Grand Bargain Quality Funding Caucus Concludes with New Funding Commitments

Published Date

On Tuesday, 12 July 2022, several humanitarian actors made new commitments to improve the quality and amount of humanitarian funding. These build upon prior commitments made with the establishment of the Grand Bargain in 2016, as well as a growing body of research and evidence demonstrating the efficiency gains multi-year funding can bring, particularly to frontline implementers.

In March 2022, International Rescue Committee (IRC) President and CEO David Miliband co-launched the Grand Bargain Quality Funding Caucus with European Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarčič. Over the next few months, caucus Sherpas engaged in a series of multilateral and bilateral conversations, as well as two technical workshops facilitated with support from the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), Development Initiatives (DI), and ICVA. The caucus has now concluded, with major bilateral donors, UN agencies, NGOs and local actors unanimously endorsing a final Outcome Document that details commitments around increases in multi-year funding, transparency in data reporting, and accountability to donors and populations affected by crisis.

Caucus stakeholders made a number of commitments, including notably to:

  1. Recognize multi-year funding as a preferred funding modality, especially in protracted crises;
  2. Agree that multi-year funding should have at least some flexible arrangements to enable recipient organizations to respond efficiently and effectively;
  3. Recognize that multi-year funding should be channeled as close to the frontline as possible, and that key intermediaries like UN agencies play a central role in cascading that funding.

Caucus participants were a subset of donors and funding recipients, including intermediaries, who have engaged in a series of high-level political and technical dialogues. Organizations represented in the caucus included:

  • Major donors (ECHO, the US Agency for International Development/Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, the US State Department Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration/PRM, Sida and the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs);
  • UN agencies (UNICEF, WFP, UNHCR, and OCHA);
  • ICRC on behalf of the Red Cross/Crescent movement;
  • International NGOs represented by InterAction;
  • And local actors represented by the NEAR network.

In addition, another subset of donors, intermediaries, and local actors comprised an Informal Advisory Group, which convened on a semi-regular basis to offer input and insight into caucus discussions. Members included the governments of Canada, Denmark, the United Kingdom, Norway, and the Netherlands, as well as the WHO, UNRWA, and A4EP.

We encourage Grand Bargain Signatories to endorse and use this outcome document to take concrete actions for collective transformation of the humanitarian aid and financing system.

The next few months will be crucial in gathering feedback on the caucus, monitoring implementation of said commitments, and tackling outstanding challenges that donors and other actors identified during the caucus.