4C Strategies & Kvinna till Kvinna - From Managing Security to Managing Risk

4C Strategies, in partnership with Kvinna till Kvinna, arranged a breakfast seminar on risk management on 16 January 2015. The keynote speaker, Mr. Maarten Merkelbach, is the Senior Programme Advisor at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP) and Project Director of the Security Management Initiative. Representatives from organizations such as the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency attended the much appreciated seminar.

Traditionally stakeholders such as non-profit organizations have tended to focus on security management as opposed to risk management. Based on extensive experience in the field, Mr. Maarten Merkelbach argued that in the modern “age of the unthinkable”, it is essential that stakeholders transition from managing security to managing risk. During the seminar Mr. Merkelbach stated that “you should not talk about security per se, but the risk of security”.

Mr. Merkelbach explained that the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) “has changed the concept of risk management” when producing the standard “31000 on Risk management – Principles and guidelines”. Instead of limiting the definition of risk to the “combination of likelihood and impact (and vulnerability)”, ISO defines risk as the “effect of uncertainty on objectives”. The latter definition enables users to successfully connect what may happen to what you would like to achieve by giving the user the tools to analyze context, address threat and opportunities, as well as mitigate measurements.

The presentation was followed by reflections of Kvinna till Kvinna’s Deputy Secretary General, Petra Tötterman Andorff, and by 4C Strategies Chairman of the Board, Andreas Hedskog. Both could, based on their extensive experience in managing risks, confirm that in order to successfully operate in complex environments such as Iraq, where the Islamic State is active, and Liberia, which has experienced the Ebola-outbreak, risk management is essential. Petra Tötterman Andorff concluded the seminar encouraging a shift of non-profit organizations not only being “do-gooders” but also “good doers”, i.e. it is not enough to do good, organizations also have to do things in a good way and this is dependent on successful risk management.

The Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation supports women during times of war and conflict to increase women's power and influence.

Kvinna till Kvinna supports over 130 women's organizations in five conflict-affected regions - Central and West Africa, Middle East, South Caucasus and Western Balkans. Their partner organizations working for women's rights and peace. They create meeting places for women in environments where it is difficult to meet, they influence policy and create dialogue across conflict lines. They work with women's health, training on women's human rights and prevent violence against women and human trafficking. Woman to Woman's role is to provide financial support and to mediate between organizations