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Belgium will support impartial humanitarian actors' efforts to engage in dialogue with and operate in areas controlled by non-State armed groups.

Belgium commits to investigate together with its partners how humanitarians and the private sector can team up in partnerships while respecting humanitarian principles.

Belgium supports the UN Secretary-General's call for a global campaign to boost respect and compliance for IHL. In this respect Belgium does commit to joining a global campaign to reinforce the protection of civilians by strengthening compliance with international law, in particular international human rights, humanitarian and refugee law.

Belgium already took some steps towards shifting from short-term, fragmented funding to predictable multiyear financing and to allow cash-based programs. The Royal Decree adopted in 2014 allows Belgium to allocate core-funds to international humanitarian organizations on a multi-year base as well as to finance humanitarian programs over 2 years.

Recognizing the potentially transformative power of multi-sectoral humanitarian cash transfers Belgium commits to promote the private sector's active role in humanitarian action in order to bring innovative solutions and expertise to transformative partnerships with humanitarian actors that leads to enhanced cash programming in humanitarian contexts; and to continue to work on the implementation of the inaugural humanitarian impact bond in collaboration with the International Committee of the Red Cross, build on this experience and to share acquired the know-how.

Belgium commits to engage in the Connecting Business Initiative carried out by OCHA, UNDP and UNISDR in the further development of a global portal connecting the international and local private sector to governments, local authorities and implementing organizations that would ensure a coordinated approach from emergency preparedness to response and recovery. Belgium commits to provide EUR 270,000 in funding to support these actions, particularly in  the Sahel and the Great Lakes region where there is great potential for this initiative. 

Belgium will assess, as part of an integrated planning cycle, the preparedness activities undertaken in its partner countries which are prone to crisis. In order to ensure a coherent, comprehensive and appropriate approach, this assessment should be done co-jointly with the national, sub-national and local authorities, organizations and communities taking into account the specific needs of women and girls and the role they can play. Belgium will identify financing opportunities within a portfolio approach to address possible shortcomings. The portfolio approach will aim to reduce the barriers between humanitarian and development finance in order to mobilize a balanced mix of humanitarian and development finance. Belgium will identify these opportunities within a 3 to 5 year framework by starting in a pilot country and gradually replicating the support for preparedness to other partner countries incorporating lessons learnt and best practices.

As a member of the International Network on Conflict and Fragility, Belgium commits to implement the Stockholm Declaration commitments to "provide smarter, more effective, and more targeted development support in fragile and conflict affected situations, not least in protracted humanitarian crises" and to "work more closely with development and humanitarian actors and promote increased incorporation of conflict-sensitive and longer-term development approaches and financing into humanitarian operations in protracted crisis situations to achieve collective outcomes, by: (i) Investing in capacity building of local organisations and actors, in particular facilitating their involvement in the planning and implementation of humanitarian programmes, and by using on the job training. As part of this, focusing on strengthening government data collection systems and statistical capacity. (ii) Actively sharing data between humanitarian and development organisations, using that data and knowledge - including knowledge about refugees, internally displaced people and host communities, and the obstacles to return -“ to inform shared risk and context analyses, using these analyses to develop risk-informed programming, and to monitor the achievement of collective and sustainable outcomes. (iii) Providing the right financial incentives - including more multi-annual funding allocations -“ for different actors to work more coherently over multiple years; ensuring that each actor's individual efforts work towards common, context-specific, goals and collective SDG outcomes: overcoming the factors that have led these states and societies to be exposed to fragility and shocks. (iv) Stepping up financial and political investments in the reduction of fragile situations and in the prevention and peaceful resolution of conflicts, including through arms control. (v) Securing the participation and involvement of crisis affected people and communities in the planning and implementation of humanitarian and development initiatives, and heeding their voices. Ensuring the voices of grass roots organisations, including women'™s groups, are heard at national level, and strengthening the listening skills of field personnel. (vi) Supporting financial and physical infrastructure to create the enabling environment for viable local economies, including maritime economies. (vii) Empowering field personnel to plan, make decisions, and adapt programming to suit the needs of rapidly evolving environments. (viii) Creating an environment that encourages learning from mistakes as well as the active sharing of information between different actors.

Belgium commits to continue to participate in discussions aimed at encouraging local organizations to explore ways to structure themselves that will ensure better coordination and the easing of future initiatives in terms of direct funding.

Belgium commits to continue to respect and operationalize the principles and concepts of the Oslo Guidelines (guidelines on the use of military and civil defense assets to support humanitarian activities in complex emergencies) with a special focus on common humanitarian civil-military standards for coordinating foreign military assets in humanitarian assistance.

Belgium emphasizes the need for innovative solutions within the humanitarian setting. Belgium therefore commits to earmark part of its budget for digital solutions.

Belgium commits to continue to participate in discussions aimed at encouraging local organizations to explore ways to structure themselves that will ensure better coordination and the easing of future initiatives in terms of direct funding.

As a member of the International Network on Conflict and Fragility, Belgium commits to implement the Stockholm Declaration commitments to "provide smarter, more effective, and more targeted development support in fragile and conflict affected situations, not least in protracted humanitarian crises" and to "work more closely with development and humanitarian actors and promote increased incorporation of conflict-sensitive and longer-term development approaches and financing into humanitarian operations in protracted crisis situations to achieve collective outcomes, by: (i) Investing in capacity building of local organisations and actors, in particular facilitating their involvement in the planning and implementation of humanitarian programmes, and by using on the job training. As part of this, focusing on strengthening government data collection systems and statistical capacity. (ii) Actively sharing data between humanitarian and development organisations, using that data and knowledge - including knowledge about refugees, internally displaced people and host communities, and the obstacles to return -“ to inform shared risk and context analyses, using these analyses to develop risk-informed programming, and to monitor the achievement of collective and sustainable outcomes. (iii) Providing the right financial incentives - including more multi-annual funding allocations -“ for different actors to work more coherently over multiple years; ensuring that each actor's individual efforts work towards common, context-specific, goals and collective SDG outcomes: overcoming the factors that have led these states and societies to be exposed to fragility and shocks. (iv) Stepping up financial and political investments in the reduction of fragile situations and in the prevention and peaceful resolution of conflicts, including through arms control. (v) Securing the participation and involvement of crisis affected people and communities in the planning and implementation of humanitarian and development initiatives, and heeding their voices. Ensuring the voices of grass roots organisations, including women'™s groups, are heard at national level, and strengthening the listening skills of field personnel. (vi) Supporting financial and physical infrastructure to create the enabling environment for viable local economies, including maritime economies. (vii) Empowering field personnel to plan, make decisions, and adapt programming to suit the needs of rapidly evolving environments. (viii) Creating an environment that encourages learning from mistakes as well as the active sharing of information between different actors.

In line with the core responsibility to ensure that "No One is Left Behind" and with the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, Belgium commits to continue to focus scarce ODA resources where it matters most. Both during the summit on financing development in Addis Ababa and during the Agenda 2030 summit in New York, as well as in Istanbul, Belgium has actively advocated and will continue to advocate for the proposal that at least 50% of ODA should be devoted to least developed countries. Belgium has committed itself to do so as well, which is reflected in the new list of 14 partner countries of Belgium's development cooperation: 12 of these countries are least developed.

Belgium already took some steps towards shifting from short-term, fragmented funding to predictable multiyear financing and to allow cash-based programs. The Royal Decree adopted in 2014 allows Belgium to allocate core-funds to international humanitarian organizations on a multi-year base as well as to finance humanitarian programs over 2 years.

Belgium will assess, as part of an integrated planning cycle, the preparedness activities undertaken in its partner countries which are prone to crisis. In order to ensure a coherent, comprehensive and appropriate approach, this assessment should be done co-jointly with the national, sub-national and local authorities, organizations and communities taking into account the specific needs of women and girls and the role they can play. Belgium will identify financing opportunities within a portfolio approach to address possible shortcomings. The portfolio approach will aim to reduce the barriers between humanitarian and development finance in order to mobilize a balanced mix of humanitarian and development finance. Belgium will identify these opportunities within a 3 to 5 year framework by starting in a pilot country and gradually replicating the support for preparedness to other partner countries incorporating lessons learnt and best practices.

Belgium commits to continue its contributions to the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to help ensure its expansion to $1 billion annually by 2018.

In line with the initiative "€Publish What You Fund"€, Belgium commits to making its humanitarian aid transparent by publishing all humanitarian aid data to the IATI Standard, by the end of 2017, increasing its frequency of publication during sudden onset emergencies.

ODA should increasingly be used as "œseed money" to attract the untapped potential of alternative sources, including private ones. Hence, Belgium has prioritized the private sector in its development cooperation, while strictly abiding to the principle of untied aid.