The UN and partners have launched two funding appeals to meet humanitarian needs resulting from the crisis in Syria, the Syria Humanitarian Response Plan (SHARP) and the Syria Regional Response Plan (RRP).

Together these appeals request US$1.5 billion, with around US$1 billion for the RRP, to meet the needs of more than half a million refugees who have fled Syria to Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, Turkey and Egypt and US$519 million through the SHARP to meet the needs of over 4 million people inside Syria. Key points to note concerning funding for Syria in 2013 include:

The UN consolidated appeals process (CAP) 2013, presented to the donor community on 14 December 2012, includes humanitarian action plans and corresponding funding requirements to meet the needs of 51 million people across 16 major global crises.

Today, Development Initiatives publishes Aid investments in disaster risk reduction, providing the latest comprehensive analysis on leading government aid donors’ investments in reducing risk of humanitarian disasters.

The report reveals that:

· Whilst the importance of disaster risk reduction (DRR) is acknowledged by most donors, the scale of their involvement varies considerably. Only a few donors engage significantly with DRR efforts or actively commit funds.

2012 has brought welcome news of the progress made in bringing water and sanitation to the many people worldwide still without access to these essential services. The Joint Monitoring Programme between the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF reported that the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target for water was achieved in 2010, five years ahead of schedule, with two billion people gaining access to clean water over the last two decades. This achievement illustrates how well-planned and well-targeted investment can deliver effective results globally.

“It is no exaggeration to suggest that the (transparency) movement...will produce the most important transformation in the 50 years of modern development experience. Transparency will lead us to new achievements in poverty reduction.”

Brian Atwood, Chair of the OECD DAC

International spending on disaster risk reduction (DRR) requires dramatic review.

20th March 2012 – The Global Humanitarian Assistance (GHA) programme launches a new report today, Disaster risk reduction: Spending where it should count. The report provides a comprehensive view of the levels of international DRR spending, placed in the context of need and vulnerability, and reveals the shockingly low levels of investment and inequities of funding in this area at a time when the need for enhanced focus on the reduction of risk is paramount.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Humanitarian aid is being stretched. Millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa are living with conflict and its legacy; natural disasters such as the earthquake in Haiti and the floods in Pakistan have the power to disrupt and sometimes even paralyse economic and social infrastructure; recovery and reconstruction remain uneven following large-scale conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan; and political turmoil is escalating in parts of the Middle East and North Africa.

Afghanistan: the changing face of aid through a decade of conflict

16th February 2011 - The Global Humanitarian Assistance (GHA) programme launches its latest publication, mapping aid flows to Afghanistan since 2002. This latest report sheds light on Afghanistan's rapid transformation into the world's leading recipient of aid. It reveals the nature of the domestic and international aid architecture which has developed to receive and administer the growing volume of aid, which reached US$6.1 billion in 2009, and captures some of the major aid trends, actors

GHA Report 2010 presents the very latest data on financial flows to humanitarian crises. Chapters on conflict and the military, domestic response, the scale of needs, donor and recipient governments, pooled humanitarian funding and delivery agencies reveal the complexity of humanitarian response - multiple international and national actors working in highly varied contexts where the lines between humanitarian and other interventions is continually blurred.

How can an aid architecture that draws such firm lines between humanitarian and development activities serve the