Quotes of the week

Published Date

Quote

Quote of the week, 6 July 2020

Author: Grand Bargain Annual Independent Report 2020: 

It is evident that the Grand Bargain is having a wider impact in terms of a more cohesive, collaborative approach across the international humanitarian aid sector – a crucial element in helping drive forward reforms of the whole humanitarian system.” 

Quote of the week, 24 February 2020

Author: Dr. Jemilah Mahmood, Under-Secretary General for Partnerships, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), in her speech to Fordham University: 

I know many of you share the same desire to see not just a better humanitarian system, but more importantly better outcomes for people who are caught in some of the worst circumstances, merely because they were born in a different place, under different circumstances – not by any choice of their own.  We are no better than them if not for that. If improving our systems and approaches helps us achieve our goals, then let’s start by investing in building trust, doing and delivering what we say, with humility and perseverance, to the very people who deserve that trust – the local populations.” 

Quote of the week, 10 February 2020

Author: Ms. Paraskevi Michou, Director-General of Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG ECHO), European Commission

In line with the Grand Bargain, the European Union remains committed to improving the effectiveness and efficiency of humanitarian action. In this sense, the European Commission Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG ECHO) is launching pilot Programmatic Partnerships with several international non-governmental organisations. In the spirit of the Grand Bargain, we aim to provide more aid directly to beneficiaries by offering more predictable and flexible funding and reduced administrative burden in exchange for enhanced efficiency and transparency.” 

Quote of the week, 16 December 2019

Author: Victoria Metcalfe-Hough, Research Associate, Humanitarian Policy Group, Overseas Development Institute, at the Global Consultation on Gender and the Grand Bargain, 13 December 2019

The Grand Bargain has to be seen as a long-term endeavor. Changes foreseen are very significant and require a lot of effort. We have to keep recognizing that those changes will take time – changes in transparency, administration, financial and accounting systems. It is difficult to assess the progress on an annual basis. A 5-year retrospective review in 2021 will probably give a better idea of where the progress has been made.” 

Quote of the week, 18 November 2019

Author: Courtney R. Nemroff, Acting U.S. Representative to the United Nations Economic and Social Council, in a statement to the UN Third Committee on the report of UNHCR (30 October 2019): 

“We remain committed to promoting burden sharing with our partners and allies, and ensuring greater efficiency, transparency, accountability, and effectiveness of our humanitarian assistance. In this regard, we will continue to press for the fulfillment of commitments made under the Grand Bargain, especially those related to joint needs assessments and the reduction of management costs.” 

Quote of the week, 11 November 2019

Author: Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, in a statement to the UN GA Third Committee (30 October 2019): 

“We are working on improving evidence-based planning, how we describe impact, and on increasing efficiency, in line with our Grand Bargain commitments and as an active participant in broader UN reforms.” 

Quote of the week, 4 November 2019

Author: Gareth Price-Jones, Executive Secretary, SCHR, and Grand Bargain Facilitation Group Chair October-November 2019: 

"I’m proud that as the Facilitation Group we are locking in dates and building on the work of others to ensure the reporting and analysis this year is easier and better than ever, and focused on impact on the ground.” 

Quote of the week, 28 October 2019

Author: Elizabeth Bellardo, Policy Team Leader, USAID

"In conversations with other donors, many of us feel that if the Grand Bargain didn’t exist, we would have to create it. It is a unique platform for addressing critical humanitarian financing and humanitarian system reform issues.” 

Quote of the week, 21 October 2019

Author: Cecilia Roselli, Head of Policy and Partnerships Unit, Norwegian Refugee Council Geneva

"While the Grand Bargain is not yet delivering the transformative changes we all wanted, step by step we are improving HOW we work together. We all knew from the beginning that the Grand Bargain alone was not going to fill the gap in funding nor lead to a revolution in the humanitarian financing landscape. If we do not “shrink the needs” and “broaden up the resource basis”, we do not move forward. These are the other two almost forgotten recommendations from the High Level Panel on humanitarian financing (2016). But without the discussion stimulated in the framework of the Grand Bargain, we would not have been able (despite all our good efforts and passionate engagement) to start moving forward with multi-year agreements with UN partners, review the UNHCR partners’ overhead costs calculation, and initiate the process to simplify and harmonise UN and donors cost classification and financial reporting systems (Money where it Counts). We hope to deliver more changes on this.” 

Quote of the week, 14 October 2019

Author: ODI, Annual Independent Report 2019: 

"The Grand Bargain provides a unique platform for strategic dialogue between donors, UN entities, NGOs, and the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement (RCRCM) - a platform which does not exist elsewhere wuthin the aid system. It is difficult to estimate the likely impact of a failure to achieve, at least in part, the original ambitionws of the Grand Bargain, but abandoning the significant political, financial, and institutional investments made by such a broad array of Signatories thus far would like undermine the sense of collective purpose that the initiative has generated, and which is necessary to achieve the system-wide improvements to humanitarian sector that are so urgently needed."