Policy Development for the European Union's Humanitarian Aid Department (DG ECHO)

January 2012 – December 2012

Project context

As the world's largest humanitarian donor, the European Union needs effective policies to ensure that resources are distributed according to need and used to protect lives and alleviate suffering. It also needs policies to navigate humanitarian action through the changing landscape of global politics. Climate change, technological innovations, the complexity and volatility of today’s conflicts and the rising humanitarian profile of countries like India, Qatar, Turkey or Brazil – these all impact humanitarianism. As a result, there is a constant need to develop, review and adapt policies in virtually all areas of humanitarian action, ranging from food assistance to water and sanitation, gender, protection or coordination.

Project objectives

The European Union's humanitarian aid department, DG ECHO, has selected GPPi, together with Groupe Urgence-Réhabilitation-Développement (Groupe URD) and Instituto de Estudios sobre Conflictos y Acción humanitaria (IECAH) through an open call for tender, to support the European Commission Directorate-General for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection (DG ECHO) in developing and implementing policies through research, workshop facilitation and the dissemination of results.

The three leading European institutions in the humanitarian sector have founded the INSPIRE consortium for this purpose. The consortium is coordinated by Groupe URD and will provide DG ECHO with advice and expertise on critical humanitarian issues and assist in shaping its humanitarian policies throughout 2012. The consortium will develop humanitarian policies in close consultation with DG ECHO, its partners and beneficiaries on a variety of issues such as gender, food assistance, civil-military relations, protection and linking relief rehabilitation and development.

The project will begin by assessing the current status of DG ECHO’s humanitarian policies before drawing up a detailed plan of action. After the initial needs assessment has been carried out, the consortium will provide DG ECHO with support in developing policies and disseminating them through research, studies, methodological work, workshops, training and an IT-based knowledge management platform.

For more information on this project, please contact Andrea Binder.