In our article How can donors best respond during humanitarian emergencies? we shared what to look out for when choosing which emergency appeals to support and what kind of help is best.
This is useful for the immediate response to a crisis, which is always important. But there can be benefit in looking at a long-term, strategic approach.
What are the longer-term strategic funding opportunities?
Philanthropy provides the opportunity to prevent many humanitarian crises. But most responses focus on immediate relief, which already sits within a larger system of response including from the UN, governments, and local organisations.
We also know that donors often disengage from an emergency after the immediate relief. This is often even before a comprehensive needs-based assessment has been done and a long-term recovery plan has been developed.
Instead, taking a longer-term approach can go beyond providing a short-term ‘fix’. It can help with preparation, mitigation, response and recovery. Here are just some longer-term initiatives to help governments and communities better prepare and respond.
Disaster preparedness
It will always be hard to predict when a disaster or conflict may arise but we can be anticipatory in our approach. Climate science is making it easier to predict hurricanes, earthquake fault lines, and even droughts.
Disaster preparedness and mitigation is an impactful way of supporting humanitarian emergencies. The World Bank and United Nations suggest that investing in this could lead to far reduced losses from crises.
Lessons Experience has shown that it tends to be more effective to plan ahead and arrange required funding in advance. At its core, disaster risk finance advocates for more financial planning. Some donors have started to integrate humanitarian funding into development programmes, known as ‘crisis modifiers’.
This can help speed up response, use local partners for delivery, ensure appropriate coverage of smaller shocks, and protect development gains.
The Department for International Development has used this approach for natural disasters. They are also starting to expand its use to include health shocks such as epidemic outbreaks. Disaster reduction not only looks at the cost to human life but also the cost to basic necessities that communities need.
Improving resilience
Communities can take certain measures to increase their chances of survival, and lessen the impact of a disaster or crisis.
A country with good resilience is one that is able to prepare for disasters and have systems in place to help make the recovery more efficient. Investing in resilience has the ability to save lives and money in the long term.
Doing this well requires an anticipatory approach to disaster. This could include investing in shock resistant infrastructure (buildings, houses, hospitals, schools) that can withstand natural disasters. It is also about investing in human capacity, strengthening government capacity to respond to disasters, creating disaster management plans and structures, as well as economic planning and provisions for future disasters.
Long-term recovery
Recovery follows a more stable period of transition as the emergency subsides and communities have some form of access to food, water and transitional shelter. Recovery can last from months to years. It will depend on how vulnerable the communities were before the crisis, their access to resources, and their adaptability.
After the early recovery, infrastructure can start to be rebuilt and restored. This also provides the opportunity to invest in resilience of structures for potential future crises.
It’s important for funding to continue during this time. But often by this stage philanthropic funding has dried up, and the emergency has been forgotten.
Localisation
Local organisations have better access and networks among communities affected by humanitarian emergencies. Yet, there is still a disconnect between international, national, and local institutions and groups.
Part of this is due to the small proportion of funding from international donors directly reaching local grassroots organisations in crisis affected countries. There is a lack of diversity in this sector, where organisations that do not fit in the formal system are excluded, and new approaches can be side-lined; often these are local grassroots organisations. This can result in support not reaching the neediest communities.
It is important to ensure organisations that you support involve local partners in any needs assessments and decision-making processes to strengthen capacity at a national and sub-national level. This can help local communities become better prepared for future crises and allow them to lead on response efforts.
The key thing to note is that the impact and consequences of humanitarian emergencies will be long term. Whilst a quick 'fix’ donation through an emergency appeal can help ease immediate suffering, there are also other factors to consider.
If you want to help communities get back on their feet, you can fund long-term initiatives such as those mentioned above. This is because there is a gap in funding from the immediate response to the longer term recovery, making this a high impact opportunity.
If you’d like help with developing your giving strategy or identifying which organisations to support, we’re here to help.