Practical strategies to promote needs-based resource allocation.   
 
Over the past two years, the GHD initiative has provided a forum for identifying practical strategies to support needs-based resource allocation. A number of issues have come to the fore on this subject.

a. Can severity indices inform donor decision-making? Canada in cooperation with Ireland, ECHO and the UK, will be hosting a seminar in Brussels to explore the scope and limitations of severity indices in informing resource allocation.  The workshop will take place in Brussels, and is expected to result in a draft briefing note identifying good practice. Agenda, Background paper and the Chair's summary available here.

b. Strengthening the evidence base for humanitarian action Key to efforts to promote needs-based resource allocation is having access to robust evidence as to what those needs are. The Canada, Ireland, ECHO, Sweden, the US and the UK are working to improve coordination of their investments in the humanitarian evidence base. (Further information will be available here at a later date) 

c. Balancing demands for visibility with multilateralism Demands to ensure a visible response to major crises can conflict with demands to use multilateral channels for resource allocation. Denmark will be leading a study to find ways in which donors' can be credited with support, whilst avoiding the problems of earmarking. (The study will be made available here once completed).

A paper was recently commissioned by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland as a resource for the informal Humanitarian Aid Committee meeting of the European Union (EU) in Helsinki, October 19-20 2006. The purpose of this paper is to summarise different EU donor approaches, to analyse the diversity of EU donors and to support both existing and emerging humanitarian donors within the EU in strengthening their implementation of Good Humanitarian Donorship (GHD). This paper can be viewed here.
 

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