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Self Report 2019

The self-report on WHS Commitments below is organized according to the 24 transformations of the Agenda for Humanity. It is based on commitments pledged at the time of report submission. Click on the 'Expand' symbol to expand each section and read the reporting inputs by transformation.

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  • 2B
    Ensure full access to and protection of the humanitarian and medical missions

    Individual Commitments (1)

    • Commitment
    • Commitment Type
    • Core Responsibility
    • Welthungerhilfe commits to engage in peer-to-peer learning with its partners in Germany and abroad to encourage compliance to humanitarian principles, and to share information on upholding humanitarian principles in practice and on the constraints faced in applying them.
    • Capacity
    • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity
    1. A. Highlight concrete actions taken between 1 January – 31 December 2018 to implement the commitments which contribute to achieving this transformation. Be as specific as possible and include any relevant data/figures as well as any good practices and examples of innovation.

    Welthungerhilfe (WHH) shares information on upholding humanitarian principles in practice and on the constraints faced in applying them in different international and national fora. In 2018, WHH was fully engaged in three IASC Clusters: global Food Security Cluster (gFSC) Strategic Advisory Group (SAG) Member, global WASH Cluster (gWC SAG Member, representing the German WASH Network, and joining gWC Technical Working Group Cash & Market), and the global Logistics Cluster (co-leading the Service Provision & Working Group and participating to two gLC logistic response trainings).

    WHH participated to the Humanitarian Networks and Partnerships Week and the Stockholm World Water Week contributing on the topic “WASH in emergencies” and joining the Agenda of Change. WHH co-chairs the Emergency Supply pre-Positioning Strategy (alongside UNHRD) Steering Group, and is project holder of the respective ESUPS (USAID/OFDAS funded project).

    In 2018, WHH co-chaired the FSC in Mali, Burundi, Afghanistan, joined the OCHA country-based pooled funds (CBPF) global NGO dialogue platform and became member of its core group. WHH continued its involvement in the START Network (hosting the general assembly), the Alliance2015 (co-financing the topping up of A2015 emergency fund), the Coordination Committee for Humanitarian Aid chaired by the German Foreign Office, and the German NGO Association VENRO.

    WHH supported and contributed to the scoping study of the Geneva based Humanitarian Exchange and Research Centre on the role of mandates in humanitarian priority setting for INGOs in situations of armed conflict. In 2018 interviews for the research team took place in WHH headquarter and two country offices (Mali and CAR). In 2018 WHH published a policy brief on Syrian Humanitarian Access Dilemma in cooperation with Bonn International Center for Conversion and started drafting a position paper on forced migration. Other humanitarian advocacy events included country/regional focused roundtables with MPs and government officials on Democratic Republic of Congo, Syria, Turkey and Lake Chad.

    B. Please select if your report relates to any initiatives launched at World Humanitarian summit
    • Grand Bargain
    2. A. Please select no more than 3 key challenges faced in implementing the commitments related to this transformation. Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • Adherence to standards and/or humanitarian principles
    • IHL and IHRL compliance and accountability
    B. How are these challenges impacting achievement of this transformation?

    Reaffirm and protect the fundamental right for affected populations to access humanitarian aid. Allow and support full unimpeded access to all people in need of assistance and promote the safety, protection and freedom of movement of humanitarian personnel. (Source: VENRO Joint Statement on Humanitarian Principles to the WHS)

    3. What steps or actions are needed to make collective progress to achieve this transformation?

    Stronger advocacy on aid-recipient governments to be accountable for their protection responsibilities as well as States and non-state armed groups to adhere to IHL and IHRL and ensure humanitarian access. Reaffirm the value of the humanitarian imperative. Review and design all humanitarian policies in compliance with the humanitarian principles and enhance existing commitments for good donor practices such as the GHD principles (Source: VENRO Joint Statement on Humanitarian Principles to the WHS)

    Keywords

    Humanitarian principles, IHL compliance and accountability

  • 2D
    Take concrete steps to improve compliance and accountability

    Individual Commitments (1)

    • Commitment
    • Commitment Type
    • Core Responsibility
    • Welthungerhilfe commits to adopt the IASC statement on the Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse at the individual agency level.
    • Policy
    • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity
    1. A. Highlight concrete actions taken between 1 January – 31 December 2018 to implement the commitments which contribute to achieving this transformation. Be as specific as possible and include any relevant data/figures as well as any good practices and examples of innovation.

    Protection against sexual exploitation and abuse (PSEA)

    Welthungerhilfe (WHH) staff regularly participated in AAP/PSEA IASC team meeting and shared its best-practices as well as contributed to the DFID Scoping Study on the possible creation of a PSEA Ombudsperson.

    WHH Human Resources Department was also actively involved in the development of a Safeguarding Handbook drafted by VENRO, the umbrella organisation of German NGOs. Under the leadership of Human Resources Department, the PSEA and child protection policies were subsequently revised in line with the latest findings and requirements and started its approval process. In parallel, WHH started the revision of its code of conduct and its annexes (to be finalized in 2019). To sensitise staff and partners on the safeguarding policy and code of conduct, WHH started the development of a learning platform, to allow mandatory trainings and refreshers on the subject of safeguarding.

    WHH enlarged the investigation team for PSEA alleged cases of two staff (in addition to the two existing ones) and budgeted for five more in 2019. Furthermore, the development of a new reporting system for PSEA case-handling was started (this allows to document the different steps taken from the case opening to its closure). The reporting system is in line with CHS.

    B. Please select if your report relates to any initiatives launched at World Humanitarian summit
    • Grand Bargain
    2. A. Please select no more than 3 key challenges faced in implementing the commitments related to this transformation. Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • Funding amounts
    • Other: Money for investigation (travelling, translators) and building up networks to allow safe and effective referrals for survivors.
    B. How are these challenges impacting achievement of this transformation?

    To implement in practice the PSEA commitments resulting from adopting the IASC statement, a major challenge remains to fund investigation processes (travelling, translators). This constraint can potentially impact if the number of complaints increase by slowing down the response.

    3. What steps or actions are needed to make collective progress to achieve this transformation?

    Sensitisation of staff of humanitarian actors, duty bearers on their expected conduct and the consequences of misbehaviour should accompany the advocacy messages. This is fundamental to strengthening compliance, accountability towards protection activities and safeguarding of women, men, boys and girls we aim to assist as well as the staff operating in humanitarian contexts. Specific funding that goes beyond the traditional project/programme funding modality and being replenished/sustained in long term would be needed.

    Keywords

    PSEA

  • 3D
    Empower and protect women and girls

    Core Commitments (2)

    • Commitment
    • Core Responsibility
    • Empower Women and Girls as change agents and leaders, including by increasing support for local women's groups to participate meaningfully in humanitarian action.
    • Leave No One Behind
    • Ensure that humanitarian programming is gender responsive.
    • Leave No One Behind
    1. A. Highlight concrete actions taken between 1 January – 31 December 2018 to implement the commitments which contribute to achieving this transformation. Be as specific as possible and include any relevant data/figures as well as any good practices and examples of innovation.

    Gender equality programming

    Welthungerhilfe (WHH) is committed to advancing women’s opportunities as agents of change through meaningful participation in politics and civil society. Measuring the number of women taking part in decision making at the community level is part of the so-called “#measuring success initiative” introducing standard indicators for success measurement within WHH, which started in 2016. WHH includes this indicator in all projects that have among their focus areas:  inclusive governance; social cohesion;  gender equity/equality;  inclusion/empowerment of disadvantaged groups or citizen participation;  inclusive decision making promotion. In 2018, WHH engaged two consultants to provide recommendations on further mainstreaming gender sensitive programming through strengthening HQ staff engaged in country offices’ sector as well as monitoring and evaluation (M&E) support.

    Additional measures to ensure gender mainstreaming were introduced in field offices. For example, in Iraq, the Gender and Protection Committee created in December 2017, drafted an action plan to strengthen the coordination and streamlining of gender and protection actions across the organisation.

    Empowerment of women and girls

    Welthungerhilfe (WHH) committed to advance women’s opportunities as agents of change through meaningful participation in politics and civil society. For a long time, WHH has had a gender orientation framework and available checklists to ensure a gender perspective in emergency aid and humanitarian contexts. In 2018, notable examples in ensuring women and girls empowerment were undertaken in Turkey’s Syrian Refugees Communities. Awareness raising about legal and health risks of early marriage within the Syrian Community in Mardin were conducted through Kizilitepe Leader Women’s Association. Girls and boys were also sensitized on this issue (and gender equality, child labour, disability, discrimination) within a child protection project conducted through mobile circus activities in the same town.

    In Bangladesh a consortium consisting of WHH (lead agency) and the Alliance2015 partners People in Need and Concern Worldwide supported the Rohingya community through WASH, protection and cash for work/nutrition measures, with German Federal Foreign Office funding. The protection component of the project includes: training of community facilitators and members of community-managed safety committees on protection-related topics, community mobilisation, and cash grants. Activities address the gender and age specific protection needs of women, men, girls and boys in the camps of Teknaf Upazila, with focus on women and young girls’ needs.

    2. A. Please select no more than 3 key challenges faced in implementing the commitments related to this transformation. Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • Data and analysis
    • Institutional/Internal constraints
    B. How are these challenges impacting achievement of this transformation?

    It is necessary to institutionalize gender analysis for internal programming. This is to shift from gender sensitive approach to a responsive and further to a transformative approach on gender, “to strengthen ability of women to make strategic life choices and to put those choices into action” (Source: UN Women EGM/RWG/EP.14)

    3. What steps or actions are needed to make collective progress to achieve this transformation?

    Humanitarian staff must be sensitized in the gender transformative approach and see the advantages in its application. Including stricter rules on donor requirements could be a way, but it would not suffice. Promoting success stories which involve not only women and girls but also boys, men and/or sexual minorities should be pushed forward in sensitization or advocacy campaigns. Ad-hoc actions to address local norms discriminating women, girls and sexual minorities should be further explored.

    Keywords

    Gender

  • 4A
    Reinforce, do not replace, national and local systems

    Individual Commitments (2)

    • Commitment
    • Commitment Type
    • Core Responsibility
    • Welthungerhilfe commits to establishing a common approach to providing information to affected people and collecting, aggregating and analysing feedback from communities to influence decision-making processes at strategic and operational levels.
    • Operational
    • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
    • Welthungerhilfe commits to adopt the Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS) and International Aid Transparency Initiative Standard, with clear benchmarks for achieving these through the CHS Alliance self-assessment tool.
    • Policy
    • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need Invest in Humanity

    Core Commitments (3)

    • Commitment
    • Core Responsibility
    • Commit to a new way of working that meets people's immediate humanitarian needs, while at the same time reducing risk and vulnerability over multiple years through the achievement of collective outcomes. To achieve this, commit to the following: a) Anticipate, Do Not Wait: to invest in risk analysis and to incentivize early action in order to minimize the impact and frequency of known risks and hazards on people. b) Reinforce, Do Not Replace: to support and invest in local, national and regional leadership, capacity strengthening and response systems, avoiding duplicative international mechanisms wherever possible. c) Preserve and retain emergency capacity: to deliver predictable and flexible urgent and life-saving assistance and protection in accordance with humanitarian principles. d) Transcend Humanitarian-Development Divides: work together, toward collective outcomes that ensure humanitarian needs are met, while at the same time reducing risk and vulnerability over multiple years and based on the comparative advantage of a diverse range of actors. The primacy of humanitarian principles will continue to underpin humanitarian action.
    • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
    • Commit to reinforce national and local leadership and capacities in managing disaster and climate-related risks through strengthened preparedness and predictable response and recovery arrangements.
    • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
    • Commit to increase investment in building community resilience as a critical first line of response, with the full and effective participation of women.
    • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
    1. A. Highlight concrete actions taken between 1 January – 31 December 2018 to implement the commitments which contribute to achieving this transformation. Be as specific as possible and include any relevant data/figures as well as any good practices and examples of innovation.

    People-centered approaches (feedback mechanisms, community engagement, etc)

    On a research note, Welthungerhilfe (WHH) co-financed the IARAN study “From Voices to Choices - Expanding crisis-affected people’s influence over aid decisions: An outlook to 2040”. The report advocates for a humanitarian system allowing and promoting crisis-affected people to be at the centre of humanitarian response. It examines the factors blocking transformation of the humanitarian system. It sheds light on how external factors like technology, interconnectivity, migration, urbanisation, climate change, youth or education will force the system to change the way it works. The report includes a very thorough analysis of what participation has traditionally meant, and what transformative participation means. The launch of the report in Germany is planned in 2019.

    Adherence to quality and accountability standards (e.g. CHS, SPHERE)

    In 2018,  Welthungerhilfe (WHH) started its initiative “accountability in action” focusing strongly on institutionalizing accountability throughout the entire organization, starting from the 19 Country Offices where the initial roll-out of CHS had taken place from 2015-2017.  This new layered approach identifies shared responsibilities and synergies through capacitating the MEAL Experts at Country office level to set up and guide appropriate, context-specific accountability measures (thus becoming part of Country Offices responsibility by the end of 2020) and to support in policy-changes and sensitization of HQ Units. 2018 also saw the formalization of a CHS self-assessment submitted to CHS Alliance and a country specific self-assessment (for Iraq).

    Strengthening national/local leadership and systems

    Welthungerhilfe (WHH) continued its Forecast-based-Financing (FbF) project financed by the German Federal Foreign Office (Auswärtiges Amt) on development and introduction of replicable standard operating procedures for forecast-based financing of drought-related assistance in Madagascar – in cooperation with START Network. Forecast based financing mechanisms including the standard operating procedures (SOPs), once installed, will reinforce communities and governments to assume leadership and ownership in preparing for disasters. In 2018, a drought zoning report has been issued to determine, based on historical data and forecasting models, traditional and future drought zones in Madagascar. Based on stakeholder surveys three livelihood zones have been selected for which contingency plans or early action protocols will be elaborated. In addition, an Household Economy Approach (HEA) analysis in the three areas has started in November 2018. It is needed to calculate loss and damage in case droughts hit. The project runs until the end of 2019, an extension and upscaling is foreseen in the country for 2020 and beyond.

    Building community resilience

    Welthungerhilfe (WHH) engagement in the humanitarian development nexus can be highlighted through the organisation’s commitment on community resilience. In 2018, 19 active projects with a main focus on resilience had a total volume of almost 32 million EUR. The available funds for the year 2018 were almost 12 million EUR.

    Cash-based programming

    In 2018, Welthungerhilfe (WHH) joined the new Alliance 2015 (A2015) working group on cash-based assistance (CBA). The group’s objective are: 1) mapping of each A2015 member’s CBA activities in countries of operation for internal information and use as an advocacy tool on A2015’s joint CBA capability (July 2018); 2) jointly developing resources (e.g. technical research/best-practice papers, guidelines, tools, SOPs) and position papers/advocacy statements on pre-agreed strategic priority themes, e.g. application of ECHO Cash Guidance, innovative approaches/technologies in CBA, sustainability of CBAs and linking with social protection/market systems development/financial inclusion, donor audits of CBA programmes; 3) providing technical support, guidance and evidence to the A2015 Emergency, Programme and Advocacy Groups, and 4) strengthening A2015 positioning by identifying and illustrating key policy – practice gaps and opportunities in the field of CBA.

    Other

    Welthungerhilfe (WHH) commissioned the study Country-based Pooled Funds – A reality check, together with Caritas Germany, Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe, Johanniter-Auslandhilfe, and Malteser International. The study aims to provide an assessment of the access of German INGOs and their local partners to Country Based Pooled Funds (CBPFs) including barriers, constraints, best practices and recommendations.

    B. Please select if your report relates to any initiatives launched at World Humanitarian summit
    • Charter for Change
    • Grand Bargain
    • The Global Alliance for Humanitarian Innovation
    2. A. Please select no more than 3 key challenges faced in implementing the commitments related to this transformation. Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • Funding modalities (earmarking, priorities, yearly agreements, risk aversion measures)
    • Multi-stakeholder coordination
    • Strengthening national/local systems
    B. How are these challenges impacting achievement of this transformation?

    To reinforce and maintain national and local systems for humanitarian assistance requires funding modalities to cover institutional costs within crises but also between crises. Single mandated national and local humanitarian agents need to preserve and retain emergency capacity when there are no crises and no projects, e.g. through double mandating.

    3. What steps or actions are needed to make collective progress to achieve this transformation?

    Greater subsidiarity and implementation of transformative participation to allow localization agenda to become a reality. 

    Keywords

    Cash, Community resilience, Country-based pooled funds, Local action, People-centred approach, Quality and accountability standards, Strengthening local systems

  • 4B
    Anticipate, do not wait, for crises

    Core Commitments (2)

    • Commitment
    • Core Responsibility
    • Commit to a new way of working that meets people's immediate humanitarian needs, while at the same time reducing risk and vulnerability over multiple years through the achievement of collective outcomes. To achieve this, commit to the following: a) Anticipate, Do Not Wait: to invest in risk analysis and to incentivize early action in order to minimize the impact and frequency of known risks and hazards on people. b) Reinforce, Do Not Replace: to support and invest in local, national and regional leadership, capacity strengthening and response systems, avoiding duplicative international mechanisms wherever possible. c) Preserve and retain emergency capacity: to deliver predictable and flexible urgent and life-saving assistance and protection in accordance with humanitarian principles. d) Transcend Humanitarian-Development Divides: work together, toward collective outcomes that ensure humanitarian needs are met, while at the same time reducing risk and vulnerability over multiple years and based on the comparative advantage of a diverse range of actors. The primacy of humanitarian principles will continue to underpin humanitarian action.
    • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
    • Commit to improve the understanding, anticipation and preparedness for disaster and climate-related risks by investing in data, analysis and early warning, and developing evidence-based decision-making processes that result in early action.
    • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
    1. A. Highlight concrete actions taken between 1 January – 31 December 2018 to implement the commitments which contribute to achieving this transformation. Be as specific as possible and include any relevant data/figures as well as any good practices and examples of innovation.

    Disaster risk data collection/analysis

    Welthungerhilfe (WHH) is part of the START Network Forewarn Group, which developed in 2018 Pre-Alert guidance notes for different hazards (conflict & displacement, cyclones, disease outbreaks, drought, flooding, heatwave). In 2018, WHH utilized the guidance notes during several processes, including the development of the Emergency Preparedness and Response Plans in the countries of interventions, as support to develop the intervention triggers. Furthermore in 2018, WHH as a member of the START ARC Replica Strategy Group contributed to decision making on drought insurance policy acquisition.

    Since 1 January 2018, WHH is part of the “Drought Risk Science Lab – DRiSL” a consortium of universities and practitioners investigating scientific modelling and monitoring of drought related risks. (please see 5B). Furthermore, WHH participated in the 1st GlobeDrought Stakeholder Workshop where WHH is partnering with research institutions in the project "GlobeDrought" to develop, test and implement a drought information system for comprehensively characterizing drought events and their impact on water resources, crop productivity, food trade and the need for international food aid

    Preparedness

    In 2018, a new Emergency Preparedness & Response Planning (EPReP) guidance was developed, released and country offices started to use it. During the reporting period two trainings took place in South Sudan and Sierra Leone. Participants represented staff from different locations of the countries and, in the case of Sierra Leone, two local partners took part in the training. The EPRePs and decisions for our response preparation are based on lessons learnt from former emergency responses in the respective country, analysis of stakeholders and gaps and what Welthungerhilfe (WHH) can commit to as a priority. EPReP also analyses the coordination mechanisms in place for emergencies, and how we are/should be linked up with these

    Disaster risk reduction and disaster risk management (including resilience)

    In the field of disaster risk reduction (DRR) and Disaster Risk Management Welthungerhilfe (WHH) has been extremely active, globally but especially in Asia. WHH - together with the Afghan National Disaster Management Authority (ANDMA) - conducted a capacity building programme for field government representatives, funded by the German Federal Foreign Office. In the same country, WHH conducts also capacity strengthening of 10 target local communities in disaster management (thus working in parallel with central authorities, local authorities and communities). Similar experiences were started in Pakistan in 2018. With DFID/BRACED funding and through an integrated multi-sectoral gender sensitive and multi-hazard approach, the programme aims at building the disaster resilience of the target community in nine selected districts. Beneficiaries will benefit from disaster-resilient infrastructure (such as safe houses, shelters and WASH facilities) and livelihood protection/agriculture options which will be provided based on their needs. The needs will be assessed during a risk and resilience profiling exercise. Communities are trained in early warning systems and will mobilize to form Community Disaster Management Committees, which support disaster risk management. In 2018, a trans-boundary project funded by the Lutheran Church was initiated between Nepal and India to reinforce community disaster management committee to develop resilience in case of floods

    Other

    In 2018, Welthungerhilfe has continued its works together with other actors in different initiatives, to move towards a system of Early Warning on crisis and disasters: we act on this forecast early, this saves lives and it’s less expensive. WHH is advocating for a risk layering approach of funding and planning, engaging in developing and exploring different options like:

    1) Strengthening resilience;

    2) Forecast based Financing (with START Network - see also 5B) of preventive measures;

    3) Index-based Disaster Risk Insurances like the Drought Financing Facility and ARC Replica (with START Network);

    4) Anticipation Window to the NGO-managed Start Fund (with START Network);

    5) Emergency Preparedness and Response Planning (EPReP) in all COs (see above/preparedness).

    In January 2018 WHH joined the “Drought Risk Science Lab – DRiSL” a consortium of universities and practitioners investigating scientific modelling and monitoring of drought related risks. See also 5B.

    Furthermore WHH participated in the 1st Globe Drought Stakeholder Workshop where WHH is partnering with research institutions in the project "GlobeDrought" to develop, test and implement a drought information system for comprehensively characterizing drought events and their impact on water resources, crop productivity, food trade and the need for international food aid. 

    B. Please select if your report relates to any initiatives launched at World Humanitarian summit
    • Global Partnership for Preparedness
    • Grand Bargain
    • Risk and Vulnerability Data Platform
    • The Global Alliance for Humanitarian Innovation
    2. A. Please select no more than 3 key challenges faced in implementing the commitments related to this transformation. Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • Data and analysis
    • Funding modalities (earmarking, priorities, yearly agreements, risk aversion measures)
    B. How are these challenges impacting achievement of this transformation?

    Lacking data on Admin Level 1 (province) and higher (district, village) to execute risk analysis are still hampering anticipation / early warning and early action, and emergency preparedness and response planning at these levels. Further, no-regret buy in by donors and the change of donor funding modalities are desperately needed.

    3. What steps or actions are needed to make collective progress to achieve this transformation?

    Generating and provision of data to allow e.g. INFORM Index to execute risk analysis on Admin Level 1 (province) and higher (district, municipality, village) for anticipation / early warning and early action, and emergency preparedness and response planning at these levels. Further, donors to change funding policies and financing modalities to allow for financing early warning and early actions on a no-regret basis and to execute loss and damage analysis for resilience building decisions.

    Keywords

    Community resilience, Disaster Risk Reduction, Preparedness

  • 4C
    Deliver collective outcomes: transcend humanitarian-development divides

    Core Commitments (1)

    • Commitment
    • Core Responsibility
    • Commit to a new way of working that meets people's immediate humanitarian needs, while at the same time reducing risk and vulnerability over multiple years through the achievement of collective outcomes. To achieve this, commit to the following: a) Anticipate, Do Not Wait: to invest in risk analysis and to incentivize early action in order to minimize the impact and frequency of known risks and hazards on people. b) Reinforce, Do Not Replace: to support and invest in local, national and regional leadership, capacity strengthening and response systems, avoiding duplicative international mechanisms wherever possible. c) Preserve and retain emergency capacity: to deliver predictable and flexible urgent and life-saving assistance and protection in accordance with humanitarian principles. d) Transcend Humanitarian-Development Divides: work together, toward collective outcomes that ensure humanitarian needs are met, while at the same time reducing risk and vulnerability over multiple years and based on the comparative advantage of a diverse range of actors. The primacy of humanitarian principles will continue to underpin humanitarian action.
    • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
    1. A. Highlight concrete actions taken between 1 January – 31 December 2018 to implement the commitments which contribute to achieving this transformation. Be as specific as possible and include any relevant data/figures as well as any good practices and examples of innovation.

    Other

    Preserve and retain emergency capacity.

    In June 2018, Welthungerhilfe (WHH) launched its Emergency Structures 2.0 as a result of consultation, feedback and learning process. For effective and efficient humanitarian assistance these include both new Rules of Cooperation for WHH emergency response stakeholders and intensification of the establishment of “Country Emergency Teams” in the WHH programme countries which are crises prone.

    WHH had closed its operations in the Philippines years ago. In 2018, WHH signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Philippine NGO PRRM, with which WHH had worked in the past. In the MoU PRRM and WHH commit to work together in case of large-scale emergencies  - provided availability of resources and uncovered needs - to have immediate contact and update each other on crisis monitoring once hazards increase. WHH also agreed to provide capacity building/networking opportunities whereas possible.

    To preserve emergency capacity in Mozambique after the closure of its office in 2018, WHH signed an MoU with the Alliance2015 partner Helvetas for large scale emergency response. Helvetas will therefore in case of a (developing) crisis be the first point of contact for WHH in Mozambique, within the frame of Alliance2015 Emergency Group mechanism.

    B. Please select if your report relates to any initiatives launched at World Humanitarian summit
    • Risk and Vulnerability Data Platform
    • The Global Alliance for Humanitarian Innovation
    2. A. Please select no more than 3 key challenges faced in implementing the commitments related to this transformation. Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • Data and analysis
    • Funding modalities (earmarking, priorities, yearly agreements, risk aversion measures)
    • Joined-up humanitarian-development analysis, planning, funding and/or response
    B. How are these challenges impacting achievement of this transformation?

    Funding and planning of humanitarian and development interventions are vested in different institutional donor settings and follow different funding modalities. Furthermore, the funding of development interventions isn’t necessarily bound to humanitarian principles but tries to send political signals. Thus, different criteria and objectives of humanitarian and development funding are challenging.

    3. What steps or actions are needed to make collective progress to achieve this transformation?

    Institutionalise loss and damage analysis to inform resilience building programming. Institutionalise risk analysis for risk informed development programming. Donors to demand loss and damage analysis and risk analysis for funding and programming of development interventions, to allow for multiple-years interventions for reduction of risks and vulnerability of people. Donors to increase support to multi-mandated (humanitarian & development) actors, agents, and institutions at international, national, and local levels, and to promote the peace dimension.

    Keywords

    Emergency Response, Preparedness

  • 5B
    Invest according to risk

    Core Commitments (1)

    • Commitment
    • Core Responsibility
    • Commit to invest in risk management, preparedness and crisis prevention capacity to build the resilience of vulnerable and affected people.
    • Invest in Humanity
    1. A. Highlight concrete actions taken between 1 January – 31 December 2018 to implement the commitments which contribute to achieving this transformation. Be as specific as possible and include any relevant data/figures as well as any good practices and examples of innovation.

    Welthungerhilfe (WHH) continued its Forecast-based-Financing (FbF) project financed by the German Federal Foreign Office on development and introduction of replicable standard operating procedures (SOP) for forecast-based financing of drought-related assistance in Madagascar – in cooperation with START Network. (More details in section 4A).

    Furthermore, WHH engaged in the START Network Strategy Group on African Risk Capacity (ARC) Replica on drought insurances. The latter being an initiative financed by the German Government through BMZ via KfW.

    WHH is also collaborating with START Network in the “DRiSL: Drought Risk Science Lab” a project led by the University of Sussex which has been awarded funding from the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) to work in 3 pilot countries, namely Zimbabwe, Pakistan, and Madagascar.

    B. Please select if your report relates to any initiatives launched at World Humanitarian summit
    • Global Partnership for Preparedness
    • Risk and Vulnerability Data Platform
    2. A. Please select no more than 3 key challenges faced in implementing the commitments related to this transformation. Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • Buy-in
    • Data and analysis
    • Funding modalities (earmarking, priorities, yearly agreements, risk aversion measures)
    B. How are these challenges impacting achievement of this transformation?

    Investment according to risk demands a sound analysis of risks to achieve a buy-in by donors and other humanitarian stakeholders. To reduce risks and vulnerabilities of communities and people threatened requires multi-year investments and adequate funding modalities. This applies also to financing both early warning and early action.

    3. What steps or actions are needed to make collective progress to achieve this transformation?

    To promote an understanding that in disaster risk financing many mechanisms work in parallel and address different risk layers. Thus, avoid silver bullet thinking in favor of the one mechanism, instead adequately provide funding to address all risk layers. On risk insurances, progressively adopt the polluter pays principle (liability principle) and the solidarity principle regarding premium payments for pro-poor insurance products and guarantee long-term financial support e.g. by G20 to the V20’s (the vulnerable twenty).

  • 5E
    Diversify the resource base and increase cost-efficiency

    Individual Commitments (1)

    • Commitment
    • Commitment Type
    • Core Responsibility
    • Welthungerhilfe commits to adopt the Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS) and International Aid Transparency Initiative Standard, with clear benchmarks for achieving these through the CHS Alliance self-assessment tool.
    • Policy
    • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need Invest in Humanity
    1. A. Highlight concrete actions taken between 1 January – 31 December 2018 to implement the commitments which contribute to achieving this transformation. Be as specific as possible and include any relevant data/figures as well as any good practices and examples of innovation.

    Welthungerhilfe (WHH) believes that the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) (along with the Financial Tracking System, FTS) is the most widely recognized tool currently available for the publication of data for financing development projects and humanitarian aid projects. In 2018, WHH began initial reporting to IATI. With the introduction and roll out of WHH’s new project management systems software still ongoing, reporting roll-out will be built further in 2019, as the reporting system will need to be linked to the software systems. This way, WHH will be able to increase cost efficiency and transparency by expanding and improving the quality of its reporting data and in parallel build permanent capacity to do IATI reporting into its organizational systems.

    B. Please select if your report relates to any initiatives launched at World Humanitarian summit
    • Grand Bargain
    2. A. Please select no more than 3 key challenges faced in implementing the commitments related to this transformation. Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • Information management/tools
    Keywords

    Transparency / IATI