'A Win-Win' - IRC Report on the Benefits of Multi-year, Flexible Funding

Multi-year and flexible humanitarian funding supports better outcomes and delivers efficiencies. Evidence of the benefits of multi-year flexible funding has steadily grown in recent years; numerous studies - published by think tanks, humanitarian organisations and UN Agencies, and commissioned by donors - point to effectiveness and efficiency gains in programme quality. Bilateral donors have also raised their multi-year contributions, in part thanks to the Grand Bargain commitment to increase multi-year humanitarian planning and funding, but the needle has not moved far enough. As the COVID-19 pandemic threatens to increase the cost of humanitarian response and shrink aid budgets, the case for better value for money is more relevant than ever.

This report by International Rescue Committee, with support from Development Initiatives, builds on the already strong evidence base for multi-year flexible funding.  A comparative analysis of two cash programmes in Somalia funded by DFID and Sida, which draws on data collected using the Systematic Cost Analysis (SCAN) tool developed by IRC with Save the Children and Mercy Corps, provides preliminary indications of quantifiable cost efficiency gains of multi-year funding. And three case studies—from Central African Republic, Cameroon and Côte d’Ivoire—reveal the qualitative benefits of multi-year, flexible financing.