News

A brief summary of the discussions held during the round table “Neglected crises: from commitments to actions”, co-organised by VOICE & La Coordinadora on 25 September in Madrid.

World Humanitarian Day 2023, the #NoMatterWhat Campaign points to the importance of delivering principled humanitarian aid, no matter who, no matter where, no matter what.

In this interview, Jan Egeland, Eminent Person of The Grand Bargain and Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, provides an overview of the current state of the localisation agenda, the harmonisation process, quality funding, and other aspects related to the Grand Bargain.

Following the celebration of the European Humanitarian Forum 2023 in March, VOICE has gathered some key issues and published a statement to further address them.

This article summarises the priorities of the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU and also the general priorities of the trio composed of Spain, Belgium, and Hungary regarding humanitarian aid.

This article talks about the European Commission's (EC) proposed revision of the EU’s long-term budget, the multiannual financial framework (MFF) 2021-2027, and how an increased humanitarian budget is needed to address the current humanitarian situation worldwide.

This article delves into the highlights of the event 'Fighting hunger: a women-led response' organised by VOICE on 21 June to debate about the role of women in the fight against hunger worldwide.

This article gathers all the important moments of the VOICE General Assembly 2023, including the incorporation of new member organisations and Board members.

In this article, TSF examines how they intervene in sudden crises, restoring communication in an interconnected world.

In the Policy Resolution 2023, VOICE calls on the EU and its Member States (MS) to stop the steep rise of world hunger by:
- Preventing, preparing for, and acting quickly to respond to food and nutrition insecurity
- Ensuring multi-sectoral and inclusive approaches to address the global food crisis and transform the global food system

In this article, Trócaire delves into the challenges and principles of capacity sharing at the time that shares a practical example of how they put it into practice with local actors in Guatemala.

The article by People in Need on the VOICE Out Loud 35 gives a great overview of the links between localisation and the principle of neutrality when local actors intervene in certain contexts.

In this article of the VOICE Out Loud 35, Oxfam analyses the risks and the ways in which donors can adapt to give more power to local actors.

In this article, EU CORD delves into the donor’s role in enabling local actors in humanitarian response, which will eventually benefit the whole humanitarian system and, ultimately, people in need.

In this article of the VOICE out loud, Christian Aid delves into the significant efforts from the humanitarian community focused on channelling more power to local actors and the challenges ahead on the road to localisation.

The magazine's new edition examines how the humanitarian system, including INGOs, local and national actors, and donors, can ensure equitable partnerships and participation to keep moving the localisation agenda forward.

On 5 April, VOICE organised a conversation with Martin Scott and Patrick Saez to speak about the role of narratives in humanitarian work and how these can be adjusted to be more impactful.

The VOICE Annual Report 2022 has been published. It provides an overview of the network’s activities and achievements over the past year.

We have presented the VOICE reflections after the European Humanitarian Forum 2023, focusing on the following areas:
1. Addressing the funding gap: from recognition to action.
2. Breaking the silos: Humanitarian aid alone cannot be the solution.
3. Preserving humanitarian space: the humanitarian principles must be championed and the impacts of sanctions regimes
on humanitarian aid mitigated.

The European Humanitarian Forum 2023 was held in Brussels on 20 and 21 March. The VOICE network, Board of Directors and NGO members, successfully managed to make their voices heard in many of the high-level panels and Humanitarian Talks.

In this article, we give an overview of all the high-level panels and Humanitarian Talks in which the VOICE network and its NGO members will participate.

VOICE President Dominic Crowley was interviewed by Défis Humanitaires ahead of the European Humanitarian Forum.

Türkiye and Syria earthquake on 6 February has had a devastating impact on the area. Humanitarian NGOs are on the ground, providing life-saving aid.

This article highlights the main priorities of the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the EU regarding humanitarian aid and the work programme for COHAFA.

This article presents the main aims of the second edition of the European Humanitarian Forum and highlights the role of VOICE in the upcoming Forum.

This article summarises the advocacy efforts of VOICE regarding EU humanitarian funding. On the one hand towards the revision of the MMF and on the other towards the SEAR.

Organisations are invited by Groupe URD to fill out a questionnaire with the aim of mapping climate and environment services and resources that could help to implement commitments 1 and 2 of the Climate and Environment Charter for Humanitarian Organisations.

In this interview, Andreas Papaconstantinou, the Director-General of Neighbourhood and Middle East at DG ECHO, gave an overview of the current position of the EU and DG ECHO regarding the current humanitarian situation.

The humanitarian and human rights community asks for the release of Olivier Vandecasteele, the Belgian humanitarian aid worker detained and imprisoned in Iran. An op-ed calling for his release has been co-signed by 37 NGOs and networks, including VOICE.

In this article, CESVI explains the intervention they are carrying out in Pakistan towards assisting affected populations and also implementing a capacity-building and anticipatory approach.

In this article, Welthungerhilfe explains how Forecast-based Action (FbA) is key to preventing the negative impacts of extreme weather events, and the consequent human suffering.

The article by Mercy Corps analyses the humanitarian crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), one of the most complex and long-standing ones in the world, from the point of view of hunger and conflict.

In this article, Alianza por la Solidaridad & ActionAid Spain explore the role of women and girls in the fight against hunger.

Action Against Hunger Germany explains that EU member states and other industrialised countries must drastically reduce their emissions to keep climate change from escalating and should transform their COP27 commitments into actions.

The article by Concern Worldwide explains how conflict is the main driver of food insecurity and the vital importance of political will in addressing both.

VOICE New Year wishes

The new edition of the VOICE out loud delves into the global hunger crisis and how humanitarian NGOs are taking action.

This article summarises the key highlights from the event "Funding Imbalances: How uneven prioritisation and insufficient funding affect humanitarian aid" organised by VOICE on 21 June 2022.

VOICE, in collaboration with ALNAP, hosted the Brussels launch of the ALNAP State of The Humanitarian System (SOHS) report 2022 on 17 November with the aim of triggering reflections on the current situation of the humanitarian system.

This article highlights VOICE's main takeaways from the recent COP27 hosted by Egypt.

This photo exhibition aims to bring the stories of Ukrainian people and describe how their lives have changed since Russia invaded their homes, and highlight that these are real people with their own faces, and families, who could be any of us or our relatives and friends here.

VOICE Messages on the EU Budget 2023 procedure: Increase the humanitarian aid budget line to € 2.5 billion to meaningfully address the unprecedented level of humanitarian needs worldwide, aggravated by the 2022 Ukraine conflict and its global economic repercussions, notably in terms of food insecurity worldwide.
Ensure funds from the Solidarity and Emergency Aid Reserve (SEAR) are additional to the current humanitarian aid budget line and can be mobilised for humanitarian crises outside the EU throughout the whole financial year.

With the aim of triggering reflections on the global and regional humanitarian context in the EU and worldwide from the perspective of donors and NGOs, VOICE and FoRS, the Czech national platform of humanitarian and development CSOs jointly organised a round table in Prague on 8 September during the Czech Presidency of the EU Council. 

In March 2021, the EC Communication on Humanitarian Action, a major EU policy document for the sector, announced that DG ECHO commits to provide greater support to local humanitarian actors.

For this World Humanitarian Day 2022, the UN and its partners’ intent is to show the importance, effectiveness, and positive impact of humanitarian work.

The next European Humanitarian Forum will (most likely) take place on 20-21 March 2023. Ahead of the event, and to foster a collective reflection around the Forum's agenda, VOICE is running a survey to gather humanitarian NGO's perspective around the Forum's priority themes.
Deadline to participate: 26 August 2022.

VOICE Policy resolution calls on the EU and its Member States to consistently uphold principled humanitarian aid worldwide

On 29 June, DG ECHO launched its long-awaited consultation on localisation.

On 22 June VOICE held its annual General Assembly (GA) in person after two years of virtual meetings.

The VOICE event aimed to shed a light on insufficient funding for humanitarian crises, on the reasons why some crises attract higher levels of funding and if media coverage plays a role in these unbalances.