14 June 2007

GPPi publishes study on business engagement in humanitarian relief

GPPi’s research team presents the latest background paper from HPG’s Monitoring Trends series on corporate engagement in humanitarian action. The 30-page background paper, entitled "Business engagement in humanitarian relief: key trends and policy implications” was written by GPPi Research Associate Andrea Binder and Associate Director Jan Martin Witte. It is the result of a research project entitled "Corporate engagement in Disaster Preparedness and Humanitarian Response" that was commissioned by the Humanitarian Policy Group (HPG) of the Overseas Development Institute (ODI).

The background paper explores systematically the new role companies are playing in humanitarian action. It assesses the forms of such engagement (commercially or non-commercialy, on a partnership or an individual basis) and reveals the underlying motivations of companies that become involved in humanitarian relief. The paper addresses the question whether this new corporate engagement represents potential competition for funds to traditional humanitarian actors and sheds light on how private sector engagement impacts humanitarian principles.

The paper is based on an extensive scoping exercise, on eight illustrative case studies and numerous interviews with experts and practitioners. The study finds that business engagement has increased in size, scope and frequency. However, focusing on natural disaster response, business engagement in financial value terms remains relatively small compared with overall humanitarian flows.

To download the study, please click here (PDF, 1.8 MB).

For more information, please contact Jan Martin Witte or Andrea Binder.

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