Défis Humanitaires : what will be the outcome in 2019? What are the prospects for 2020?

Défis Humanitaires brings together people concerned, interested and involved in the field of humanitarian aid, geopolitics and foresight on major humanitarian challenges. Challenges of a world that will have 10 billion inhabitants in 30 years time, 2.5 million more than today, half of them in Africa, in a world where tensions are increasing and where global warming is increasingly threatening us. The mission of Humanitarian Challenges is to inform, analyze, debate and propose actions to better face and overcome these major challenges.

In 2019, Défis Humanitaires will have 14 editions, 32 authors, 56 articles and a strong growth in the number of visitors. The number of readers, which was 11,116 in 2018, almost doubled in 2019 with 21,370 readers and 35,800 views of articles compared to 23,115 the previous year. This represents an increase of 91% in the number of readers and 52% in the number of views.

We would like to thank our readers, both old and new, for their trust, loyalty and support, which invite us to continue and develop this path.

In 2019, we set up an English version of the site and ensured regular updates on the social networks, which are registering an ever-increasing number of subscribers.

The Top 10 most read articles.

The Top 10 of the 56 most-read articles show a diversity of subjects but also a complementarity between news, analysis and humanitarian action capacities.

What were the most-read articles in 2019? The first was Antoine Vaccaro’s article on the decline in French generosity. It is followed by an interview with Jean-Marc Châtaigner on the Sahel. Then we find the Study on humanitarian NGOs in France, the interview with Patrice Franceschi on the Kurds in Syria, then the study on Mali and the triple nexus of Emmanuel Tronc.

Then we find the interview with Gérard Chaliand, the humanitarian in photos by Thomas Gruel, the article on the collaborative platform OCTOPUS, the editorial “Syria, the dilemma of humanitarians” and the biography of Alain Boinet. Pierre Brunet’s article “L’humanitaire est-il toujours en mission” (Is the humanitarian still on mission), which came out on top in 2018, is still widely read, as is Wandey’s “La tomate à l’épreuve des procédures” (The tomato in the test of procedures).

If France represents by far the main territory of the readership, this is also largely the case of French-speaking countries despite the recent English version which is gradually widening our audience. In order, the top ten countries are France, followed by the United States, Belgium, Switzerland, Mali, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Canada, the United Kingdom and Cameroon and many others with readers all over the world.

We would like to warmly thank all the contributors of articles, interviews and studies in Humanitarian Challenges.  These articles are available in the easy-to-access digital library under the various headings on the home page of the site.

©Solidarités International

What are the main prospects in 2020 ?

The first mission of this new year is first of all to enrich the editorial policy with a monthly edition dedicated to major crises (Syria, Sahel, Afghanistan, …), philanthropy and generosity, humanitarian issues (annual reports, next National Humanitarian Conference in Paris, innovation, …), and the major collective challenges to be met.

The second mission is the publication in the first half of the year of the second edition of the study “French humanitarian NGOs abroad” on the period 2006-2018. It will update the reference figures for 2017 and 2018 and will be enriched by new developments through a comparison with humanitarian NGOs and their international networks outside France, a presentation of so-called support NGOs in France (training, human resources, mapping, studies, logistics, etc.) and more qualitative analyses (financing, security, strategy, etc.).

In 2020, the third stage will materialize at the beginning of the year with the creation of an association to support the Défis Humanitaires site and give it the means for a new stage of its development. As one can imagine, the site and the Study represent a very important work in the service of humanitarian aid and its organizations, coordinations and Foundations, academics, researchers and students, journalists and institutions, political decision-makers and parliamentarians.

We have the motivation and the potential to better respond to the interest of our readers, to ensure the quality of Humanitarian Challenges, to promote the NGO Study and to allow the realization of other research and initiatives useful to all. This is why we will soon be proposing to our readers and friends to participate in a participatory fundraising campaign. We will also propose them to contribute to the edition and distribution of the second edition of the Study on Humanitarian NGOs.

Défis Humanitaire reflects the need for a transversal and independent humanitarian reflection at the service of all. The activity of this site, which began in 2011, and its new version developed since February 2018, testifies to its vocation to be, to last and to progress.

And to conclude, we wish you a happy new year 2020 and hope that it meets your most cherished wishes.

Défis Humanitaires.