The 2026 response will require US$2.31 billion to deliver prioritized life-saving humanitarian assistance and services across the four Strategic Priorities (SPs), with $2.05 billion prioritized based on operational risk and programmatic focus.
Strategic Priority 1 accounts for approximately 52 per cent of total requirements, focusing on providing rapid and multisectoral support in communities along the front line and facing active hostilities. Strategic Priority 2 represents around 11 per cent, prioritizing safe and principled evacuations and short-term life-saving support for vulnerable newly displaced people. Strategic Priority 3 represents roughly 20 per cent, ensuring swift multisector intervention within 24 to 72 hours following strikes on civilian areas and critical infrastructure. Strategic Priority 4 accounts for approximately 16 per cent to ensure centrality of protection support for the most vulnerable displaced people and other severely vulnerable groups, preventing further aggravation of risk and complex humanitarian needs, ensuring life-saving care continuity among long-term displaced people and supporting groups at risk of exclusion.
Around 2 per cent of the requirements will be dedicated to coordination, thematic and support services to facilitate principled, coordinated, evidence-based and inclusive humanitarian action through needs assessments, data, information and analytics in support of the collective humanitarian response as well as strategic advocacy and monitoring, inter-sectoral coordination (at both national and sub-national levels, including with international and local partners) and thematic issues, security and shared services (logistics and telecommunications).
Costing Methodology
The 2026 HNRP uses an activity-based costing model, developed in collaboration with clusters and aligned with the four Strategic Priorities. Requirements are derived from defined response activities under Strategic Priorities, estimated caseloads per priority population group, variations in access constraints, delivery modalities, geographic cost differentials, inflation, other operational cost increases and the need for multisectoral integration in both front-line and post-strike settings.
Over 70 activities were costed by the clusters using people as the primary unit of measure, complemented by household, site or service-based metrics where appropriate. Unit costs were determined by the clusters reflecting current prices for commodities, including local procurement, logistics, staffing, specialized protection services and emergency repair materials. The response encompasses in-kind assistance, service delivery and cash or voucher-based interventions, providing flexibility to address diverse humanitarian needs. This approach supports the delivery of integrated, multisectoral response activity packages aimed at maximizing humanitarian impact. It also reinforces the strategic shift towards cash-based assistance, enabling a more adaptable and targeted response. By leveraging these approaches, the HNRP aims to optimize resource use, improve efficiency and strengthen coordination across sectors.
Cost Effectiveness
The 2026 HNRP applies a strengthened prioritization framework to maximize impact and optimize resources. It focuses on avoiding duplication through enhanced inter-agency coordination, data-sharing and interoperable systems; expanding cash-based and multisector interventions to reduce logistics burdens and increase flexibility; targeting high-severity areas and vulnerable population groups with life-saving, protection-centred services; and dynamically adjusting activities through continuous monitoring, field feedback and conflict-sensitive analysis. In line with these efforts, the Humanitarian Country Team and the ICCG in 2025 agreed on a unified cash value for all strategic priorities, streamlining cash interventions to ensure consistency and predictability in humanitarian assistance.
Changes in the Cost of Operation
Although the overall 2026 requirement is lower than in previous years, this reflects a sharper prioritization under the issue based approach rather than reduced needs, while the cost-per-person continues to increase due to inflation, market volatility and increasingly complex caseloads with heightened vulnerabilities. Assistance delivered across the four strategic priorities, including several types of multi-sectoral interventions, will contribute to higher overall response costs. Costs are also expected to be elevated in areas with limited access, where humanitarian actors must implement alternative modalities that incur additional expenses. While the average cost per beneficiary per service is consistent with last year's HNRP, there is significant variation across sectors. At the same time, the average cost per unique beneficiary is higher because of the more granular issue-based approach which, on average, targets one beneficiary with more services across the clusters compared with the last year's plan.