Falling short? Humanitarian funding and reform

Executive summary

2023 saw a reduction in humanitarian assistance and mixed progress on key areas of reform – localisation, cash and voucher assistance and anticipatory action

• Overview
• Funding to local and national actors
• Cash and voucher assistance
• Anticipatory action and other pre-arranged financing mechanisms

Chapter Two

Funding to local and national actors

Grand Bargain donors provided just 0.6% of funding directly to local and national actors, and transparency of intermediaries remains a challenge.

• Summary
• Is funding to local and national actors increasing?
• How are Grand Bargain signatories channelling humanitarian funding?
• What progress was made on the provision of overheads?
• The stalling of the localisation agenda: Conclusion and recommendations

Chapter Four

Pre-arranged finance for anticipatory action

Anticipatory action accounted for a tiny fraction of humanitarian funding in 2023, despite its potential to more effectively mitigate impacts from a greater proportion of disasters than reactive responses.

• Summary
• How much funding was available to and disbursed by anticipatory action frameworks?
• Who coordinated or was involved in active anticipatory action frameworks?
• Increasing anticipatory action: Conclusion and recommendations