Funding Disasters: Tracking Global Humanitarian and Development Funding for Response to Natural Hazards

This study analysed international financial flows to nine countries (Kenya, Lesotho, Peru, Mozambique, Haiti, Vanuatu, Nepal, Indonesia, and DRC) for the 18 months after recent crises (drought, flood, cyclone, earthquake, and epidemic) to understand funding timelines and other features. This is a diverse set of cases, but some interesting findings emerge. Very little funding (2.3%) was pre-arranged and often fast and flexible UN humanitarian funding played a crucial role in kick-starting the emergency response.

While humanitarian funding for rapid-onset crises, which have a strong ‘CNN effect’, was often reasonably fast, funding for drought remains extremely slow. In fact, it is development rather than humanitarian actors that provide most (74%) of the funding; the World Bank is the biggest funder (50%) and also one of the slowest. Finally, the study found that low amounts of funding, and the delays in its arrival, has an unequivocal human cost, often with long-term consequences.