Mobilizing Resources for Humanitarian Assistance

CIC initiated the project on "Resources for Humanitarian Assistance" in 1996, in cooperation with multilateral and non-governmental leaders in the field. The project examines issues in the management, coordination, and financing of humanitarian assistance, with the goal of improving aid delivery to victims of war and disaster.

To date, under the Resources for Humanitarian Assistance project, CIC has hosted two international conferences, bringing together senior officers from the principal humanitarian agencies, as well as donor government representatives and other experts in the field, to focus on critical topics affecting humanitarian efforts. The first conference, "Resources for Humanitarian Assistance," held at Pocantico in September 1997, examined how funding patterns affected the quality and timeliness of humanitarian deliveries, and produced an agenda for additional research and policy consultations. The follow-up conference, held at West Point in March 2000, was entitled "New Dimensions in Humanitarian Aid" and honed in on three key areas identified by the earlier meeting and research: humanitarian preparedness, local representation in the senior management of humanitarian programming, and regional responsibility sharing in humanitarian assistance.

With guidance from its International Advisory Group, the project is going forward to develop strategies to ensure the core competencies of the international humanitarian system are maintained, and that the necessary financial and human resources are available for preparedness and response. In particular, the project is focusing on the potential for, and appropriateness of, locating leadership and responsibility for crisis response in the regions in which they occur, and the strengthening of local and regional capacities for such response.

Publications

The US and the Bilateralisation of Humanitarian Response, HPG Background Paper December 2002 by Abby Stoddard
www.odi.org.uk/hpg/donorship.html

"Humanitarian NGOs: Challenges and Trends" by Abby Stoddard (forthcoming chapter in HPG Report, Overseas Development Institute)

Briefing Paper: "Trends in U.S. Humanitarian Policy" by Abby Stoddard (for Humanitarian Policy Group, ODI)

Full Chapter: "Trends in U.S. Humanitarian Policy"
by Abby Stoddard (full paper, in Macrae J (ed) (2002) The New Humanitarianisms: A Review of Trends in Global Humanitarian Action, Overseas Development Institute, London, chapter 4)

International Assistance Organizations
by Shepard Forman and Abby Stoddard (in The State of Nonprofit America Lester M. Salamon, ed., forthcoming 2002, Brookings Press)

Paying for Essentials: Mobilizing Resources for Humanitarian Assistance
by Shepard Forman and Rita Parhad

Underwriting Humanitarian Assistance: Mobilizing Resources for Effective Action
by Shepard Forman

The Preparedness Challenge in Humanitarian Assistance
by the Center on International Cooperation with Lester Salamon and Associates

Building Regional and National Capacities for Leadership in Humanitarian Assistance
by Dirk Salomons, The Praxis Group, Ltd. with Matthias Finger, Arjuna