the open messages – was an indispensable tool of the trade. I had expected, in coming into the humanitarian world at the beginning of the year, to find a very different context – much more practical and operational, more hands-on, much less concerned with the subtleties of diplomatic word- games. And I have to say I looked forward to this change.  
 
What I actually found was that I was only half right. Humanitarians are, rightly, much less concerned with the infinite variations of language, much happier to call a spade a spade, if not a bloody shovel. Nuance is not the community’s strongest point, and has relatively little value. Where I was profoundly mistaken was to imagine that information and analysis would be a less central concern, or would be somehow easier. What I have learned in my first months is that while some facts are obvious –the flood, the earthquake, the conflict, the exodus of refugees and IDP’s – and some consequences are all too visible – death, destruction, despair – as soon as you start to dig deeper you run into the central and glaring need for really good information and really good analysis. In other words decent knowledge. Without that you can’t really get off first base. You don’t know what people really need or where or how urgently. You can’t  make sensible decisions about priorities – whether within or between emergencies. And you can’t communicate credibly with all the other people you need to influence – the media, the donors, the local authorities and, the most neglected of all from this point of view, the beneficiaries themselves." 

Read the full speech of John Holmes, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator and Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs delivered at the United Nations OCHA +5 Symposium, of which the ICT4Peace Foundation was a partner.