Humanitarian funding should be based on needs
Despite high level donor commitments to the humanitarian principles, global humanitarian funding continues to favour politically strategic countries over neglected or protracted crises. A new report by the Norwegian Refugee Council and Humanitarian Policy Group at the Overseas Development Institute looks beyond the rhetoric and makes concrete recommendations to make humanitarian funding more principled and effective.
The report Tools for the job: Supporting principled humanitarian action, launched today, finds that despite high-level commitments by donor states to the humanitarian principles, such as the Good Humanitarian Donorship initiative, a number of funding-related challenges hamper implementation of humanitarian programmes and that funding allocation is influenced by strategic geo-political considerations and prioritisation of high-profile emergencies.
Based on case studies conducted in Afghanistan, DRC, Pakistan and South Sudan, the report explores principled humanitarian action from the perspectives of both NGOs and donors. It examines hurdles and opportunities humanitarian organisations face when trying to adhere to the principles of humanity, impartiality, independence and neutrality.
"People have the same rights to have their basic needs met, whether they are hit by the high-profile conflict in Afghanistan or by a slow-onset crisis in Niger. It is easy to agree on this, yet humanitarian funding, as for today, is often driven more by political considerations than by needs," says Elisabeth Rasmusson, Secretary General at the Norwegian Refugee Council.
There is also a lack of adequate mechanisms to establish and prioritise needs on a global scale, acknowledges the report.
"Impartial needs assessments are essential to identifying populations at risk and facilitating informed funding decisions. Yet our research finds that prioritisation does not always reflect the reality on the ground and political concerns are often prioritised over good donorship", says Sara Pantuliano Head of the Humanitarian Policy Group at ODI.
The report makes several concrete recommendations to humanitarian organisations, including establishing common positions on what constitutes humanitarian action and funding, and to donors, including adopting safeguards to separated humanitarian assistance from any political or military agenda.
"It is my hope that this report will help to move the debate on the importance of the humanitarian principles forward, and I hope it will galvanise action to implement concrete safeguards for principled humanitarian funding," says Rasmusson.
The report is part of a wider project on Strengthening principled humanitarian response capacities, supported by ECHO and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. An important part of the project will be a high-level conference in Brussels on 4th December 2012 where humanitarian organisations and state representatives from the EU and third-countries will meet to discuss the report and challenges involved in principled humanitarian action. The report can be downloaded here: http://www.nrc.no/?did=9662706
Press contacts: Tiril Skarstein, Media Adviser, NRC - +47 90 56 92 87 Ingrid Macdonald, Geneva Representative, NRC and report co-author - +47 90 80 64 62