Imagining More Effective Humanitarian Aid: A Donor Perspective

This paper is intended to provoke debate, and stimulate further thinking and study, about humanitarian effectiveness, and what that will mean for donors and other stakeholders, in the run-up to the World Humanitarian Summit in 2016. Today’s humanitarian system is made up of many different moving parts. These different parts are guided by different standards and learning initiatives, all aimed at promoting an effective humanitarian response. However, the system itself does not yet have a core set of shared values, and it is not clear whether the overall humanitarian endeavour is fit for purpose or optimally configured, given the challenges of a changing global context, and the increasing complexity of crises. A common framework for humanitarian effectiveness, designed to promote collective responsibility and mutual accountability, would ensure that each actor would be held accountable for their contribution to the same characteristics of effectiveness – based on what they can control, what they can influence and where they advocate – no matter who was assessing them. No doubt, a shared understanding of humanitarian effectiveness will also stimulate change in the design, tools and approaches, and results measurement, within the humanitarian system.