Business Engagement in Humanitarian Response and Disaster Risk Management

The overlap of humanitarian and business trends have recently created new opportunities for public-private collaboration in the humanitarian and disaster risk management sectors. But for humanitarian organisations, whether and how to engage with companies is a sticky issue. Detractors argue that due to the profit motive and accountability to shareholders, companies have little incentive to abide by accepted humanitarian principles and, as such, their role in humanitarianism should be limited to the provision of products and services that humanitarian organisations are unable to provide themselves. Moreover, there is a legitimate fear that increasing the number of actors in the humanitarian system will complicate coordination mechanisms that are already very complex.

The Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection Department of the European Commission (DG ECHO) has requested this study to support its internal policy formulation on whether and how to work with the private sector in the areas of humanitarian response and disaster risk management. This study is based on a review of available literature, reports of relevant humanitarian organisations and interviews with selected experts and practitioners. Civil protection issues are addressed wherever possible, but due to the scarcity of well-documented good practice, the major focus of this study is private sector engagement in humanitarian response and disaster risk management. The resulting analysis does, however, draw implications with regard to civil protection within the European Union, given that the framework conditions for both areas – humanitarian aid and civil protection – are similar.