Publications

Last FPA Watch Group minutes for the year 2016.

Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe joined forces with Ärzte ohne Grenzen (Doctors Without Borders Germany) and Caritas International for a joint study into challenges for humanitarian action in Germany (in German, 2 page summary in English).The study, "Herausforderung Humanitare Hilfe - Politische Bedeutung und kritische Reflexion in Deutschland", comes to the conclusion that humanitarian aid is not discussed and reflected upon enough in German society and politics. NGOs have the potential of addressing the issues surrounding humanitarian aid and starting public discourse to encourage engagement.

NRC, in collaboration with the Boston Consulting Group, has conducted a 6 month internal study on Institutional donor requirements to to understand the totality of conditionalities put on humanitarian organisations, gauge and improve NRC'€™s ability to manage them and define some key findings that could benefit the sector as a whole. In the report, NRC identifies four significant findings, or challenges, that they believe are generic to the entire sector - and that need to be addressed urgently.

As the Iraqi army and coalition forces get closer in the military operation to retake Mosul, the humanitarian fallout is bound to be catastrophic unless funding and resources are prioritised to help up to 1.2 million civilians, the Norwegian Refugee Council and the International Rescue Committee warn.

2015 was the year that put refugees and the movement of people back on the global and European agenda. Europe saw the biggest refugee flow since World War II, many crossing over from Turkey into Greece. They flee from ongoing armed conflicts and mass killings in countries such as Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan and South Sudan. So long as these conflicts are not resolved there is no end in sight to the refugee flow. Following border closures throughout Europe, increasing numbers of refugees are finding themselves stuck in Greece, which is under pressure to cope. Humanitarian NGOs are trying to support the efforts of local civil society and authorities to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Greece and elsewhere, but in a difficult political environment, are concerned about the humanitarian principles and maintaining standards.

Kicking off this issue, the Danish Refugee Council describe the difficulty of upholding humanitarian standards in the midst of this humanitarian crisis. Complementing the basic needs of people in open air refugee camps in Greece is a challenge which Secours Islamique France addresses in its article on needs assessment. The Doctors of the World International Network highlights the best and worst in the European crisis facing migrants. Looking at the humanitarian principles in the context of the Europe Refugee Response, the Norwegian Refugee Council compares operations before and after the EU-Turkey Deal. SOS Childrens Villages draws lessons from the Balkan Route with an eye on children’s protection in the European migration crisis.

In a View from Turkey, Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe explains how it uses partnerships to support refugee protection and assistance in South-Eastern Turkey.

The View from the EU section contains an interview with Catherine Woollard, Secretary General of the European Council on Refugees and Exiles. She shares her views on the EU’s response to the refugee crisis, the key issues with the EU-Turkey deal, and the recently adopted Communication on Forced Displacement and Development. We also hear from CARE on the additional challenge that humanitarian financing poses in this EU refugee crisis.

Ms Elly Schlein MEP is preparing the DEVE opinion for the Committee on Budgetary Control on the report “Budgetary control of financing of NGOs from the EU budget”.

VOICE is pleased that the draft opinion reflects some of our messages from the Study on donors’ conditionalities including on the need to reduce the adminisrative burden on NGOs and increase flexibility. Together with other civil society representatives, suggestions to the opinion were proposed. Concretely it was stressed that there is no need for more controls on NGOs, and that NGOs must maintain a degree of independence from the EU including in the implementation of EU-funded projects.

This event brought together 77 participants from the humanitarian aid sector, many of which attended the World Humanitarian Summit (WHS) in Istanbul. In a panel discussion and subsequent discussion round, the main themes were the strength and weaknesses of the Summit, as well as emerging trends and next steps.

VOICE 2016 General Assembly Resolution: Humanitarian NGOs call for a better EU response to refugees and migrants.

This statement is made by 6 national and international networks (Coordination SUD, ICVA, InterAction, NEAR, VENRO, VOICE) and is based on the declaration of Dr F. Sivignon, President of Médecins du Monde, at the Summit’s closing ceremony.

invitation to VOICE event June 2016, reflecting on the outcomes of the world humanitarian summit.

This is the final document of the Grand Bargain agreement between donors, the UN agencies and NGOs and the Red Cross on certain aspects of reducing the humanitarian financing gap.

This document contains ActionAid's core committments at the World Humanitarian Summit (WHS).

VOICE President, Nicolas Borsinger's statement during the plenary session of the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul in May 2016

In this paper, VOICE makes recommendations for the new EU Global Strategy on Foreign and Security Policy.

Summary of 3rd Grand Bargain negotiation meeting with its annexes.

draft minutes of the Grand Bargain negotiations 2nd meeting, held in Brussels on 18 March 2016. VOICE secretariat participated in this meeting on InterAction's behalf.