Humanitarian Protection - DG ECHO's funding guidelines

This note defines the framework in which the European Commission Directorate-General for humanitarian aid (DG ECHO) may support protection activities, the type of partners and the kind of activities it can finance. It also gives key recommendations on how to programme and monitor such activities. For the purpose of this guidance note, protection activities are understood as non-structural1 activities aimed at reducing the risk for and mitigating the impact on individuals or groups of human-generated violence, coercion, deprivation and abuse in the context of humanitarian crises, resulting both from man-made or natural disasters.

The protection of humanitarian goods and personnel referred to in article 2c) of the Humanitarian Aid Regulation2 is not within the scope of this note, which focuses on the protection of beneficiaries.

This note does not aim at defining detailed best practices to engage in practical programming. However, useful policy papers and agency guidelines are listed in annex 3, as well as complementary reading material.