Humanitarian Action
GPPi contributes research and advice on humanitarian action from a governance perspective. We support organizations in their quest to maintain the focus on people amidst expanding bureaucratic demands. We ask what it takes to adapt to insecurity while maintaining a principled approach. We accompany reform processes based on a sober analysis of their political economy. We try to understand the roles and interests of different actors involved in the humanitarian sector. Through various methods, we facilitate learning to help organizations improve on what they do and how they do it.
The Logic of Protection Approaches
Every day, civilians suffer under armed groups. To end these violations, protection actors use a range of methods. What are they?
Doubling Down on the Nexus
How does UNHCR cooperate with its development partners? And how does their partnership affect refugees? This report offers findings from a three-year-long first phase (2018−2021) evaluation with the International Security and Development Center.
Independent Review of Individual Donor Assessments in Humanitarian Operations
Despite the Grand Bargain commitment to curb individual donor assessments, the number of donor assessments are on the rise. This report demonstrates why this is happening, which donors are responsible and what can be done to better balance the needs and interests of agencies and donors.
Why Humanitarians Should Tell a More Hopeful Story
Today’s crises are urgent. So is the climate emergency. But for its long-term credibility and sustainability, the humanitarian sector should set aside hyperbole and take a closer look at the data.
Understanding the Dynamics of Humanitarian Data Sharing with Donors
Humanitarian organizations are collecting and sharing an increasing amount of data from the people they assist. If not adequately secured, this information can be used to target specific individuals or communities. We conducted a study on how risks materialize when humanitarian organizations share data on affected people with donors.
Select Projects
Evaluating the International Response to the Humanitarian Crisis in Somalia
Over the past decade, Somalia has faced continuous droughts, with the incredibly severe 2021 – 2023 droughts compounding the effects of previous crises. In this project, we analyze the international response launched in response to this ever-worsening humanitarian crisis.
Evaluation: UNHCR and Humanitarian-Development Cooperation
We took stock of UNHCR’s level of cooperation with development actors, assessing the effects of this cooperation, and supporting UNHCR in refining its strategy and operational approach.
Protecting Civilians from Harm
The aim of this project is to strengthen the protection of civilians by finding out how protection actors attempt to influence armies and non-state armed groups to keep civilian populations safe.
Harmonizing Donor Reporting
Complicated reporting requirements are not just an administrative burden – they often eat up time and energy that would be better spent on the humanitarian response itself. We developed a new template to simplify narrative reporting. Then donors, UN agencies and NGOs tested it for two years, with encouraging results.
Experts
Andrea Binder
András Derzsi-Horváth
Susanna Krüger
Claudia Meier
Julia Steets
Marie Wagner
Oheneba Boateng
Alexander Gaus
Julian Lehmann
Elias Sagmeister
Sofie Lilli Stoffel
Florian Westphal
Funding & Contact
Our funders and clients include: the Cash Learning Partnership (CaLP), the Danish Refugee Council (DRC), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the European Commission Directorate-General for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection (DG ECHO), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the German Federal Foreign Office (AA), the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), Phineo, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA), the UK Department for International Development (DFID), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and the World Food Programme (WFP).
For more information, please contact Julia Steets.
