Diversity in donorship: the
changing landscape of
official humanitarian aid

Historically, a small number of Western governments have provided the bulk of the funding for humanitarian action. Through membership of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the OECD these donors have dominated public debates about the direction, purpose, principles and methodology of relief. However, in recent years, non DAC donor governments, such as China, India, the Gulf States have become involved in the response to complex crises and natural disasters. In response to the Indian Ocean tsunami in early 2005, for example, 70 non DAC donors responded with pledges of support. The growth in the number of non DAC donors presents the humanitarian community with significant opportunities, not least in challenging perceptions that the countries of the industrialised West are the only providers of assistance to the developing world. It also presents significant challenges to the way in which the international humanitarian system is financed, managed and coordinated.

HPG’s 2005 Diversity in Donorship study examined the nature and scope of non DAC donorship and established a number of core findings. In particular,

• Non DAC donors have accounted for up to 12% of official humanitarian financing in a given year.

• Very few non DAC donors follow the objectives of official humanitarian aid as set out by the DAC, and like many DAC donors, much of their aid is related to foreign policy and security objectives.

• Non DAC resources are being concentrated in a specific few countries, including Afghanistan, North Korea and the occupied Palestine Territories.

• Non-DAC donors prefer bilateral aid over multilateral routes, particularly government-to-government, as well as through national operational agencies like the Red Cross and Red Crescent societies.

• Intergovernmental and interagency organisations, such as the UN, the DAC and the European Union, are beginning to recognise the contribution of these donors and the need to broaden dialogue about international humanitarian action to make it more geographically, politically and culturally representative.

Field lessons
A second phase of HPG’s research will be taken forward in 2007 which aims to focus on non-DAC donor practices in the field. The research will be primarily carried out through extended field studies in 3-4 countries which will involve both complex emergencies and disasters. The study will examine how needs are determined, how interventions are prioritised, non-DAC donor approaches to coordination in the field, as well as approaches to questions of impact and aid effectiveness, monitoring and evaluation activities.

A second aspect of the study will examine the extent to which approaches to south–south aid engagement and triangular cooperation (with UN or other agencies) are evolving, and the extent to which mentoring and lesson-learning exercises are being conducted between DAC and non-DAC donors, including joint peer review exercises.

A desk based review will be published in advance of the field studies, available in March 2007.