HNPW 2026: Private Sector Welcome and Networking Breakfast

The private sector plays a crucial role in humanitarian response, from logistics and technology to financing and modelling innovative partnerships. As humanitarian challenges grow more complex, fostering collaboration between businesses, governments, and aid organizations is essential for effective crisis response.

This interactive session, convened by OCHA’s Private Sector Unit and the OCHA-UNDP Connecting Business Initiative (CBI), will bring together private sector representatives and humanitarian stakeholders. It is designed as an opportunity for participants to connect and network across sectors. 

Following brief opening remarks, participants will engage in a dynamic exercise, rotating between thematic stations covering key areas of private sector engagement in humanitarian action. Through facilitated discussions, participants will then share insights, identify challenges, and explore opportunities for collaboration. 

The session will conclude with an interactive reflection, clustering key takeaways and ideas to drive meaningful partnerships beyond the 2026 Humanitarian Networks and Partnerships Week (HNPW).

MEETING OBJECTIVES

1. Facilitate a structured networking opportunity for businesses, aid/development organizations, and government representatives to exchange insights, build relationships, and explore potential collaborations in humanitarian response.
2. Encourage knowledge sharing and identification of key challenges, opportunities, and best practices in areas such as logistics, digital solutions, local market engagement, and climate adaptation.
3. Capture key insights and ideas to identify concrete opportunities for strengthening private sector engagement in humanitarian action. 

Participants

This session welcomes participants from across the humanitarian and development system, private sector, government, and academia who are interested in strengthening cross-sector collaboration in crisis response. By fostering an interactive and engaging environment, the session aims to facilitate networking, a knowledge exchange, and the identification of opportunities for impactful partnerships. 

Programme