ELRHA’s view of the UK Government's response to the the Humanitarian and Emergency Response Review

The UK government set out it’s response to the Independent HERR report on the 15th June. There is much that is positive within the response with the Government accepting the majority of the HERR recommendations. In particular ELRHA welcomes the heightened importance that is given to research, evidence and innovation within humanitarian policy going forward. We are also glad to see the Government recognise professionalisation within the sector as an important area for action, and one in which they acknowledge they will need to work with partners to achieve.

Research, Impact and Resilience

ELRHA supports the increasingly important role that DFID is outlining for research in humanitarian policy and practice. The focus on developing the evidence base is particularly welcome and we were pleased to note the planned efforts to make more effective use of the important research that DFID has commissioned under more development and resilience oriented themes. However, we believe that the value of research and evidence could also make significant contributions at the operational end of humanitarian practice in such areas as logistics, supply-chain management, organisational resilience, communication, professionalisation, collaboration and effective partnerships and we would welcome leadership from DFID to create the required space for such research and encourage the generation and use of greater evidence in these areas.

Impact

ELRHA endorses the push for better measurement of impact within humanitarian programmes and spending in order to achieve greater accountability to both the recipients of humanitarian assistance and to donors and the giving public. Impact measurement is also a priority for our academic stakeholders under the UK’s Research Excellence Framework. (REF). The humanitarian sector offers unique opportunities for the academic community to bring these skills to bear and demonstrate their impact clearly within the REF timeframe. We therefore encourage DFID to continue and extend its collaboration with the UK Research Councils to capitalise on these complementary agendas.

Resilience and anticipation

We applaud the significant shift in approach outlined in the Government Response that will see resilience embedded in all DFID country programmes by 2015, providing the crucial link between the development and humanitarian spheres. There is a critical role here for science and research in strengthening the linkages between the two and we would welcome the opportunity to work with DFID in bringing the key stakeholders together to achieve this.

Professionalisation

The Government’s pro-active endorsements of the HERR recommendations on professionalisation are welcome at this critical time, particularly with regards to its key policy commitment to work with partners to improve skills and professionalism across the humanitarian sector. ELRHA believes that the humanitarian sector is at a tipping point in terms of its commitment and enthusiasm for professionalisation and now urgently requires leadership to maintain and catalyse this momentum. With the launch of the second phase of our professionalisation programme we are working with an impressive cross-section of stakeholders (over 50 agencies) that are poised around the globe to contribute to a major transformation in how training and professional development is addressed in this sector.

Four regional communities or “hubs” have already formed in the UK, Europe, Northern America and East and the Horn of Africa with representative member commitment from key NGOs, INGOs, Red Cross, OCHA, UN Clusters, academic and vocational learning providers. Partnership with DFID to properly resource and foster this innovative global collaboration would enable ELRHA to launch further regional hubs and intensify the buy-in and ownership of a truly global professional development infrastructure; this will deliver the breakthrough in raising the standard and impact of professional training, reducing unnecessary duplication of funding and providing the means for the large scale-ups of capacity building that is so critically needed.

Innovation

Innovation in humanitarian action remains an important theme for the Government and we are pleased that that our Humanitarian Innovation Fund (HIF) is recognised for the unique contribution it makes towards delivering that commitment in the sector. In particular, we agree that focus is required not only to nurture innovation but also to collect evidence and capture lessons from innovative programmes, which is the approach championed by the HIF. In this regard, we believe that the four projects that were recently announced for funding www.humanitarianinnovation.org/projects) fit perfectly into this agenda and will contribute to scaling up and strengthening the humanitarian response through innovation.
ELRHA looks forward to working closely with the virtual humanitarian research and innovations team and the Chief Scientific Advisor to further develop a supportive culture and increase the capacities for innovation within the humanitarian community.

Partnership

ELRHA provides a unique service connecting and developing partnerships between humanitarian practitioners and academics. It has gained significant credibility in its short life with both constituencies. As a result it finds itself in a unique position to provide a convening space for those working on areas of benefit to the humanitarian sector – a space that is neutral, informed and connected. ERLHA has access to some of the finest minds and on the ground expertise to provide an analysis that is both rigorous and useful for the widest range of humanitarian situations. ELRHA feels that this convening power could be used very effectively to further key aspects of the UK Government’s policy going forward.
In summary, paragraph 41 on page 20 of the UK Government Response paper neatly incorporates ELRHA’s three strands of activity, demonstrating the potential synergies and complementarities of ELRHA’s and DFID’s work:

“… key challenges include learning more from responses and scaling up innovation developing one set of accountability standards internationally that require participation from beneficiaries, and bringing private sector skills to help address particular challenges of 21st Century response”

We look forward to working with DFID to deliver its objectives over the next few years.