Donantes

Number 20 September 2005
Humanitarian Policy Group

HPG Research Briefing
Diversity in donorship: the changing landscape of official humanitarian aid
Researched, written and published by the Humanitarian Policy Group at ODI

Adele Harmer and Lin Cotterrell, HPG
More and more governments are becoming involved in the response to complex crises and natural disasters. This growth in thenumber and diversity of official aid donors challenges perceptions that the rich industrialised countries are the only providers of assistance to crisis-affected states. It also presents important challenges to the way in which the international humanitarian system is financed, managed and coordinated.
In terms of the total volume of official aid, a small number of primarily Western governmentsprovide the lion’s share of international humanitarian assistance. These countries are represented on the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. However, DAC donors have never enjoyed a monopoly on humanitarian action, and a diverse range of other countries has been engaged in international humanitarian response for many years. States fromthe Gulf, parts of Asia and Central Europe have been particularly active; South Africa and some countries in Latin America have also provided aid. The research reported on here refers to these governments as non-DAC donors, albeit with the proviso that they do not constitute a homogenous group. Given the long history of aid engagement among many non-DAC donors, why should they be seen asparticularly important today? First, the visibility of a number of non-DAC donors has increased over the past few years. In some protracted crises, such as the occupied Palestinian territories (OPT), North Korea, Iraq and Afghanistan, nonDAC donors exert both financial and policy influence. The growth in contributions from non-DAC donors has caused some operational agencies, including UN agencies, to revisetheir fundraising and partnership strategies. Second, it is generally acknowledged that there is a need to broaden the dialogue about international humanitarian assistance, and to make it more geographically, politically and culturally representative. Organisations concerned with humanitarian action, such as the UN, the DAC and the European Union (EU), are beginning to recognise the contributionof a wider range of donors. Regional groups like the League of Arab States, the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the African Union have begun to act as fora where aid policy and related issues can be discussed.

About HPG The Humanitarian Policy Group at the Overseas Development Institute is dedicated to improving humanitarian policy and practice. It conducts independentresearch, provides specialist advice and promotes informed debate.
Britain’s leading independent think-tank on international development and humanitarian issues Overseas Development Institute 111 Westminster Bridge Road London SE1 7JD United Kingdom Tel. +44 (0) 20 7922 0300 Fax. +44 (0) 20 7922 0399 E-mail: hpg@odi.org.uk Websites: www.odi.org.uk/hpg and www.odihpn.org

HPG RESEARCH BRIEFING
Thethird issue concerns the way in which geopolitical and security concerns shape the nature of humanitarian response. Since 9/11, the counter-terror and security agenda has influenced international aid debates, particularly in correlating security and aid interests. This has had a particular influence in the Gulf States, given their focus on the Middle East and North Africa. These governments haveattempted to raise the profile of their aid programmes, while at the same time increasing their regulatory control over private charitable activities, which have received negative publicity in the aftermath of 9/11. This has adversely affected humanitarian operational capacity in the region, and may have increased perceptions of significant divisions between Western and Islamic traditions of...