Reducing Aid Dependency

Increasingly, humanitarian actors are adopting a development logic within their responses, doing things like strengthening national systems and service delivery (in health, education, and social protection) and investing in the livelihoods and self-reliance of those they serve. We examine how organizations can adapt their policies and approaches to make them work in practice. Discover some of our key observations from past work:

Refugee access to the labor market can significantly increase household income and reduce protection needs – even when and external shock like the Covid-19 pandemic hits.

Doubling Down on the Nexus: UNHCR’s Engagement in Humanitarian-Development Cooperation 2018 – 2021

Relying on national systems will often bring service quality down – a trade-off humanitarians need to navigate.

Doubling Down on the Nexus: UNHCR’s Engagement in Humanitarian-Development Cooperation 2018 – 2021

Access to services and resident status can be strong drivers of self-reliance.

The Nexus Agenda: How to Stay the Course

Humanitarian actors can promote including refugees in national social protection through aligning humanitarian cash programmes with national social protection systems.

How to Stay the Course

Humanitarian assistance creates incentives. Work with them and create incentives for affected people that support long-term development.

Evaluation: The International Response to the Humanitarian Crisis in Somalia

Joint situation analyses and needs assessments between humanitarians and development actors are essential to develop a common understanding of the crisis situation and to harmonize policies.

Improving Humanitarian Assistance: A Transatlantic Agenda for Action