IRC's position paper on the future of the Grand Bargain

Published Date

irc position paperIn their position paper "Focus on the Frontlines: How the Grand Bargain can deliver on its promise to improve humanitarian aid", IRC make five key recommendations based on our outcomes and evidence approach and in support of the two enabling priorities identified for the next iteration of the Grand Bargain, or ‘Grand Bargain 2.0’ – enhanced quality funding and localisation. In particular, they suggest:

  1. Increasing the volume of aid – both direct and passed-through funding – to frontline implementers. By ‘frontline implementers’ we mean those actors who are best placed to intervene on the frontlines of humanitarian action, be they local civil society, international NGOs or a partnership of the two;
  2. Improving the quality of aid, which must be flexible and multi-year and must reach frontline implementers faster;
  3. Better tracking humanitarian financing flows for higher transparency and accountability;
  4. Supporting a more equitable distribution of power for people affected by crisis; and
  5. Scaling the coordination of humanitarian cash and incorporating cost-effectiveness tools and assessments that strike the best balance between costs and outcomes for people in need.

Focus on the Frontlines also details what IRC is ready to contribute to turn these recommendations into action in the spirit of the quid pro quo. For example, we commit to increasing the resources we provide to local actors by half in 2021 (compared to 2020) to jump start progress; continuing to build strategic partnerships with local actors, half of whom will be women-led or women-focused; and strengthening our internal systems to start reporting to OCHA’s Financial Tracking Service by 2024 or earlier.