Humanitarian aid

This Commission staff working document sets out the general guidelines on operational priorities for humanitarian aid in 2020.

The report stressed that while global humanitarian needs are dramatically increasing, funding is not. It is estimated that more than 141 million people across the world need humanitarian assistance and protection – and more funding than ever before is required to help them. It is therefore essential to identify and focus on main priorities and respect the guiding principles, on which the EU's humanitarian budgetary allocations are determined.

In 2020, EU humanitarian aid will continue to focus on supporting those most in need following sudden-onset, protracted and forgotten crises. 

Priority areas

Efforts will continue to focus on the following areas:

- multi-sectoral emergency assistance and protection for populations affected by conflict;

- nutrition support to help reduce excessive morbidity and mortality of children under five in areas where severe acute malnutrition has reached the emergency threshold;

- adequate food assistance to populations facing severe food insecurity;

- support to enhancing preparedness and response capacity in high-risk areas;

- emergency response to epidemics and natural disasters as appropriate.

In addition to the direct action to help those most in need, efforts will continue to draw high-level attention on the urgent need to strengthen the resilience of the most vulnerable populations in the Sahel and implement the Humanitarian-Development Nexus on a large scale.

Programmable funding should be mobilised in addition to emergency funding in order to maintain access to basic services for the population and reduce the risks on social cohesion. Interventions will primarily cover vulnerable populations in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Nigeria. In addition, Disaster Risk Reduction will be supported in some of these countries. In all West and Central Africa countries, a response to epidemics and new emergencies can be provided as appropriate; if important unmet humanitarian needs emerge.

Operational objectives and budget planning

The report noted that the general EU budget earmarked on the budget lines for humanitarian aid/food assistance and disaster preparedness is EUR 896 154 500. This amount is to be used to finance humanitarian aid operations aiming essentially to:

- provide humanitarian aid to vulnerable people affected by natural disasters, man-made crises or exceptional situations, which have entailed or are likely to continue entailing major loss of life, physical and psychological or social suffering or material damage;

- provide first initial response to cover the immediate needs of the most vulnerable in the days after a large scale emergency or a sudden onset humanitarian crisis as well as humanitarian assistance for response and disaster preparedness to populations affected by disasters where a small scale response is adequate and to populations affected by epidemic outbreaks;

- improve the conditions for delivering humanitarian aid by supporting transport services to ensure that aid is accessible to beneficiaries;

- increase the coherence, quality and effectiveness of humanitarian aid through e.g. the development of innovative approaches, methodologies, tools, the support to capacity building, coordination and preparedness development of innovative approaches, methodologies, tools, the support to coordination and preparedness.