The Added Value of Flexible Funding to the ICRC

As the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) states in its Institutional Strategy 2019–2022, the human cost, direct and indirect, exacted by armed conflict and other situations of violence is appalling. Every day, hundreds of thousands of civilians throughout the world are persecuted, abused, displaced, wounded or killed and regularly denied the fundamentals of humanity. The number of civilian deaths caused by conflicts doubled between 2010 and 2016 and the number of people displaced, missing or behind bars owing to conflict and violence is greater than at any point in several decades. Short-term humanitarian problems caused by conflict and violence are made worse by longer-term trends like climate change, population growth, urbanization and uneven economic development.

The two objectives of the study are to: 1) showcase and document how flexible funding enables the ICRC to fulfill its mandate, in a neutral, impartial and independent manner, to rapidly respond to identified humanitarian needs; and 2) identify and map out patterns in the allocation and use of flexible funding in armed conflict and other situations of violence (before, during and after crises)