Humanitarian Action

GPPi contributes research and advice to support a sustainable, effective and accountable humanitarian system. We help organizations in their quest to maintain a focus on people in need when navigating complex crises – all the while, coping with less funding and more bureaucratic demands. We ask what it takes to deal with insecurity, while maintaining a principled approach. We accompany organizations through reform processes, providing sober analyses of actors, interests, opportunities, and barriers. We explore approaches to reducing aid dependency and examine how humanitarian actors can prepare for crisis, by readying themselves to anticipate humanitarian emergencies and be able to act.

Select Engagements

Project

Evaluation: WFP’s Approach to Targeting and Prioritization

With dramatically diminishing resources, humanitarian organizations like the World Food Programme have to make tough decisions about whom to assist, how long to provide support and what activities to prioritize. We evaluate the WFP’s approaches to targeting’ and prioritization’ for food and nutrition assistance.

Project

Evaluation: 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.

Project

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.

Project

Research: 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.

Past event: Shaping Germany’s Aid, Post-Election

It’s a crucial moment to rethink the future of humanitarian aid: with the humanitarian system at a breaking point and Germany navigating a new post-election political landscape, GPPi, in partnership with the Robert Bosch Academy and the Centre for Humanitarian Action (CHA), brought together leading voices to explore a path forward. 

Learn more

Featured Publications

Commentary

A Humanitarian Reset Has Started: It’s Time to Act on What We Already Know

Evaluations show that, despite warranted criticism, the humanitarian system works. Decades of systematically collected evidence in the UN-led humanitarian system provide concrete suggestions for change. Now is the time to implement them.

Evaluation report

Evaluation of ICRC’s Athens Delegation 2016-2024

After 10 years of presence in Greece, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Athens Delegation will close by the end of 2024. GPPi has conducted an independent evaluation of the mission.

Report

2023 Stocktake for the Risk-Informed Early Action Partnership

How close is the partnership to its 2025 goal of making 1 billion people safer from disaster” through better warning systems and community preparedness?

Evaluation report

Evaluation of the Policy on WFP’s Role in Peacebuilding in Transition Settings

What effects did the World Food Programme’s projects have on conflict and peace dynamics? How relevant were their policy implementation measures? What factors enabled or hindered their impact? An evaluation from 2012 to 2021.

Experts

Andrea Binder

Non-Resident Fellow

András Derzsi-Horváth

Non-Resident Fellow

Karla Kröner

Research Associate

Julian Lehmann

Project Manager

Elias Sagmeister

Non-Resident Fellow

Sofie Lilli Stoffel

Research Fellow

Florian Westphal

Non-Resident Fellow

Oheneba Boateng

Non-Resident Fellow

Alexander Gaus

Project Manager

Susanna Krüger

Non-Resident Fellow

Claudia Meier

Non-Resident Fellow

Julia Steets

Director

Marie Wagner

Non-Resident Fellow

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), Malteser International, 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 former 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.

Most Recent Publications