Follow the Money: A Review and Analysis of the State of Humanitarian Funding

A background paper for the meeting of the Good Humanitarian Donorship and Inter- Agency Standing Committee, 20th July 2007, Geneva

This briefing paper is about the financing of humanitarian action. In the paper, and in the forthcoming workshop, we want to ask some basic questions.

• Is the pot of humanitarian finance able to meet present and projected global humanitarian needs?

• Do existing financing mechanisms ensure that money follows need?

• Do the present financing mechanisms promote quality aid, encouraging it to be timely,
context-specific, evidence-based and rigorous in its application?

• Are the operational agencies capable of using the funding appropriately? More succinctly, is there enough money, is it going to the right people in the right places in the
most efficient way?