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In early 2023, the Independent Review of the Inter Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Response to Internal Displacement concluded that the IASC humanitarian system was “too slow to respond” and “not joined up, if and when it does respond.” This assessment, echoed across numerous evaluations, highlights a systemic gap: despite years of reform, the sector continues to struggle with adapting and coordinating in large-scale, complex crisis, including Myanmar, Syria, Sudan and Ethiopia. To avoid this, greater agility is critical in the early days of an emergency, particularly in complex and politicised crises, rather than defaulting to the position of providing ‘more of the same, faster’.
This report provides a brief summary of the learnings from two strategies that agencies – including ICVA – have employed to improve response agility and leadership: 1) Surge deployments, 2) Strengthening NGO coordination. The reflections are based on an extensive literature review, interviews and workshops, and ICVA’s own experiences.
The importance of effective solutions to strengthening humanitarian leadership and NGO coordination in large scale, complex emergencies is only set to grow: Rising humanitarian needs will increase demand for effective emergency response support and short-term surge and mutual aid. As realignment of the humanitarian sector progresses throughout 2025, it is essential that emergency response capabilities are not simply downsized, but strengthened to be more efficient, more targeted and better connected to existing emergency responders in-country.
1. Reprioritise emergency preparedness and response capacities – recognise it is a core technical function As budgets shrink, emergency management must be prioritised as a core technical area. To maximise efficiencies, this requires integrating emergency management into humanitarian training curricula, investing in dedicated emergency experts and systems, and embedding learning from past emergencies to inform future practice.
2. Strengthen overall agility in emergency preparedness and response Humanitarian emergency response must become more agile and adaptive. This will require a range of solutions including sharing resources and mobilising the comparative advantages of the UN, Red Cross, INGOs, local civil society, government and communities. Practical preparedness exercises and the development of safety protocols and evacuations ahead of time can help build trust among the collective, which is vital to response success. Exploring step-aside policies, shadowing or empowered emergency response leaders for a short period of time can also improve agility and reduce the risk of a “business as usual” approach.
3. Ensure emergency coordination is operationally focused and context driven Coordination at all levels needs to prioritise the facilitation of operational delivery in the most principled and effective manner possible and be a catalyst for agility during emergencies. This requires adapting emergency coordination structures, membership, locations and coordination leaders in accordance to the needs of a context rather than using a standard model.
4. Support local first responders in an emergency where possible As the first responders, local communities, civil society and local authorities should be actively supported and reinforced, to the greatest extent possible. This can include financing, people surge, mutual aid and technical assistance as relevant for a context. Supporting diverse pooled funds and rapid financing mechanisms led by foundations and NGOs, as well as initiatives such as due diligence passporting and reducing barriers to accessing financing and risk transfer to local actors will also yield positive benefits. Short term emergency assistance, technical support and shadowing for local coordination structures can be particularly beneficial.
5. Strengthen shared services Greater efforts should be undertaken by international actors to support collective approaches before and during emergencies, with a particular focus on making these available to local actors. This can include mobilising coordination platforms and sharing technical experts on issues such as safety, access and sectoral approaches. Investing in shared assets such as facilities, warehousing and transport and harnessing specialist common service initiatives and organisations beyond the UN will also be of benefit.
6. Foster a culture of learning, drawing from inside and outside the sector A culture of continuous collective learning on emergency preparedness and response between agencies and inter-agency structures must be fostered. This will require establishing mechanisms for real-time learning during emergencies and incorporating findings into forward planning. Given the overlapping learning and discussions, drawing lessons from both within the humanitarian sector, but also from other actors from disaster risk reduction, public health and national emergency response seen with emergency management actors outside the humanitarian sector is key.
Following the HPC Steering Group strategic discussion in early June, ICVA members and partners have worked together to elaborate a set of key requirements for a future collective, principled and lightened humanitarian planning process. The paper outlines NGO perspectives on what a credible, inclusive, and efficient humanitarian planning process must look like in today’s constrained and complex operational environment.
ICVA hopes this document will help to prompt further discussion with donors and IASC members, including at the HPC Steering Group when the conversation there continues.
À propos de l’adhésion à l’ICVA
L’adhésion à l’ICVA est ouverte aux organisations à but non lucratif enregistrées et alignées sur notre mission d’amélioration des politiques et pratiques humanitaires. Notre stratégie ICVA 2030 met l’accent sur des domaines clés tels que la migration forcée, le financement, la coordination et les enjeux transversaux de transformation.
Détails de l’adhésion
Pour plus d’informations, veuillez consulter le document « Comment rejoindre l’ICVA » ainsi que les statuts disponibles sur notre site web.
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This ICVA paper explores how humanitarian pooled funds manage and share risk across delivery chains and how these practices impact localisation and response effectiveness. Drawing on research from Sudan, Myanmar, Syria, and Ukraine, the report identifies barriers faced by local actors, highlights scalable good practices in risk-sharing, and offers actionable recommendations for donors, fund managers, intermediaries, and local partners. It calls for more equitable, codified risk-sharing approaches to ensure quality funding reaches local actors and strengthen partnerships across the humanitarian system.
UNHCR and ICVA launched the 2025 round of the Interagency Community Outreach and Communication Fund on Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) in June 2025. The Fund will provide rapid, targeted financial support to national and local NGOs to develop and disseminate PSEA outreach and communication materials, and to make these available to all IASC members and the wider sector on the PSEA database.
Collective NGO Statements delivered at the 93rd meeting of UNHCR’s Standing Committee, 17-19 June 2025
As the humanitarian sector grapples with escalating crises, deep funding cuts and growing political pressure, bold reforms such as those proposed by the Humanitarian Reset are urgently needed. Yet, these proposals also demand rigorous scrutiny. One of the most significant among them is the call to channel 33% of global humanitarian funding through Country-Based Pooled Funds (CBPFs), which would see a potential increase in CBPF funding from USD 1 billion to USD 6 billion.
This proposal goes beyond a financial shift. It signals a major reconfiguration of how humanitarian financing is prioritised, governed, delivered, and made accountable. While CBPFs offer recognised strengths—including alignment with Humanitarian Response Plans, support to local actors, and risk sharing—scaling them to manage a third of all humanitarian funding will have far-reaching implications.
This paper presents the collective reflections from ICVA, in consultation with its members, on the practical implications of the CBPF proposal. While recognising the advantages of CBPFs, it calls for further collective reflection and analysis before targets are adopted. It offers constructive recommendations to ensure that any expansion of CBPFs enhances—not replaces—the broader system of pooled funding, direct donor partnerships, and local initiatives.
As the humanitarian sector faces unprecedented levels of need, funding models must evolve to be more inclusive, balanced and responsive. CBPFs offer a valuable tool for aligning funding with strategic priorities at the country level. However, scale alone will not deliver the transformation envisioned by the Humanitarian Reset.
Many NGOs fully support a responsible increase in funding volumes to CBPFs and critically an increase in direct financing to local and national actors best placed to reach people in need.
Our call is for:
Transparency in humanitarian and development financing remains a persistent challenge. While international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) publish data, they do so primarily to meet donor compliance requirements rather than as a strategic tool for accountability or coordination. The result is a fragmented information system where data is published inconsistently, often in inaccessible formats, and rarely used by those who need it most.
Local and national actors (LNAs), who are central to delivering aid and development programs, remain largely excluded from these reporting processes. Many lack access to INGO-published data, making it difficult for them to track funding flows, engage in decision-making, or advocate for resources. At the same time, their own activities remain largely invisible, as existing reporting platforms and processes are designed for larger organisations with greater technical capacity.
As discussions around localisation and equitable partnerships continue, the need for a more inclusive, accessible, and meaningful data-sharing ecosystem is becoming increasingly urgent. The current global uncertainty and turbulence – with a marked political and financial shift away from international solidarity – reaffirms the importance of making the most effective and efficient use of scarce resources. Data transparency, in the end, is simply a way of sharing information, which is a crucial foundation of any effective decision-making.
The paper seeks to develop an approach to improving the transparency of funding transferred by ICVA members to humanitarian actors, in particular local and national NGOs. It has two main objectives:
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For over forty years, Iraq has been a focal point for international humanitarian response, driven by recurring cycles of war, displacement, and political instability. From the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s to the US-led invasion in 2003 and the rise of Daesh in 2014, Iraq has endured continuous emergencies. These crises have triggered multiple waves of displacement, most notably between 2014 and 2017, when nearly six million Iraqis — around 16% of the population — were uprooted by the conflict with Daesh.
In response, the humanitarian infrastructure in Iraq has expanded significantly. International NGOs, UN agencies, and donors have poured into the country, often partnering with Iraqi actors but rarely placing them in positions of real leadership or decision-making. Despite decades of external aid and a vibrant local civil society — including a surge in local NGO activity post-2003 — progress toward localisation has been limited. The humanitarian system in Iraq remains largely internationally driven.
Purpose of the report
This report shows the status of localisation in Iraq across the seven domains of localisation. It uses the Localisation Measurement Framework and Tools developed by HAG and PIANGO. The tools have been adapted to Iraq’s unique context. The study provides benchmarks for tracking progress and identifies challenges and opportunities.
Key Findings
Despite decades of humanitarian response in Iraq, the report finds that overall progress towards localisation is low, as summarised below:
Partnerships: Some evidence
Leadership: Limited Evidence
Coordination: Limited Evidence
Participation: Limited Evidence
Policy influence: Limited Evidence
Capacity: Limited Evidence
Funding: Limited Evidence
Developed by ICVA, this resource aims to support NGOs in understanding and engaging with the ongoing IASC Humanitarian Reset, a reform initiative intended to help reshape the humanitarian system.
This strategic guide is tailored for NGO practitioners, coordination leads, and policy staff to:
✔ Understand the scope and intent of the Reset
✔ Explore links to other reform initiatives
✔ Stay informed about key workstreams and timelines
✔ Reflect on NGO perspectives and concerns
The resource is also available as webpage.
Click the link below to read the paper in English.
This paper is a practical guide for NGO Country Directors on how to effectively engage with Humanitarian Country Teams (HCTs)—the top inter-agency leadership body coordinating humanitarian response in a country. Drawing on ICVA’s experience across more than 30 countries, the paper explains the HCT’s roles and responsibilities, highlights key requirements for NGO participation, and offers commentary on standard HCT Terms of Reference
Click on the links below to read the paper in English, French, Spanish, and Arabic.
This report provides an overview of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) coordination system at the country level, focusing on how NGOs can engage effectively. Coordination is essential in humanitarian responses to avoid duplication, fill gaps, and improve overall efficiency and accountability. The IASC system, while led by the UN, is intended to be inclusive of NGOs and structured around three core mechanisms: the Humanitarian Country Team (HCT), Inter-Cluster Coordination Group (ICCG), and clusters.
The report offers several recommendations:
Click on the below links to read the paper in English (French, Spanish and Arabic will be published soon).
We are pleased to share with you the final drafts of the NGO statements to be delivered at the 93rd UNHCR Standing Committee meeting will take place in Geneva on 17-19 June 2025. Many thanks to all our lead drafters for incorporating the initial feedback from NGOs.
The NGO community is invited to provide red line comments only on the draft statements relevant to your expertise. Please:
If you have any questions or concerns on any of the above, please don’t hesitate to reach out to ICVA Forced Displacement Officer, Issie Basile (issie.basile@icvanetwork.org).
This guidance helps NGO leaders and frontline staff apply humanitarian principles during negotiations in complex settings. It offers practical tools to navigate difficult requests while protecting humanitarian access and integrity. The guide supports the development of a Principled Engagement Policy and Framework grounded in operational realities.
Key features:
The paper highlights best practices from selected pooled funds, focusing on approaches that may be
useful for the Aid Fund for Syria (AFS) in three key areas:
This is not a full review of pooled fund best practices or AFS’s strategic needs. However, the findings aim to be relevant in the fast-changing context of northern Syria and AFS’s funding goals.
Click on the link below to read the paper.
This impact study evaluates the first three-year cycle of ICVA’s 2030 strategy, and the performance against the strategic priorities set for 2022-2024.
Authored by Adrio Bacchetta from Sandstone Consulting, its key findings include:
ICVA’s Forced migration work has:
ICVA’s Humanitarian Coordination work has:
ICVA’s humanitarian financing work has:
ICVA Statutes revised at the 20th General Assembly, March 2025. They are available in English and French.