Global Humanitarian Overview 2024

Towards more inclusive humanitarian action

In a humanitarian crisis, all individuals are at risk, but marginalized or groups with specific needs are often more vulnerable to discrimination, threats, exploitation and often are harder to reach. The vulnerabilities people experience in crises do not just happen. Rather, they are the result of current and historical processes of neglect, marginalization, discrimination, stigmatization and deeply rooted inequalities for women and girls, children and youth, racial and ethnic minorities, persons with disabilities, older persons, displaced persons and migrants, persons with diverse sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics, indigenous peoples, persons living in detention, the urban poor and rural communities. The risks these people face compound when they have intersecting considerations, such as older age and a disability.

Concurrent and overlapping crises, including climate change, slow economic growth, insecurity, conflict, health threats and a fragmented geopolitical landscape, mean that the poor, the marginalized and those suffering from structural inequities are set to suffer the most. Ensuring that quality, dignified aid reaches all those who need it, based on their expressed priorities and preferences, is a constant challenge for humanitarians in a fragmented and competitive geopolitical landscape with difficult operating environments, especially when faced with financial resource constraints.

Historically, humanitarian response focused only distinct characteristics of discrimination, e.g. affiliation to an ethnic minority as a characteristic separate from gender expression, and, at the height of a complex emergency, inclusion has often been delayed as something to address later. Recognizing that people experience crises in different yet interconnected ways, humanitarian response is shifting focus to address needs and also the denials of rights that so often drive them. This includes considering overlapping and intersecting forms of discrimination that can be experienced concurrently.

OCHA’s strategic plan for 2023 – 2026 places particular focus on how to practically ensure this rebalance, including through a holistic people-centred coordination model. It acknowledges that the risk of exclusion from assistance and protection depends on context and community, requiring an approach that considers who is marginalized, the intersectionality of vulnerabilities and the barriers that may lead to further exclusion and vulnerability. The approach should also consider people’s unique needs and priorities and subsequently tailor programmes to meet them and ensure their participation in decision-making. This less siloed, more integrated, flexible and effective response will place greater agency and flexibility in the hands of people most impacted by the crisis.

Arriving at this rebalancing is not an easy feat, as it requires the streamlining of cross-cutting issues which have – previously – been treated as stand-alone in order to help their advancement and visibility. Examples of these cross-cutting issues are age, gender, disabilities, protection, localization and accountability to affected people. But the reality is that these issues, more often than not, feed into each other. Addressing them together - or more coherently - could help provide a more comprehensive, include, tailored response.

Achieving this holistic approach to inclusion will rely heavily on reliable and inclusive data, to understand who is in need, where they are, their demographics, what their needs are and what barriers may contribute to exclusion. For example, conflicts and disasters greatly affect vulnerable populations of migrants, yet gaps still exist in recording the number of migrants and analyzing their needs. Limited national data collection capacity and the mobility of migrants makes census data collection challenging, in addition to the concealed nature of irregular migration movements, further hinders data availability. Southern and East Africa and West and Central Africa register only 7 per cent and 3 per cent (respectively) of the total migrants in need in 2023 interagency response plans, despite the large presence of vulnerable migrants in countries such as Kenya, Mozambique or Nigeria. Having a complete picture – not just of migrants but of the affected community as a whole and their context – will help to ensure rigorous needs-based analysis and subsequently, what should be integrated into humanitarian response plans.

Cash: an inclusive mechanism for aid delivery

Cash and voucher assistance (CVA) in humanitarian action is a practical example of how to foster inclusiveness by addressing the diverse needs of affected populations in a more equitable and dignified manner. Cash, when provided with minimal restrictions, empowers affected individuals, including women and marginalized groups, to prioritize and make decisions based on their unique circumstances and priorities. It respects their agency and power of choice, ensuring that international humanitarian assistance aligns with their individual and changing needs.

CVA can increase accessibility to essential goods and services in a number of ways. It can be distributed in a way that can overcome barriers related to physical disabilities and geographical distance, ensuring that those who are often marginalized can access critical resources. For example – recipients may access cash from multiple locations (such as ATMs, if available) instead of having to go to a distribution centre to collect a food basket. CVA can also be provided more discretely than physical goods, allowing for distribution to people who may be particularly vulnerable or at risk.

The provision of cash can help people rebuild their livelihoods and become self-reliant. This economic empowerment reduces dependency on aid and supports individuals as they reintegrate into their communities. The use of CVA is increasing in humanitarian action overall. In 2020, $6.6 billion was disbursed as CVA. In 2022, this amount grew to $10 billion, approximately a 50 per cent increase in only two years. However, the use of cash as a proportion of humanitarian assistance is still minimal: in the same time period as above (2020 to 2022), there was only a 0.3 per cent increase.

In order to maximise the opportunities for more inclusive cash assistance, the humanitarian community must ensure that affected people – particularly women and persons with disabilities – have equitable access to financial services, financial education programmes and mobile phone ownership. These are critical ways to ensure rapid and inclusive distribution of CVA to the most vulnerable when crises occur.

References

  1. HPG/ODI - Lough, Barbelet and Njeri, Inclusion and exclusion in humanitarian action: findings from a three-year study, July 2022
  2. IOM, UN Agencies Expand Life-Saving Assistance for Displaced People in Response to Drought in Somalia, 16 June 2022
  3. All aid distribution methods present some inherent challenges, for example, while ATMs may be readily available, there may also be physical barriers for people with disabilities or older persons, lack of access to banking or vendor requirements that exclude people. Cash – overall – provided through a context-appropriate distribution method, can be a powerful tool for inclusive aid.
  4. CALP, The State of the World’s Cash 2023, 15 November 2023