About the Grand Bargain
Origin and concept of the Grand Bargain
As part of the preparations for the World Humanitarian Summit (WHS) in 2016, the High-Level Panel on Humanitarian Financing sought solutions to close the humanitarian financing gap. Their report made recommendations to shrink the needs, deepen and broaden the resource base for humanitarian action, and to improve delivery. In relation to the latter recommendation, the report suggested “a Grand Bargain between the big donors and humanitarian organisations in humanitarian aid”.
The Grand Bargain, launched during the WHS in Istanbul in May 2016, is a unique agreement between some of the largest donors and humanitarian organisations who have committed to get more means into the hands of people in need and to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the humanitarian action.
Initially thought as a deal between the five biggest donors and the six largest UN Agencies, the Grand Bargain now includes 66 Signatories (25 Member States, 25 NGOs, 12 UN agencies, two Red Cross/Red Crescent movements, and two inter-governmental organisations).
Evolution of the Grand Bargain
Five years after the initial agreement of the Grand Bargain in 2016, the Signatories undertook a thorough review in 2021, resulting in the launch of the Grand Bargain 2.0. However, recognising the evolving nature of humanitarian needs, the Signatories agreed to revisit the priorities and structures once again in June 2023.
Since the last revision in 2021, global humanitarian needs have continued to increase. As of March 2023, the required funding for the global humanitarian response reached a staggering US$54.2 billion, with a focus on assisting 240 million people out of the 339 million in need. These needs are driven and exacerbated by ongoing crises, conflicts, climate change, natural disasters, and public health emergencies.
Taking into account the insights gathered from the Signatory survey and constituency consultations conducted in 2022/2023, the Facilitation Group has proposed a set of objectives, a timeline, and a structure to address the current challenges. It is important to note that the original 51 commitments and 11 core commitments remain as the foundational elements of the Grand Bargain.
This framework outlines:
1) The suggested scope and timeline for the future of the Grand Bargain beyond June 2023.
2) Suggestions for the governance, structure, accountability, and resourcing of the process.
Click here to read the framework
The framework was endorsed by the Grand Bargain Signatories in June 2023.
Structure
In 2023, following the endorsement of the new iteration of the Grand Bargain, the structure was revised with the aim of creating agile structure to allow collective engagement of all the Signatories. After careful consideration of their past achievements and the evolving role in the new iteration of the Grand Bargain, and following extensive discussions, a collective decision was reached to close down the workstreams.
To find more about the workstreams.
Annual Meeting
The meeting brings the Signatories together to take stock and agree on the priorities moving forward, with a particular emphasis on ensuring that local actors are able to participate in the debate. To ensure ownership and continued commitment by all Signatories, additional Signatory meetings can be set up to share and endorse results.
Caucuses
- Caucuses are timebound processes that can be activated to resolve political challenges, based on clear problem statements. They can be started by the Grand Bargain Ambassadors or individual Signatories. Caucuses generally involve a limited number of participants, ideally at Sherpa level, who are necessary to resolve the specific blockages to be addressed.
- Following successful resolution, the caucus champions and members are called upon to ensure that the caucus outcomes are shared, understood and accepted, as appropriate, in the Grand Bargain community through communication, presentation and constituency peer engagement. Implementation must be regularly monitored in the annual self-reports and followed-up.
Communities of Practice
Communities of Practice can be established as a useful instrument to help progress on Grand Bargain commitments.
Engagement at national level
- The Grand Bargain achievements and commitments have not yet sufficiently reached and impacted structures and actors at national/local level.
- Global level progress and results are regularly shared with the national level either through National Reference Groups (NRGs), virtual engagement, newsletter or other in-country coordination meetings.
- Signatories engage at national level through NRGs or other meaningful national level initiatives led by local actors to ensure progress and results of the Grand Bargain are implemented at national level.
- Representatives of NRGs or national initiatives take part in regular exchanges and Grand Bargain meetings to feedback and influence discussions at global level, especially around blockages and barriers at national level.
National Reference Groups are national level, constituent-based, consultative forums for humanitarian stakeholders that are led by local and national actors. Click here to read more about them.
Governance
As per recommendations of the Annual Independent Report 2023, and constituency consultations, the revised governance aims to ensure sustainable structures with clear responsibilities at the political level to drive the progress forward
Ambassadors
The Grand Bargain is now championed by three Ambassadors, namely Jemilah Mahmood, Manuel Bessler and Michael Köhler. They are responsible for steering the process towards its strategic objective. Each of them leads on specific focus area: participation, localisation, quality funding, and catalysing system-wide transformation.
Facilitation Group
To strengthen its advisory role to the Grand Bargain Ambassadors and the Secretariat, the Facilitation Group (FG) engagement is elevated at Sherpa level. It will be supported by the Secretariat and respective focal points. The Sherpa Group will meet regularly, and will convene constituency consultations, to ensure their views are represented. The composition of this group is reflective of the different Grand Bargain constituencies (two donors, two UN agencies, IFRC/ICRC, NGO consortia).
2022/2023 Facilitation Group: ECHO, Germany, OCHA, UNHCR, ICRC, ICVA, A4EP
2021/2022 Facilitation Group: ECHO, Germany, OCHA, UNHCR, ICRC, ICVA, NEAR
2020/2021 Facilitation Group: ECHO, UK, OCHA, WFP, IFRC, SCHR
2019/2020 Facilitation Group: ECHO, UK, OCHA, WFP, ICRC, SCHR
2018/2019 Facilitation Group: USA, Sweden, OCHA, UNICEF, IFRC and InterAction
2017/2018 Facilitation Group: Germany, United Kingdom, OCHA, UNHCR, ICRC and InterAction
2016/2017 Facilitation Group: ECHO, Switzerland, WFP, OCHA, UN Women, IFRC and SCHR
Grand Bargain Secretariat
The authority, remit and capacity of the Secretariat is strengthened to provide necessary substantive as well as administrative/logistical support to Ambassadors, on condition that adequate resources are available. Links to other existing fora, such as the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) should be ensured as relevant.
Monitoring the progress
While the importance and relevance of the Annual Reporting was recognised, many Signatories have expressed a desire to simplify the reporting requirements. In the new iteration, it is suggested to narrow down the requirements to make them more targeted. A revised annual reporting against concrete and measurable milestones/indicators for easy comparability and follow-up will be introduced.
The Grand Bargain in 2022
Translating the Grand Bargain commitments into reality
As needs of affected people are increasing, the humanitarian community has to find better ways to respond to crises. As one of the three recommendations of the High-Level Panel on Humanitarian financing, the Grand Bargain helps to overcome this gap by making humanitarian aid more efficient.
The Annual Independent Report 2023 identified some successes.
Contact
For information about the Grand Bargain, please contact the Grand Bargain Secretariat in Geneva.