Commission staff working paper

Coherence between humanitarian aid and other policies

1. Transition and Linking Relief, Rehabilitation and Development (LRRD)

In 2009, the Commission worked extensively with other Commission services to refine the concept of linking relief, rehabilitation and development. This followed previous development in EU polices and instruments such as policies on fragility and security in development, the establishment of the Instrument for Stability, and reorganisation of co-operation instruments. This work complements the day-to-day work of country desk officers and personnel in the field who work on transition situations in the countries for which they are responsible.

Nonetheless it is worth mentioning that the LRRD approach is not limited to the notion of exit strategies for humanitarian aid, particularly in situations where humanitarian and development actors are present for a long period. As indicated in the European Consensus on Humanitarian Aid, LRRD challenges are tackled by applying a policy mix of humanitarian, stabilisation and development interventions which ensure the coherence of European interventions programmed and implemented simultaneously or successively in a country.

2. Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) – Climate Change

Throughout 2009, policy work on Disaster Risk Reduction and climate change was driven forward.

The Commission produced a Communication on EU strategy supporting Disaster Risk Reduction in developing countries⁴ (February 2009) and developed a plan to implement EU risk reduction strategy.

Based on this Communication, the new strategy entitled "A Strategic Approach to Disaster Risk Reduction in Humanitarian Aid" builds on the Commission’s experience in disaster preparedness. The main aim is to define a coherent framework for risk reduction, financed from the humanitarian aid budget in the context of the EU policy and strategy in this field, linking the Communication with the Hyogo Framework of Action⁵.

The Commission has also started work on its own approach to the humanitarian impact of climate change. It will review current knowledge on climate change, analyse current responses to natural disasters, and formulate recommendations for EU-financed humanitarian operations.

In the run-up to the UN conference on climate change in Copenhagen, the Commission called on the international community to reinforce the link between disaster risk reduction activities and adapting to climate change, as to merge them in a coherent and innovative approach. This could boost the overall efficiency of humanitarian aid.

The Commission took part in the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction organised by the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) in Geneva. This was a good opportunity to enhance European institutions' involvement in disaster risk reduction. ECHO organised a particularly successful Commission stand, which enabled it to make available information and create new links and potential synergies with other organisations involved in risk reduction.

Finally, the Commission through ECHO developed strategic dialogue and strengthened relations in risk reduction, particularly with UNISDR, which is an important player in the field of disaster risk reduction and adaptation to climate change.

3. Civil Protection

Co-ordination with EU civil protection actors and the Commission's Monitoring and Information Centre (MIC) was actively strengthened i.e. through training sessions organised by the Community Mechanism for Civil Protection and the 23rd Meeting of the Directors-General for Civil Protection from the EU Member States, European Economic Area countries and candidate countries in Gothenburg in December 2009.

The European Commission also distributed joint situation reports from field level on disasters outside the EU. This helped to strengthen co-ordination among EU humanitarian aid and civil protection actors and rapid and coherent information was made available to EU Member States. Implementation of the Commission's 2008 Communication on Reinforcing the Union's Disaster Response Capacity continued in line with the Action Plan.

4. Civil-Military relations

Civil-military issues also took greater prominence in 2009. The Commission became more active in calling for the protection of humanitarian space and the humanitarian mandate. Several meetings were held, including a contribution to the Finabel Military Committee⁶ in Poland in June. The EU continued to fund civil-military liaison actions in the field in countries including Afghanistan.

4. Good Humanitarian Donorship

The Commission was co-chair (together with the Netherlands) for the Good Humanitarian Donorship (GHD) Initiative for the period July 2008-July 2009. This coincided with the adoption of the European Consensus on Humanitarian Aid and helped to build up the good donorship project by involving all EU donors in the process. The Commission thus showed its strong commitment to leading policy and strategic dialogue processes among donors both at EU and international levels.

The co-chairs drew up a work plan in consultation with other donors, with comments from Inter-Agency Standing Committee⁷ representatives. The plan aims to structure work on good donorship around three main priorities:

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  Partnership
  
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  Humanitarian financing based on needs
  
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  Applying good donorship operationally
  

Work progressed over the year on all three priorities. The newly-appointed co-chairs have indicated they would like to continue this over the year ahead.

Four main one-day 'working level' donor meetings and two major senior-level meetings among donors and Inter-Agency Standing Committee partner representatives were organised in Geneva and Montreux. Ahead of each Geneva meeting, the co-chairs met representatives from the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Aid (OCHA), the International Council of Voluntary Associations (one of the main humanitarian NGO umbrella groups) and the Standing Committee for Humanitarian Response, which includes the Red Cross Movement and its secretariat, co-chairs of the Global Humanitarian Platform.

The co-chairs also held a meeting with the full membership of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee-Good Humanitarian Donorship contact group, which was re-established this year to liaise with donors. The Netherlands also convened four shorter meetings of the Rome group on good donorship, for which the Commission provided assistance and inputs.

As a result of this role, the Commission was able to use good donorship as a bridge between EU work and discussions with other donors and partner representatives. The agenda reflected a balanced and operational view of good donorship in practice. Discussions on needs assessment were considerably boosted as a result. There was closer examination of ways in which the principles of good donorship and good practice could be applied in the field, particularly as regards improving donor co-ordination. The Republic of Korea was the 36^th donor to join the initiative. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) 'humanitarian' peer review framework was thoroughly revised by consensus to include renewed emphasis on quality (e.g. cross-cutting issues) and more humanitarian-sensitive formulation around 'transition' (early recovery). The good donorship process was broadened beyond 'like-minded' core donors, and is increasingly viewed by Inter-Agency Standing Committee as the key interlocutor with which to tackle a range of systemic issues on a consensual basis.

The Commission also used its role in the good donorship process to strengthen the integration of new European members. It continued as convenor of sessions for newcomers to the process, convening sessions co-hosted with Hungary and Estonia respectively. In addition, in its capacity as Good Humanitarian Donorship co-chair, the Commission was invited to speak at the OCHA Donor Support Group outreach event in Tallinn in June 2009.

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