Photo courtesy of UNICEF.
UNICEF/IRQ/07/Sabah Arar
WHAT WE DO
M A P FINA NCIA L FLO WS
We highlight connections between humanitarian aid
flows, mapping out who spends what, and where,
enabling donors, NGOs, governments and local
communities to better respond to people in
humanitarian need.
P RO V IDE A CCE SS TO DA TA and INFO
We provide no-spin analysis on humanitarian aid flows.
By helping policymakers, practitioners, researchers,
students and journalists to cut through the complexities
that make humanitarian definitions and financial
reporting difficult, we hope to contribute to evidence-
based policy making, responsible reporting,
accountability and improved delivery.
E NCO URA GE DE B A TE
We contribute to the broader aid effectiveness agenda
by helping to build and support the network for
transparency in humanitarian aid reporting. We want to
encourage debate on the issues rather than argue
about what the numbers are.
P RO V IDE P E RSP E CTIV E B EYO ND CRIS IS
Our work on humanitarian assistance is in the wider
context of a global commitment to poverty reduction
and interconnects with global, regional and national
concerns such as climate change, financial crises,
conflict and chronic poverty.
humanitarian aid.
clarity counts.
Inform. Engage. Empower.
We believe that better information on
humanitarian financing and the capacity to use it
are necessary conditions for effective aid and the
longer-term goal of poverty reduction:
• governments could plan better programmes
• donors and delivery organisations could avoid
duplication, increase efficiency and better target
those in need
• journalists and civil society could be better
informed to hold those involved in delivery to
account
• people who give money could understand how
their money is spent
• people who are supposed to receive money
would be better empowered to make informed
decisions.
The provision of accurate data and information on
humanitarian financing has the potential to inform,
engage and empower beyond those currently
‘inside’ the complex international humanitarian
system.
We hope that by mapping out the relationships,
being clear about what the figures do and don’t
tell us – and by being transparent about what we
do and don’t know – will help us all focus on and
engage in the real issues that affect people in
crisis situations rather than argue about what the
numbers are or should be.
WHAT OUR WORK HIGHLIGHTS
• Donors spend their humanitarian aid largely in
chronic crises – this challenges the assumption that
humanitarian work is ‘short-term’ and ‘life-saving’.
• With a growing focus on fragile states, donor funding
for post-conflict and security-related activities is
increasing.
• The increased impact of natural disasters is exposing
more people to insecurity.There are now far more
small and medium-sized natural disasters and the
average number of people affected by them has
doubled since the 1980s.
• The humanitarian system has been converging and
standardising over the last 10 years through
agreements on policy and coordination. Increasing
participation by new actors creates additional funding
and new ideas – but it also poses challenges if
integration is the way forward.
• The changing patterns of humanitarian crises, the
links between chronic poverty and vulnerability to risk,
and the long-term practice of spending the bulk of
humanitarian funding in countries in protracted
emergencies, are all challenges to the humanitarian
architecture as currently conceived – because despite
the convergence, the institutional arrangements for
development and humanitarian assistance often
remain separate.
GLOBALHUMANITARIANASSISTANCE.ORG
 HOW WE WORK What you can expect from us HOW WE ARE FUNDED

The Global Humanitarian Assistance team comprises
researchers, analysts and policy advisors with practical
field experience and backgrounds in development
financing and reporting. We are all interested in the
challenge of providing information with clarity and
concision.
G LOB A L TRE NDS
Jan Kellett is the programme leader and focuses on
global policy issues, contextualising humanitarian aid
and strategy.
jan@devinit.org
G OV E RNM E NTS
Kerry Smith and Lisa Walmsley manage our work on
humanitarian financing from governments.
kerry@devinit.org and lisa@devinit.org
DE LIV E RY AG E NCIES
Velina Stoianova is leading our work to collect
information on the income and expenditure of
humanitarian delivery agencies.
velina@devinit.org
CO NFLICT A ND THE M ILITA RY
Lydia Poole is compiling and analysing data on security-
related and military resource flows to crisis-affected
states.
lydia@devinit.org
Our aim is to make the global humanitarian Global Humanitarian Assistance is a Development
assistance effort more effective by: Initiatives programme. Development Initiatives is a
group of people committed to eradicating poverty.
• mapping finances that support humanitarian
crises Global Humanitarian Assistance is a not-for-profit
• supporting access to transparent and programme and is funded by grants from the
understandable data and information on those governments of Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands,
funding flows. Sweden and the United Kingdom.
Our work clearly highlights the need to situate this
within the wider context of funds for aid and
poverty reduction – whether they are domestic or
international, designed to reduce poverty or the
risk of future disaster, to help keep the peace or to
help with stabilisation and governance.
We want people to be able to navigate the
complex world of humanitarian financing so that
they can find and understand the data and
information they need in order to draw their own
conclusions for their own work.
You can email or call any of us for help,
clarification or to provide feedback on the
analyses, reports, updates, articles, special
features and case studies that we publish online
and in hard copy.
Inform. Engage. Empower.

DO M ES TIC RE S PO NS E
Jane Keylock is leading our work to investigate the
sources, type, volume and impact of domestic
response.
jane@devinit.org

S CA LE O F NEE DS
Lydia Poole and Velina Stoianova are leading our work
on providing access to source data on humanitarian
need, transparency in the debate towards the pursuit of
an objective means of measuring humanitarian needs.

lydia@devinit.org and velina@devinit.org

Development Initiatives | Keward Court, Jocelyn Drive, Wells, BA5 1DB, UK

Tel +44 (0) 1749 671343 | Fax: +44 (0) 1749 676721 | gha@devinit.org
April 2010
GLOBALHUMANITARIANASSISTANCE.ORG