The annual Global Humanitarian Assistance (GHA) report comprehensively assesses international financing at work in humanitarian situations since 2000.
Funding to the humanitarian sector stalled in 2023, failing to keep pace with rising demand. While international humanitarian assistance remained historically high at over US $43 billion, interagency appeals faced a funding gap of US $32 billion, the largest on record. Ultimately, humanitarian funding and reform efforts fell short, and many millions of people targeted by international humanitarian responses did not receive the support they needed. With key donors and organisations across the sector making budget cuts, Development Initiatives’ (DI’s) projections indicate that funding will fall further in 2024.
In 2022, most of the largest humanitarian donors increased their contributions in response to the Ukraine crisis, but the picture in 2023 was mixed. Several made significant cuts, including the UK, Germany and Canada. While these were mostly offset by increases from other donors such as Japan and Norway, the donor base continued to narrow, with a small number of donors providing the vast majority of funding. Taken together with the overall funding decrease and reports that major donors are planning further cuts, this underlines the fragility of a system already under strain.
International humanitarian assistance continued to focus on protracted crises, part of a significant shift over the last decade. In 2014, only 29% of funding required for interagency appeals was for protracted crises, but in 2024 this had reached 91%. This should spur more coherent action across the humanitarian–development–peace nexus to address the underlying drivers of crises. It also reinforces the importance of Grand Bargain commitments to increase multi-year funding and planning.
The 2024 GHA Report explores the international funding response to crises; funding to local and national actors; cash and voucher assistance; and pre-arranged finance for anticipatory action.
Key messages include:
- Humanitarian financing declined in 2023 and is projected to drop further in 2024
- Multilateral organisations continue to receive the largest share of international humanitarian assistance, while transparency on funding to subsequent recipients remains challenging
- The volume of cash and voucher assistance declined for the first time in 2023 in line with overall funding for humanitarian responses
- Funding available to anticipatory action frameworks increased in 2023 but still makes up less than 1% of total international humanitarian assistance
