ICHA is a strategic asset of the Kenya Red Cross Society. We work with governments, Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies, humanitarian and development organisations, research institutions, private-sector partners, innovators and communities to generate trusted evidence, test practical solutions and strengthen humanitarian policy and practice.
ICHA sits between evidence and action. Our value is not only in producing knowledge, but in working with partners to turn questions from communities, operations and policy spaces into research, intelligence, innovation and practical pathways for change.
ICHA is the humanitarian think tank of the Kenya Red Cross Society. We bring research and learning, data and evidence, innovation, and policy and advocacy into one institutional platform so partners can move from understanding a challenge to testing responses, strengthening systems and influencing decisions.
Because our work is connected to humanitarian practice. We combine the reach and operational experience of a National Society with research, technical expertise and partnerships that can support work at community, national, regional and international levels.
Bring us a research question, operational challenge, policy priority, evidence gap or idea that needs to be tested. We shape the collaboration around the outcome required, from research and analysis to innovation pilots, advisory support, capacity strengthening, convening and knowledge translation.
Our institutional position gives partners access to three qualities that rarely sit together in one place.
Our research and partnerships start from the contexts where humanitarian risks, systems and decisions are experienced. That proximity strengthens the relevance of the questions we ask and the solutions we test.
We connect community and national realities with African research networks, regional institutions, global humanitarian actors and policy conversations.
As part of the Kenya Red Cross Society ecosystem, ICHA works close to humanitarian operations, branches, volunteers, communities and institutional partners. Evidence can therefore be tested against operational reality and translated into practice.
ICHA's evolution reflects a wider shift in humanitarian action: from responding to crises with experience alone, to combining operational knowledge with research, data, foresight, innovation and policy influence. Scroll through the milestones that have shaped the institution.
2012
ICHA is formed as a dedicated centre for humanitarian research and learning. From the outset, the institutional idea is clear: humanitarian action is stronger when operational experience is accompanied by structured evidence, reflection and knowledge that can inform better decisions.
The centre creates a space inside a frontline humanitarian organisation where researchers, practitioners and decision-makers can work on the same questions.
2015
ICHA's role grows beyond producing knowledge for internal learning. Research conducted under the centre supports national conversations on disaster law, disaster management and the systems needed to coordinate international humanitarian assistance in Kenya.
This period establishes an approach that remains central to ICHA today: evidence should not stop at publication. It should strengthen policy, institutional preparedness and the quality of humanitarian decision-making.
2019
ICHA co-hosts an international conference on humanitarian transition in Nairobi, bringing together practitioners, researchers, academics and policymakers to examine the changing humanitarian landscape from an African context.
In the same period, Kenya Red Cross establishes its Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems capability, later integrated into ICHA's wider innovation and evidence ecosystem. Drones begin supporting preparedness, response, research and the generation of field intelligence.
2020
The first I.O.Me innovation hub opens in Lamu, creating a humanitarian innovation space where young people and communities can work with digital tools, prototyping equipment and innovation methods.
The model brings innovation closer to the people it is intended to serve. Rather than treating technology as the outcome, I.O.Me positions experimentation, learning and local problem-solving as the route to more relevant solutions.
2023
A second I.O.Me innovation centre opens in Mombasa. The Women Social Entrepreneurship Institute, developed by the French Red Cross and Kenya Red Cross Society, supports women informal entrepreneurs to strengthen their businesses, financial autonomy, networks and leadership in their communities.
The programme demonstrates a broader institutional direction for ICHA: innovation can strengthen humanitarian resilience when it is designed around people's economic realities, agency and local ecosystems.
2024
ICHA's climate, data and innovation work increasingly converges around one practical question: how can better information help humanitarian actors act earlier and target response more effectively?
Work on anticipatory action, climate scenarios, earth observation, flood mapping, drones and high-resolution satellite imagery strengthens the connection between analysis and operational decision-making. The Kenya Anticipatory Action Roadmap 2024-2029 provides a national pathway for moving from forecast information to earlier humanitarian action.
2025
ICHA's portfolio deepens across National Society development, humanitarian diplomacy, climate resilience, localisation, migration, road safety and institutional advisory work.
The emphasis is increasingly systemic. Research is used not only to describe humanitarian challenges, but to strengthen governance, strategy, institutional capacity, partnerships and the conditions for locally led action.
2026
Today, ICHA brings research and learning, data and evidence, innovation, and policy and advocacy together around the priorities that matter to humanitarian actors and communities. Its work spans climate, health, migration, localisation, transport and mobility, and emerging humanitarian challenges.
Current work reflects the institution ICHA has become: Global South based, connected from local to international levels, and humanitarian backed. The focus is on generating evidence that can be trusted, testing solutions with purpose, strengthening systems and moving knowledge into policy and practice.
Work with ICHA
Generate, synthesize and translate evidence that can inform programmes, policy and investment.
Co-design, test and strengthen practical solutions with communities, institutions and technical partners.
Bring evidence into strategy, dialogue and institutional decisions across humanitarian systems.