ReliefWeb

Introduction

Good, but not good enough Tens of millions of people receive vital humanitarian aid every year, but millions more suffer without adequate help and protection, and their number is relentlessly rising.
Far too often their suffering is because their governments cannot, or intentionally will not, ensure their citizens’ access to aid and protection.

In addition, international aid has not kept pace with the rising tide of climate-related disasters and seemingly intractable conflicts, and promises to help affected people reduce their vulnerability to future disasters and lead their own humanitarian response have not yet been kept.

The international humanitarian system—the vast UN-led network in which Oxfam and other international nongovernmental organizations (INGOs), the Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement, and others play key roles—is not saving as many lives as it could because of deep design flaws that perpetuate an unsustainable reliance by aid recipients on international donors.

Despite these flaws, much has been accomplished in the past 70 years. Courageous aid workers have saved thousands of lives and provided vital services such as health care, water, and protection to millions. But today’s system is overstretched, and humanitarian assistance is often insufficient, late, and inappropriate for the local context.

How do we right this wrong? By shifting more power, resources, and responsibility from the international actors—UN agencies, wealthy donor countries, large INGOs, and the Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement—to local actors, including Red Cross/Red Crescent local chapters, national governments, national NGOs, local NGOs, community-based groups, and other civil society organizations.

It’s a huge task. Today, only a small fraction of funding is given directly to local actors. More often, local humanitarian aid workers take direction from the international humanitarian community, which tends to relegate them to the role of subcontractors, rather than equal partners. This role leaves the local actors in no better position to prevent or respond to the next crisis.

In addition, donors and national governments are investing too little in prevention and risk reduction efforts that could diminish the need for humanitarian response.