Bijlagen bij SWD(2013)503 - Jaarlijkse strategie voor humanitaire hulp, 2014: algemene richtlijnen voor operationele prioriteiten - Hoofdinhoud
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| dossier | SWD(2013)503 - Jaarlijkse strategie voor humanitaire hulp, 2014: algemene richtlijnen voor operationele prioriteiten. |
|---|---|
| document | SWD(2013)503 |
| datum | 2 december 2013 |
Annex I: Indicative budgetary allocations for 2014
Annex II: Summary of Global Vulnerability and Crisis Assessment 2013-2014 Annex III: Summary of Forgotten Crisis Assessment 2013-2014 Annex TV: DG ECHO GVCA map 2013-14
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Introduction
The European Commission, principally through its Directorate General for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection (ECHO) takes the lead in formulating EU humanitarian aid policy and for managing humanitarian aid to the victims of conflicts or disasters, both natural and man-made, in non-EU countries. The mandate of the Commission in this area is to save and preserve life, to reduce or prevent suffering and to safeguard the integrity and dignity of people affected by humanitarian crises by providing relief and protection. The Commission also helps to facilitate coordination with and among EU Member States on humanitarian assistance. The overall priority is to ensure that the aid is managed in the most effective and efficient way possible so that the help Europe delivers to people in need has the maximum effect, whilst respecting the principles of international law and the principles of impartiality, neutrality, humanity, non-discrimination and independence.
The Commission is also responsible for the management of the civil protection instrument which covers interventions in Member States, as well as in non-EU countries. The two instruments, humanitarian aid and civil protection, are linked and under the responsibility of the same Commission department and Commissioner.
The present document drawn up under Article 16.1 of the Council Regulation No 1257/96 covers the operations for the year ahead, involving both tools with an emphasis on humanitarian aid. Civil protection activities are described in the annual work programme for actions to be financed in 2014 pursuant to Council Decision No 2007/162/EC.
This year's operational priorities and funding allocation have been based on the "Integrated Analysis Framework" (IAF), a new tool for humanitarian need and situation assessment developed by DG ECHO. This development is part of the overall "process review" carried out by the service with the aim to improve quality/effectiveness (aid effectiveness, policy leverage, visibility and accountability to taxpayer), and improve further evidence-based decision-making (see section 3.1.1.).
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1.
General context and outlook for 2014
Globally, humanitarian needs continue to increase substantially, driven principally by the consequences of climate change and population growth. For natural disasters, an average of 269 million people is reported as affected each year1. Projections for climate-related natural disasters alone, thus excluding events such as earthquakes, show this rising to as much as 375 million by 2015 . Rapid and unplanned urbanisation is the largest driver of disaster risk; already half the world's population lives in urban areas and in developing countries the number of urban dwellers is increasing at a rate of around 65 million a year .
In addition to this are the many millions affected by conflict and violence: the year 2012 was marked by refugee crises reaching levels unseen in the previous decade. Conflicts such as those in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, the Syrian Arab Republic, and the border area between South Sudan and Sudan forced more than 1.1 million refugees into neighbouring countries. These new refugees joined the more than 800 000 people who had become refugees in 2011. In addition, an estimated 6.5 million people were displaced within the borders of their countries, almost twice as many as in 2011 and the second highest of the past decade. By the end of 2012, some 45.2 million people worldwide were considered as forcibly displaced due to persecution, conflict, generalized violence and human rights violations (including 15.4 million refugees, 28.8 million IDPs and close to one million individuals whose asylum applications had not yet been adjudicated by the end of the reporting period. The 2012 level was the highest since 19944. This worrying trend has been confirmed and consolidated in 2013, primarily due to the ongoing conflict in Syria. In November 2013, the UN reported that the number of Syrian refugees had exceeded 2.2 million, a rise of almost 1.5 million since January. It was estimated that the country also had 6.5 million internally displaced people, with the numbers constantly rising.
Many people affected by humanitarian crises, be it refugees, IDPs, or others, suffer from a lack of protection and disregard of humanitarian principles. Respect for International Humanitarian Law (ML) is decreasing in most of the highly politicised crisis scenarios the world is witnessing. One obvious case in point in 2013 is Syria which has been convulsed by the civil war, with ML violations occurring on a daily basis. Another example is the Central African Republic, where the whole population is potentially affected by the crisis that has unfolded since the March 2013 coup d'Etat.
Disasters and Humanitarian crises remain an increasing threat to sustainable development. Annually economic losses amount to hundreds of billions of euros and are projected to double by 20305. Countless local (and often recurring) events often go unreported and new data emerging that includes more local events indicates that direct disaster losses in economic terms are at least 50% higher than those shown in internationally reported figures6.
269 million people were affected by natural disasters per year between 2002 and 2011 (The Brookings Institution, 2013: The Year of Recurring Disasters, A Review of Natural Disasters in 2012)
The Right to Survive: The humanitarian challenge in the twenty-first century (http://www.oxfam.org/sites/www.oxfam.org/files/right-to-survive-summary-eng.pdf)
United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2011, World Population Prospects: The 2010 Revision, New York. UNHCR Global Trends 2012
UNISDR Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction, Chair's summary
http://www.preventionweb.net/files/33306_finalchairssummarvoffourthsessionof.pdf
UNISDR Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction 2013
http://www.preventionweb.net/english/hvogo/gar/2013/en/home/index.html
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To address such increases in humanitarian needs, humanitarian budgets must be used as efficiently and effectively as possible to ensure the maximum impact. Weaknesses and key gaps in the international response system need to be identified and addressed, and ways of working have to be reviewed and innovated. The Commission will continue supporting the strengthening of the overall international humanitarian system. Advocacy in favour of principled humanitarian aid, respect for IHL and forgotten crises is an important complement to funding. The Commission brings valuable first-hand knowledge of the complex situations on the ground, which can help shape the response of both the humanitarian community, including other donors, and that of political and development stakeholders who should contribute to more structural and sustainable solutions.
The Commission will continue work with partners to ensure transparent and accountable communication, including field visibility for EU assistance. This will be crucial for European citizens continued awareness, better understanding as well as their support for EU humanitarian action.
EU Humanitarian Aid continues to focus on supporting those in most needs following sudden onset, protracted and forgotten crises. At the same time, building the resilience of populations to better withstand the effects of shocks and stress is becoming a central aim of humanitarian aid. Based on the results of its integrated (humanitarian and food) needs assessment, the Commission plans the main humanitarian interventions for 2014 in Africa (mainly in Sudan, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Sahel Region and the Horn of Africa), but also in the Middle East. The protracted conflict in Syria which has caused a humanitarian crisis of an unprecedented scale is likely to continue to generate massive needs. The humanitarian response to this complex crisis of a regional dimension will therefore continue to put a heavy strain on aid budgets.
The Commission will also pursue its enhanced assistance to the populations of the Central African Republic. In addition to its stepped-up support to humanitarian assistance on the ground, the Commission will continue its efforts, with other partners, to ensure adequate international attention for the crisis in CAR. It will build on its advocacy efforts for CAR in 2013 (which notably involved high-level missions to CAR and the facilitation of a dialogue among key stakeholders on the humanitarian crisis in CAR at the UN General Assembly).
Overall, while the scale of the needs worldwide is such that no single donor can address them all, the Commission will continue to have a global reach supporting relief and resilience work in around 80 countries, covering major and forgotten humanitarian crises.
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2. Policy priorities
In 2014, Commission priorities in the area of policies will be centred on three major building blocks: enhancing response to emergencies, resilience and disaster risk reduction, and improving aid effectiveness.
The Commission's communication activities will focus on these policy priorities, and on the EU's response to meeting the needs of people facing crises and disasters. The broad objective is to boost awareness, understanding and support for the EU's role and actions among the EU citizens, to promote policy priorities on how to deploy humanitarian assistance and prevent disasters within the EU and globally, and to support advocacy for the humanitarian principles and actions including among the donor community, international organisations and other partners (see section 3.7.3.).
2.1. Enhancing Response to Emergencies
The Commission will maintain determined efforts to enhance the overall response to emergencies, both of the humanitarian system and in the area of civil protection.
In 2014, the Commission, together with Participating States to the European civil protection mechanism will actively work on the implementation of the new EU civil protection legislation .
The establishment of the Emergency Response Coordination Centre in the Commission, as well as the development of the European Emergency Response Capacity and further development of financing tools supporting the mobilisation and transport of emergency in kind assistance provided by Participating States have the potential to enhance the overall European humanitarian response in case of major disasters in third countries. The closer coordination and complementarities of both civil protection assistance and humanitarian aid are essential in this respect.
2.2. Resilience and Disaster Risk Reduction
As a follow up to the Communication "The EU approach to resilience: learning from food security crises" (October 2012), Council Conclusions were adopted in May 2013 and the Resilience Action Plan issued in June 2013. The Action Plan provides the framework for continuing and scaling up EU efforts for resilience at different levels (from policy and advocacy to tools and methods) and with concrete country/region strategies and specific cases. In 2014, the Commission will contribute to implementing the resilience agenda and will, in particular, integrate resilience as a driver for quality and aid effectiveness of its humanitarian response and development assistance. Closer co-operation within Commission services and with the EEAS will be pursued. Resilience will be systematically included as an element in the Humanitarian Implementation Plans (HIP). Better coordination between development and humanitarian objectives and interventions will be pursued, based on a common analysis of risks and vulnerabilities. In October 2013, a joint instruction letter on the implementation of the Commission's approach to resilience was sent to Ambassadors of the EU Member States, heads of EU Delegations and heads of ECHO field offices. The letter sets out the expectation that resilience will "be streamlined and integrated as a
Commission proposal for a Decision of the European Parliament and the Council on a Union Civil Protection Mechanism COM (2011) 934 final, 20/12/2011
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priority in our programming (humanitarian/development, EU/Member States) in order to allow the EU's external assistance to make a difference to the most vulnerable.
The resilience approach must bring sustainable benefits to the most vulnerable populations and households, taking into account the diversity of needs of women, children, men and the elderly, who may suffer from multiple factors of vulnerability including those coming from the climate change. Action is required at various levels and dimensions. In line with its experience and added value, the Commission will in particular contribute to action at community level.
The EU approach to resilience acknowledges national governments' responsibility to build resilience. Building resilience is a long-term process that needs to be context-appropriate and embedded in national policies and planning for development. In order to contribute effectively to this agenda, the Commission will engage in a more structured way with governments at local and regional level as well as central level. A central objective of resilience is to address underlying, and linked, causes of people's vulnerability. This requires that multi-faceted actions be supported by humanitarian and development assistance partners over the short, medium and long term.
In this context, the Commission will increasingly be involved in joint planning processes with the Member States that have the potential to play a key role in supporting the resilience agenda. The Commission will work in close partnership with other donors, multilateral agencies and Civil Society Organisations in support of National and Regional resilience strategies. The Intra-ACP resilience building programmes as well as the AGIR initiative in the Sahel and the SHARE initiative in the Horn of Africa provide a framework for coordination. Elsewhere, the Commission will seek to develop strategic and operational partnerships, at all levels, to optimise different expertise and added value behind resilience objectives.
Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) activities - including DIPECHO - are an important component of the Commission's resilience approach and should complement it. To this end, the Commission will strategically link up resilience, DRR and DIPECHO, based on an analysis of opportunities in order to increase effectiveness. DIPECHO interventions will be used as a strategic tool to develop resilience opportunities within our humanitarian action and build national and local capacities for resilience. To optimise efficiency, projects will be designed to influence changed practice or replication at a greater scale. DIPECHO interventions will be tailored to the context, and continue to consolidate where appropriate on-going processes in order to achieve the desired impact after years of building capacities and generating local ownership. Community-based approaches will support "bottom up" resilience approach/strategies while building local and national government accountability to vulnerable communities. This strategic approach will be incorporated into all HIPs and operational guidelines.
The EU will also promote resilience and disaster risk management in international fora, including the G20, the process for revision of the Millennium Development Goals and the development of Sustainable Development Goals. The Commission plans to work with EU Member States and other stakeholders in order to develop an EU position to help shape an ambitious revision to the UN Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015. The positioning will start by setting out the Commission's initial views on the shaping of the post 2015 framework and build on the achievements of a range of internal and external EU policies (disaster risk management, sustainable environmental protection, internal security, climate change adaptation, humanitarian aid and development).
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2.3.
Improving aid effectiveness
The Commission is committed to improve the overall effectiveness of humanitarian aid, through the following actions:
- actions aimed at improving the effectiveness of humanitarian aid at EU level
Continuing to translate the commitments of the European Consensus on Humanitarian
Aid into actions with a genuine impact on the ground will remain high on the Commission's agenda. To this end, and in line with the recommendations of the Action Plan Mid-Term Review, an independent evaluation was launched in mid-2013 to assess the impact of the Consensus inter alia in terms of policy development and operations. The evaluation covers the actions of both Member States and the Commission in the 2008-2012 period. The findings of the evaluation are foreseen for 2014.
EU Aid Volunteers can make an important contribution to enhancing response to emergencies. Negotiations in the Council and European Parliament on the EU Aid Volunteers draft Regulation are expected to be completed by the end of 2013. In 2014 the Commission will focus on completing the preparatory steps necessary for implementing the programme: It will prepare the standards for volunteer management, the certification mechanisms for sending and hosting organisations and the EU training programme for the volunteers. This process will build on a sector-wide consultation exercise launched in 2013 to ensure ownership and to build on existing good practice. It will launch the first capacity building measures to ensure that sending and hosting organisations are ready to participate in the programme; the first organisations will be certified in the second semester of the year. The Commission will organise the first sector-wide needs assessment process covering the types of volunteers needed; the priority areas for deployment projects as well as the priority actions for capacity building of local organisations for the coming year. Finally, the different support measures such as establishing the communication action plan and developing the online environment for the EU Aid Volunteers register and network will be designed. Training of the first EU Aid Volunteers is scheduled towards the end of the year. In the meantime, implementation of the pilot projects agreed in 2013 will continue including the deployment of around 80 volunteers in 2014.
- actions aimed at improving the effectiveness of humanitarian aid at the international level.
Hence, the Commission will continue to support the UN-led efforts to strengthen the multilateral humanitarian system through the TASC Transformative Agenda' (ITA). This initiative aims at improving the overall performance of and accountability for the collective humanitarian response. Effective coordination and strengthened leadership remain crucial, especially at a time of continued severe budget constraints and an ever-more challenging humanitarian landscape. The Commission will also continue to support the progressing work on developing a framework for coordinated needs assessments, which are critical to bringing about a shared understanding of humanitarian needs and priorities.
From July 2013 to end of June 2014, the European Union represented by the Commission will chair the OCHA Donor Support Group (ODSG). The ODSG acts as a sounding board and is a mechanism for feedback, donor consultation and exchange of information on OCHA's activities. The overall priorities of the chairmanship focus on the strengthening of OCHA's field performance and enhancing partnerships and outreach.
OJC25, 30.1.2008
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The Commission will closely follow the preparation of the World Humanitarian Summit (WHS) which will take place in Istanbul early 2016. The WHS will have four themes, namely humanitarian effectiveness, reducing vulnerability and managing risk, transformation through innovation and serving the needs of people in conflict.
Non-DAC donors play an increasingly important role in providing humanitarian assistance regionally and internationally through growing financial allocations and expanding activities in 2013. Given the changing humanitarian landscape, the Commission will strive to contribute towards a more inclusive international humanitarian system by intensifying and systematising its cooperation with a number of non-DAC donors outside the EU, in particular with Arab donors and ASEAN.
- actions aimed at improving thematic and cross-cutting quality and guidance
In 2014, the Commission will maintain its increased focus on aid effectiveness, results-orientation and impact. The aim is to ensure that the needs of the most vulnerable crisis-affected populations are addressed efficiently and effectively. The targeted dissemination and further development of clear guidance on thematic and cross-cutting issues such as nutrition, WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) and others will contribute to this end, aiming to achieve best value for money. So, systematic monitoring of implementation, using key results indicators and specific markers will be ensured to the largest extent possible. The anchorage of policy development in operational experience and best practice will continue to be primordial.
Following the adoption of the Staff Working Document on "Gender in Humanitarian Aid: Different Needs, Adapted Assistance" (SWD(2013)290), which outlines the Commission's approach to gender and gender-based violence in humanitarian aid, the Commission will pursue efforts to strengthen gender- and age-sensitive programming.
To that effect, the Commission will introduce a Gender-Age Marker for humanitarian aid operations in order to foster and track assistance that is adequately adapted to gender and age needs.
Humanitarian aid will continue to be provided in emergencies where military operations may also be present. The Commission will therefore continue coordination with military and other security policy actors, developing context-specific modus operandi so to uphold principled humanitarian aid and deconflict military and humanitarian activities. The Commission will also contribute to the development of the "Oslo and MCDA"9 guidelines and their interpretation through the annual MCDA Consultative Group.
An important element of improving aid effectiveness is ensuring that assistance reaches the most vulnerable population groups. Therefore, the Commission will continue to support education in emergencies for children affected by conflict, in particular through the EU Children of Peace Initiative, which was launched after awarding the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize to the EU10. Children are particularly vulnerable to conflict. Education in emergencies is crucial for the protection and development of conflict-affected children. It gives children a
Guidelines on the use of foreign Military and Civil Defence Assets (MCDA) in disaster response (Oslo Guidelines) and Guidelines on the use of foreign Military and Civil Defence Assets (MCDA) to support UN humanitarian activities in complex emergencies (MCDA Guidelines)
See Commission implementing decisions C(2012) 8903 final of 28.11.2012 and C(2013) 5453 final of 14.8.2013: education in emergencies and crisis situations is among the issues in focus in the Commission Staff Working Document on Children in Emergency and Crisis Situations (2008); it is also in line with the commitment to address the needs of the most vulnerable expressed in the European Consensus on Humanitarian Aid, which states that "in responding to humanitarian needs particular vulnerabilities must be taken into account. In this context, the EU will pay special attention to women, children, the elderly, sick and disabled people, and to addressing their specific needs".
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sense of normality and a safe space, helps them recover from crises and encourages them to contribute to peace.
3. Operational priorities
3.1. Priorities reflected in the budget allocation
3.1.1. General principles
In line with the Treaty, the Humanitarian Aid Regulation and the Consensus, the Commission is committed to providing relief and protection to populations affected by natural or man-made disasters solely on the basis of need.
The process leading to the allocations per individual country and region, in 2013 has been streamlined and consolidated into an integrated approach, the already mentioned "Integrated Analysis Framework". The IAF is an annual exercise leading to the preparation of Humanitarian Implementation Plans (HIPs) and the funding allocation for the worldwide decision (WWD) based on national data, sub-national data and desk/field analysis. This methodology greatly improves (i) the transparency and integrated approach to Commission's needs-based decision-making process (ii) the quality of country/context analysis and (iii) the efficiency gains through a more streamlined approach.
The IAF template also includes more in-depth analysis of the context and the development of the crisis situation which help ensuring quality gains. The verification of certain Global Vulnerability and Crisis Assessment (GVCA) and Forgotten Crisis Assessment (FCA) indicators by Commission field experts and geographical desks is also conducted via the IAF template.
• The process begins with a request to operational units to complete the 'integrated analysis framework' template. The template covers a country/context analysis (national level and sub-national level), needs assessment, response analysis (presence of donors, LRRD, coordination and implementation capacity), specific food and nutrition analysis and a forgotten crisis recommendation where appropriate.
• The analysis is conducted by the Commission field experts in coordination with the respective operational units of the Commission. This analysis provides a first-hand account of crisis areas and gives an insight into the nature and the severity of needs. The Commission field experts conduct such assessments for each crisis in close cooperation with the Commission's partners.
• Given the importance of food assistance/nutrition, the template contains a specific food and nutrition needs assessment. This is carried out in the countries/regions with food assistance/nutrition interventions. The specific needs-based analysis is reinforced with reports from field missions, nutrition and food indicators, an assessment of the potential funding from other donors and the possible capacity and access limitations faced by partners. The sectoral analysis is validated by and dovetailed with the Global Needs Assessment established by the Commission.
• The Commission also carries out at central level a global evaluation, which has two dimensions: (i) the Global Vulnerability and Crisis Assessment, which categorises almost 140 developing countries on the basis of the existence of a recent crisis (man-
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made or natural disaster) and the degree of vulnerability of the country's population; (ii) and the Forgotten Crisis Assessment, which identifies crises that have been overlooked or neglected by the international humanitarian community and/or the global media and which need special attention.
• This process results in provisional allocations for each country/region, which are further examined in the light of other factors, one of the most relevant being the amount allocated for humanitarian assistance in the EU budget for the following year. The mismatch between the available budget and the estimated needs usually leads to a substantial downsizing of the preliminary allocations.
• However, the budget is not the only factor that intervenes in the fine-tuning phase of the allocation process. Other key elements are the access to beneficiaries and the security aspects. Moreover, essential factors are constituted by the operational capacities of partners on the ground, which include the capacity to efficiently absorb funds already allocated to the country and the presence of the other donors, which may lead to changes in the priorities (in terms of geographical coverage, sectors, etc.) not to duplicate efforts and to ensure the best coverage of the needs.
• As a final step, a comparative analysis of proposed budget allocations is carried out in order to ensure consistency and balance of allocations across countries and regions, taking due account of the Commissions' operational priorities.
The Commission is among the first in the donor community to establish and share detailed assessments and budgetary allocations for the countries/crises in which it intervenes for the year ahead. The Commission also seeks to engage actively in dialogue throughout the year with other donors, both at HQ and in the field, on funding intentions in different crises, not least in the context of the Good Humanitarian Donorship initiative.
3.1.2. Global Vulnerability and Crisis Assessment (GVCA)
The process of collecting and calculating the data needed for the GVCA and FCA (see below) is outsourced to the Joint Research Centre (JRC). The ranking is produced by compiling a range of internationally available indicators covering development, social as well as natural hazards and conflict-related trends into a database. The indicators used mainly come from UN organisations and research institutes. Commission's geographical desks and field experts provide verification of certain datasets especially those relating to uprooted people and conflict. In 2012, the JRC developed a dedicated web application for the creation, management and publication of the composite indicators (including interactive maps). This is available here: http://echo-global-vulnerability-and-crisis.jrc.ec.europa.eu/
The Global Vulnerability and Crisis Assessment categorises 140 developing countries (low-income countries as defined by the World Bank) on the basis of:
■ the existence of a recent crisis (caused by conflict, natural disaster, or presence of a large number of refugees or internally displaced persons (IDPs), and
■ the degree of vulnerability of the country's population.
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The combination of crisis and vulnerability indices allows the identification of the high priority areas.
Using the GVCA methodology, in 2013 the Commission identified 35 countries or territories currently experiencing at least one humanitarian crisis. In 2012, 2011 and 2010 this was 32, 23 and 49 respectively.
Out of the 35 identified, 12 countries emerged as "extremely vulnerable"11. They are: Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Afghanistan, Mali, Zimbabwe, Haiti, Myanmar and Yemen.
A visual representation of the GVCA results is to be found in Annex to this document.
3.1.3. Forgotten Crisis Assessment (FCA)
The FCA attempts to identify crises that have been overlooked or neglected by the international humanitarian community and/ or the global media and which need special attention from the Commission. The forgotten crises often concern minorities, or specific groups of people within a country. The assessment from the Commission country desks and field experts serves as the main guiding feature.
The FCA 2013-2014 exercise identified the existence of 11 forgotten crisis situations among which 8 were already identified as forgotten in 2012-13:
1. the Rohingya refugees crisis in Bangladesh;
2. the violence in the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh;
3. the conflict situations in Jammu and Kashmir, central India (Naxalite insurgency) and in the North-East regions of India;
4. the populations affected by the internal armed conflict in Colombia;
5. the IDP crisis in Northern Yemen as well as the conflict in South;
6. the Sahrawi refugees in Algeria;
7. the internal armed conflict in Central African Republic;
8. the conflict-IDP crisis in Northern Pakistan
The FCA exercise also flagged the following forgotten crisis situations which require specific attention:
1. the conflict in Kachin, Myanmar;
2. the protracted protection (Sexual and Gender-Based Violence - SGBV), nutrition and health crisis in Papua New Guinea and;
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3. the protracted refugee / food and nutrition crisis in Chad .
Many of these crises are identified by the FCA methodology as forgotten for several years now. For example, from 2011 to 2014, Algeria, Bangladesh, Central African Republic, Colombia, India, Yemen and Myanmar have appeared on the list. On the basis of experience gained notably since the inclusion of Papua New Guinea into the DIPECHO Programme in
This is reflected by a vulnerability indicator and a crisis indicator of 3.
This covers principally the conflict-related needs in the east, on the border with Sudan (Darfur), involving both old and new refugee caseloads. The Sahelian Chad is not part of the forgotten crisis. See page 13
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2011, and the establishment of partners' presence in the country, the crisis in Papua New Guinea has been identified as a forgotten crisis for the first time since the Commission developed the FCA tool in 2004.
At this stage, 15% of the planned geographical humanitarian aid budget allocation is being earmarked for these forgotten crises.
3.1.4. Other considerations
The Commission aims to ensure availability of funding for as many crisis situations as possible and that there is a swift, efficient, comprehensive response. Whilst funding allocations are based on needs assessment and co-ordination with other donors, certain factors that are outside our control may reduce the volume of aid that can effectively be delivered to the beneficiaries. Two factors, in particular, should be mentioned. These are the extent to which implementing organisations are present and have the capacity to handle needs in a given crisis zone ("absorption capacity"), and the linked problem of access restrictions caused either by insecurity or administrative impediments.
The Commission aims to ensure that proper needs assessment and monitoring take place and only accepts "remote management" in limited circumstances, where justified by humanitarian imperatives. In these cases, partners are obliged nonetheless to take advantage of any available local capacity to assess and monitor as reliably and comprehensively as possible.
Restrictions faced by partners are most prevalent in areas of conflict, a marked absence in the rule of law or due to political and administrative impediments (e.g. Syria, Somalia or Sudan). They can also be affected by political resistance from governments.
The Commission's funding under this operational strategy involves constant re-appraisal of humanitarian crises as they evolve. If the need for humanitarian assistance diminishes, often due to the start of rehabilitation and development activities, the Commission winds down its humanitarian work. The Commission puts a high priority on linking humanitarian aid and development activities.
The exit strategy for all areas of humanitarian intervention is reviewed twice a year, first, when funds are initially allocated, then, during a mid-term review. The latter is an opportunity to review priorities for remaining funds in accordance with evolving needs.
3.1.5. Budget planning
The general budget earmarked on the budget lines for humanitarian aid/food assistance and disaster preparedness (DIPECHO) is EUR 896 million. The graph below shows the percentage of the planned budget for each region and the related supporting instrument.
As in previous years, sub-Saharan Africa will be the region in which the bulk of the budget will be planned (46%) given the consequences of natural disasters and recurrent complex emergencies in the region.
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50%
45%
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15% -\
10%
5%
0%
46%
22%
16%
10%
5%
1% i i
Africa Middle East & Asia & Pacific Latin America & Worldwide Complementary Mediterranean Caribbean disasters operations
Figure 1 — Budget planned in 2014 by region
(1) Complementary operations include the technical assistance, the enhanced response capacity, the EU Children of peace, NOHA and communication projects
The chart below shows the response planned for complex emergencies and natural disasters based on budget per region.
100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%
100%
□ Complex emergencies ■ Natural disasters
70%
30%
80%
0%
41%
59%
n
20%
Q
Africa
Middle Easl & Mediterranean
Asia & Pacific
Latin America S Caribbean
Figure 2 — Budget planning: response to complex emergencies and natural disasters
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3.2. Africa
3.2.1. Sudan, South Sudan
Since the Republic of South Sudan became independent from Sudan on 9 July 2011, relations between the two countries have been tense and volatile. Important issues such as the demarcation of the border, including the status of the disputed area of Abyei, remain unresolved. However, in 2013 progress was made on a number of key issues such as the resumption of oil production, trade agreements and border security arrangements.
The political situation remains unstable with both countries mired in serious internal conflicts. The overall humanitarian situation is critical with an estimated 4.5 million people in need of emergency assistance in South Sudan and 4.45 million people in Sudan. In Sudan, the situation in Darfur is characterised by the multiplication of incidents of fighting and insecurity, both along political lines (government versus rebels) and inter-tribal (including between Arab tribes), driving more people into displacement in 2013 than in 2011 and 2012 combined. In the transitional areas (South Kordofan and Blue Nile), the conflict between the Sudanese army and the SPLM-N (Sudan Population Liberation Movement-North) shows no signs of resolution, amidst continued denial of access.
In South Sudan, the humanitarian needs landscape is becoming more delineated than in previous years. Conflict-related needs are concentrated in Jonglei and the two states hosting most Sudanese refugees (Unity and Upper Nile), while food insecurity affects a wide range of states, albeit less dramatically than in 2012.
Humanitarian operations in both countries face severe challenges due to access limitations, insecurity, logistical and administrative impediments and poor local capacity. Advocacy for opening-up humanitarian space and for respect of humanitarian principles will therefore continue to play a key role in the Commission's strategy.
In 2014, funding for Sudan (Darfur and the Transitional Areas, South Kordofan and Blue Nile) will focus - if access allows - on life-saving and life-preserving operations for displaced people, refugees, returnees, host communities and nomads, and will consist of emergency items (food, non-food and shelter), access to water, primary healthcare and nutrition. Preparedness and response to new emergencies such as epidemics, floods, droughts or acute nutrition crises will also be considered, provided there is access. Common humanitarian services, such as coordination and air transport will be funded.
In South Sudan priority will be given to preparedness for rapid response to new emergencies and enhancing communities' resilience, primarily in areas subject to conflict and other emergencies and in places with high levels of malnutrition or large IDP and returnee populations. A multi-sector approach will be applied, integrating health, nutrition, water and sanitation and hygiene promotion, food aid and food security, and protection to the extent possible. Common humanitarian services such as air transport, core pipelines, joint assessments, security training and coordination will continue to be funded. All opportunities to coordinate and integrate development and humanitarian operations will be pursued.
3.2.2. Chad, Central African Republic, Cameroon Chad
In 2013, Chad has been at the junction of four major crises - Sudan, Central African Republic, Nigeria and Libya - which have intensified its exposure to population movements
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(more than 65 000 new arrivals in 2013, on top of an old caseload of 355 000 refugees and 100 000 returnees). In 2014, regional dynamics could have a destabilising effect on Chad and give rise to new humanitarian needs. The Sahel belt of Chad remains highly food insecure due to harsh environmental conditions and eroded livelihoods exacerbated by endemic poverty and chronic underdevelopment. Looking at the prospects for 2014, late rains and pest attacks will have a negative impact on the 2013/2014 agricultural season, while the most vulnerable populations, who rely primarily on markets, will not be able to cover their food needs. Food insecurity is thus projected to worsen in 2014. The nutritional situation remains of great concern, with stable prevalence rates above emergency thresholds in the Sahel and roughly the same number of children treated in 2013 for SAM and MAM as in 2012, although 2013 is not categorised as a food crisis year. Chad is furthermore exposed to natural disasters and epidemics, with cholera a persistent threat. The combination of high vulnerability with low response capacity and limited donor engagement qualifies this situation as a forgotten crisis.
Against this background, in 2014 the Commission will concentrate its humanitarian action on the following axes:
achieving a sustainable reduction of malnutrition-related mortality among children under five and their mothers using the two-pillar strategic approach developed for the Sahel;
helping populations to recover from the effects of past food crises and cope with the consequences of new external shocks through emergency operations and resilience-building measures, as appropriate;
provide essential life-saving services and livelihood recovery support for vulnerable refugees, returnees and host populations, promoting their resilience as much as possible.
As a whole, 2.5 million people affected by different crises across the country are projected to receive multi-sectoral assistance in 2014. The Commission will adjust its response to the evolving humanitarian situation. Given the volatile operational context, advocacy and support for logistics and transport services in order to secure humanitarian access will continue, along with the promotion of humanitarian coordination. Linking Relief and Development efforts already under way (with the Food Security Thematic Programme and with the 11th EDF programming) will be enhanced. In close cooperation with the Delegation, the Commission will furthermore continue to promote high-level attention for the AGIR Sahel initiative, for which Chad is expected to be a front-runner country.
Central African Republic (CAR)
In 2013, the humanitarian crisis in the Central African Republic dramatically moved from a low-intensity conflict with relief needs concentrated in the less populated areas of the country, to a complete collapse of law and order affecting the whole territory. The entire population of 4.6 million people is affected by the crisis, including 1.6 million in need of life-saving assistance.
The conflict has also generated 225 000 displaced people within Central African Republic and pushed 62 000 refugees across borders into neighbouring states. The humanitarian needs are huge and multifaceted: 500 000 people are vulnerable to food insecurity, less than 20% of medical facilities are operational, a huge number of WASH infrastructures have been
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destroyed, 650 000 children are unable to attend school and around 3 500 children have been recruited into armed groups.
The current crisis is also characterised by widespread and large-scale IHL and Human Rights violations including killing and maiming, rape, abduction, forced recruitment including of children, loss of identification papers, deprivation of freedom of movement, extortion and illegal taxation, destruction of property and goods, and occupation of houses, schools and medical facilities. Insecurity is rife throughout the country and humanitarian organisations face exceptionally challenging circumstances in their efforts to reach affected communities and provide relief and protection.
The Commission is active in several sectors, including protection, access to healthcare, food security (assistance) and nutrition interventions, WASH activities, logistics and humanitarian coordination, and integrated support to meet the needs of victims of conflict. The Commission is also aiming at restoring the resilience of the population and maintaining advocacy efforts to ensure that the humanitarian response is funded and a political solution is found.
Cameroon
The northern regions of Cameroon (North and Far North) have been experiencing a complex emergency leading to a persistent deterioration of basic socio-economic indicators. The health and nutrition situation is critical, with high under-five mortality rate (127 deaths per 1 000 live births, nearly three times the MDG target), and SAM prevalence above emergency threshold in both regions. Deteriorating security conditions (military operation against Boko Haram in Nigeria) and the disruption of markets flows in neighbouring countries have also had a negative impact in 2013, with increased food prices and population displacement. Despite full recognition by development donors of the challenges that northern Cameroon faces, dedicated funding remains largely insufficient to address the root causes of malnutrition and prevent external shocks from undermining the population's resilience. The country is furthermore exposed to recurrent natural disasters and epidemics, particularly cholera.
In this context, urgently needed humanitarian assistance will be provided with the aim of achieving a sustainable reduction in malnutrition-related mortality among children under five and their mothers, an of providing life-saving assistance, livelihood recovery support and protection for displaced and host populations. Support will also be provided for disaster and epidemic preparedness, and rapid response.
3.2.3. Central Africa
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Great Lakes
The crisis in DRC remains first and foremost a protection crisis, with civilians overwhelmed by violence (including sexual and gender-based violence), generalised insecurity and impunity, on the side of both rebel groups and FARDC (Forces armées de la République Démocratique du Congo). While the fighting between the M23 and the FARDC has received a lot of political attention and visibility in 2013, it should not overshadow the many other conflicts plaguing the east of the country. Livelihoods are jeopardised by population displacement, insecurity prevents access to land, and vulnerable populations do not have adequate water, sanitation and medical care. In the areas not affected by conflict, malnutrition rates are often above emergency thresholds as a result of economic difficulties,
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lack of basic services and instability. The whole country is regularly subject to epidemics due to the poor health and sanitation conditions.
In 2014 the Commission will continue to address urgent needs arising from population displacement in conflict zones (more than 2.5 million IDPs and 400 000 Congolese refugees) and life-threatening situations in non-conflict areas. Protection will be at the core of its activities, whether mainstreamed into food security, livelihoods and basic social services interventions, or through specific protection activities. The Commission will continue to support emergency preparedness to ensure response capacity in a volatile context. Activities will be closely coordinated with development cooperation instruments. Advocacy for the defence of humanitarian space and respect of humanitarian principles and IHL will be maintained, along with support for humanitarian coordination and logistics, and the provision of the ECHO Flight service and helicopters for access to very remote areas.
The Commission will continue to provide camp maintenance assistance for the Congolese refugees living in camps in neighbouring countries. Emergency assistance will be given in response to sudden, unexpected population movements. Food, healthcare and relief items will be provided, and support will be given to repatriation and reintegration processes, while seeking to ensure that refugees are given proper protection and treated with dignity in accordance with international humanitarian and human rights law.
Air services in DRC, Kenya and neighbouring areas (ECHO Flight)
With a need to access huge numbers of refugees from neighbouring countries settled in remote regions of DRC, and due to insecurity and logistical issues (e.g. all DRC commercial air companies are on the EU blacklist), the Commission operates four fixed-wing aircraft in DRC, Kenya and neighbouring areas. ECHO Flight provides an efficient and reliable service to enable safe and accountable implementation of humanitarian projects in remote regions that would otherwise be inaccessible and unreached. In view of the demands on ECHO Flight in Kenya and DRC, and of the need to maintain a deployment capacity in the region, flight levels will be maintained at a substantial level in 2014. As previously, the service will be closely coordinated with other humanitarian air services and will avoid duplication and competition with safe, viable commercial airlines.
3.2.4. Horn of Africa
While the overall situation in the Horn of Africa has improved when compared to the 2011 crisis, 8.5 million people still need humanitarian assistance in the region. The Commission will sustain its activities to avoid people sliding back into crisis. The assistance will put special emphasis on life-saving activities and strengthening resilience of vulnerable people to drought. The refugee crisis in the region is both acute and protracted with about 1.3 million refugees, originating mainly from Somalia. The Commission will closely follow the discussions at regional level on potential return strategies and will strongly advocate for its voluntary character. In the framework of the 2014 strategy, the Commission will continue to be actively involved in the search for self-reliance solutions for protracted refugees in coordination with development partners especially when conditions for return are not present.
Somalia
Somalia still represents one of the most serious humanitarian crises in the world. Around 870 000 people are expected to remain acutely food insecure until the next harvest and 2.3
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million people are still at risk of sliding back into crisis in the absence of adequate assistance two years only after the declaration of famine in 2011 that led to 258 000 excess deaths in Somalia. Drought, food insecurity and conflict still have the effect of aggravating the humanitarian situation, leading, among other things, to further displacement and the exhaustion of coping mechanisms. Around 1.1 million people are internally displaced in Somalia while more than 1 million have taken refuge in the neighbouring countries. Restricted access and high insecurity are major challenges for aid agencies. The Commission will continue to focus on emergency response through life-saving activities in the South-Central regions of Somalia and in urban areas of Puntland and Somaliland. Protection and support to livelihoods as well as the mainstreaming of disaster risk reduction initiatives will be encouraged. This will contribute to strengthening the resilience of the most vulnerable communities.
Ethiopia
In the second half of 2013, 3.5 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance, including refugees and internally displaced populations. A continued influx of refugees into Ethiopia from Somalia, Eritrea, South Sudan, and Sudan is reported. Movements of internally displaced people due to floods, drought and conflict, rapid-onset natural disasters and epidemic outbreaks are also recurrent.
A rapid response capacity mechanism will continue to be reinforced in order to improve the coverage and the timeliness of support to affected populations in emergency situations. The refugee caseloads will continue to receive life-saving assistance including potential opening of new camps if the situation requires. A strategy consisting in building resilience of the most vulnerable populations will be pursued, better preparing them for the next drought cycle and increasing their coping capacities. For the latter, the Commission will provide assistance through a multi-sectoral approach, with nutrition as the entry point, complemented by interventions in health, water, sanitation, hygiene, food security and disaster risk reduction. Opportunities for LRRD will continue to be looked at in close collaboration with the EU Delegation and other major donors.
Kenya
The overall situation in Kenya has improved due to a good rainy season impacting the total number of vulnerable people in need of humanitarian assistance down to 850 000.
In the arid lands, the Commission will support nutrition and resilience building and will encourage proper information sharing among INGOs on areas under tight security constraints. Advocacy for the creation of "safety nets" will be continued throughout the region while disaster preparedness will remain a strong component. Opportunities for LRRD will be pursued in close collaboration with the EU Delegation, especially in the sectors of nutrition and livelihood. Disaster risk reduction, health, nutrition and hygiene education will continue to be mainstreamed. The Commission will pay particular attention to the devolution process and its impact on the implementation of its activities in the related countries.
In the Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps, more than 575 000 people, mainly from Somalia, live in extremely precarious conditions. The Commission will continue to address their most pressing needs, including protection while looking at durable solutions in the case of protracted refugee situations. A close attention will be given to the approach of the Kenyan Authorities on the question of Somali refugees and their possible repatriation to Somalia.
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Djibouti
120 000 people are still in need of humanitarian assistance in Djibouti. In this context, the Commission is planning to continue contributing to the strengthening of the resilience of the most vulnerable through nutrition, cash and livelihood activities.
The Commission will focus its support on the situation of the Somali Refugees in the Ali Addeh and Hol Hoi camps through food assistance and WASH activities.
Uganda
Besides the on-going countrywide epidemiologic surveillance and the support to disaster risk reduction activities in the Karamoja Region mainly focusing on livelihoods and early warning systems, the Commission will continue supporting the response to the influx of Congolese refugees in south-western Uganda, mainly through nutrition and protection activities.
Eritrea
The Commission is currently not supporting any humanitarian assistance in Eritrea. Due to limited access and humanitarian space in Eritrea, providing direct humanitarian assistance remains a challenge in this country. It will continue to monitor the situation and will be prepared to fund operations if needed provided there are possibilities for independent needs assessments and monitoring of humanitarian projects.
3.2.5. Southern Africa and Indian Ocean
The Southern Africa and Indian Ocean region is extremely vulnerable to weather hazards, namely tropical cyclones, floods, droughts and strong winds; the climate extremes-related shocks negatively affect highly sensitive livelihoods and economies. Repeated shocks erode communities' ability to fully recover, leading to increased fragility and vulnerability to subsequent disasters. The vulnerability situation is further compounded by negative socioeconomic factors prevailing in the region, such as high HIV prevalence rate, extreme poverty and high population density. The nature and pattern of weather-related disasters is shifting and becoming unpredictable, increasing in frequency, intensity and magnitude as a result of climate change. DIPECHO funding will continue to support community-based approaches with aim to enhance resilience of the hazards exposed communities. To the extent possible, DIPECHO supported programmes will be implemented in close collaboration with governments and national counterparts seeking durable solutions and benefits for vulnerable populations.
3.2.6. West Africa The Sahel
The recurrent food and nutrition crises in recent years broke the resilience mechanisms to absorb shocks for the most vulnerable populations in the Sahel. The level of food insecure people and the number of malnourished children remains at a permanently high level, despite favourable rains and good harvests, as were seen in 2012/2013. 15 million people are still food insecure in the Sahel including 7.2 million in need of emergency food assistance. With 1.4 million children at risk of Severe Acute Malnutrition, the Sahel still has the highest malnutrition caseload in the world. With no significant decrease of food prices in the markets, and without large scale safety net mechanisms in place, no relief is expected for the
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poorest households, who in some areas represent more than 50% of the rural population. Political instability is now an aggravating factor, with the Mali and Nigeria crises disrupting both availability of staple goods and casual work opportunities throughout the region.
In 2014, the Commission will continue to focus on achieving a sustainable reduction of malnutrition-related mortality among children under five using the two pillar strategic approach developed for the Sahel in recent years. First, it will continue to support actions to prevent, mitigate and treat malnutrition for under-fives and pregnant and lactating women. Second, it will support advocacy and measures to improve the knowledge base, strengthen early warning and promote the take up of food and nutrition security, including more support to the health sector in a permanent and sustainable way in Sahel government policy planning and the priority areas of action for development partners.
Apart from direct action to help those most in need, the Commission will continue to encourage high-level attention on the urgent need to strengthen the resilience of the most vulnerable populations in the Sahel, through the AGIR Sahel initiative launched by the EU in June 20121 .
Ivory Coast
In Ivory Coast, gaps still remain in the provision of essential services between phasing out of humanitarian aid and longer term development assistance, mainly in the health sector, affecting some 1.2 million people. In addition, Western Ivory Coast still remains unstable, hindering the repatriation of the remaining 50 000 Ivorian refugees from Liberia.
In 2014, the Commission will continue programmes as part of the transitional support to the Government policy in the health sector (targeted free health care) and support initiatives on the protection and social cohesion sectors in Western Ivory Coast.
Mali
In Mali, the operating environment remains complex and despite the overall improved access for humanitarian organizations, the security situation remains volatile. Deployment of humanitarian actors remains insufficient to ensure adequate coverage of humanitarian needs. While some improvement of the general and security situation are noted, the return of displaced people remains limited so far. At the same time malnutrition rates in Mali remained high throughout the year with a peak during the lean season. Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) rates remained above the alert threshold of 10% with the rate for Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) at over 2%, with a peak of 3.4% in some regions.
In 2014 the Commission will maintain its strategic focus on reducing malnutrition rates and strengthening food and nutrition security and resilience. At the same time it will support the implementation of transitional activities linking relief to development actions to ensure continued food assistance and the rebuilding of livelihoods through safety nets and improved access to health, water and education for those most affected by the conflict in the northern regions of Mali. In addition the Commission plans to strengthen humanitarian access to the northern regions and to address the needs of refugees in neighboring countries.
Refer to instruction letter sent by the Commission on the implementation of the Commission approach to resilience mentioned in chapter 2.2
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Nigeria
Over 11 million children under five year are stunted across Nigeria and 1.4 million children are suffering from acute malnutrition in the 11 most northern states. The official GAM rate is 14.4%, which represents a serious situation. Although diverse food items are widely available, a large proportion of the population cannot afford them. In addition most recent macro indicators related to health in Nigeria were under the African average. The country is regularly hit by epidemics linked to poor coverage/access to clean water and sanitation. Beyond food security, nutrition and health challenges, Nigeria is facing a complex emergency with different types of crisis in different regions. Civil insecurity is causing population displacement within Nigeria and is spilling over into neighbouring countries. In some north-eastern states food crisis situation was declared in May 2013. Furthermore, people living in the Benue and Niger River basins are regularly affected by floods.
In 2014 the major focus will be on humanitarian actions to improve access to the treatment of malnutrition and related health care for vulnerable children under five and pregnant and lactating women and emergency food assistance. In addition, the Commission will engage in essential assistance and protection of victims of violence in Nigeria and neighbouring countries. Furthermore, it will finance actions related to preparedness, early warning and emergency response to prevent high mortality rate in case of sudden floods and/or epidemics.
3.3. Middle East and Mediterranean countries
3.3.1. Middle East Syria
More than two years since the beginning of the crisis, the armed conflict is having devastating humanitarian consequences in Syria and neighbouring countries. During 2013, the situation of the civilian population continued to deteriorate rapidly with a shift towards sectarian violence, the presence of foreign fighters, and recurrent waves of fighting, bombardments and attacks on populated areas. Serious violations of international humanitarian law and human rights were reported including rape, torture, massacres and the use of chemical weapons and cluster bombs. The death toll continued to rise, exceeding 100 000 by the middle of 2013, as the conflict spread to all Syrian governorates. The response to the population's needs has been hindered by the sharp deterioration of the security environment, systematic obstruction by the Syrian authorities, and a growing number of armed opposition groups who hamper the work of aid agencies and, at times, prevent aid from reaching vulnerable populations.
During 2013, the number of refugees in neighbouring countries more than doubled. More than two million Syrians were hosted in foreign countries, mainly in Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt. More than 53% of registered refugees are children and three-quarters of registered refugees are living with local host families and communities in both urban and rural areas. In this context, and to reflect the sharp increase in humanitarian needs, the United Nations launched the largest appeal in its history with the revised Syria Humanitarian Assistance Response Plan (SHARP) and the Regional Response Plan (RRP) calling for EUR 3.3 billion to provide humanitarian aid to Syria and neighbouring countries in 2013.
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The Commission will continue to adapt its strategy to the ever-changing situation in Syria and the affected neighbouring countries. It will focus on the most pressing needs: emergency health assistance, shelter (winterisation), protection (SGBV, mental health, psychosocial, etc.), food assistance, and water/sanitation for the most affected people in Syria and neighbouring countries.
This humanitarian activity is part of a broader comprehensive regional aid strategy14 that also embraces development support, including micro-financing. The strategy, closely coordinated with other Commission services and the EEAS in the framework of the Joint Communication "Towards a comprehensive EU approach to the Syrian crisis", covers both Syrians inside and outside the country, and neighbouring states and local communities that host large numbers of Syrian refugees. There is a particular emphasis on enhanced coordination among the many actors involved, given the enormous scale and complexity of the crisis. The EU humanitarian assistance will primarily support life-saving emergency responses to help the most vulnerable families, while development assistance will also be provided in the region to address longer term needs of the affected population to support the stability of the neighbouring countries and mitigate tensions between refugees and host communities.
Palestine
Palestinian refugees and local populations within Gaza and the West Bank continue to suffer from the occupation policy and in particular from movement restrictions affecting their access to land and to basic services. Due to the blockade, people in Gaza are facing high unemployment and poverty, and their situation in terms of food security, health and water/sanitation remains extremely concerning. This is further compounded by complex relations with Egypt and negative development in the Sinai. In the West Bank, Palestinians are confronted with more demolitions and settler violence, leading to forced displacement of communities. In addition, the operational environment is increasingly constrained by restrictions imposed on humanitarian actors.
Relief assistance alone is insufficient to protect communities from ML violations. Therefore in 2014, the Commission will pursue its shift towards greater prioritisation of sectoral humanitarian operations that support protection and advocacy. Specifically, the Commission will intervene in the sectors of protection, food assistance, water/sanitation, and coordination, supported by advocacy. In health and psychosocial care, the Commission will only support ad hoc emergency activities with a strong link to UfL violations. These actions will focus on communities most severely affected by the closure policy. Continued close coordination with the European External Action Service (EEAS) and Commission services including DG DEVCO will ensure programmatic complementarity between relief and long-term operations.
Iraq
Iraq faces multiple security, political and economic challenges. The country is still struggling to maintain national security and build political stability. 2013 saw on increase in the number and scale of security incidents and violent in the main Iraqi cities, sparking renewed concern about the potential for an increase in armed violence along sectarian lines. High levels of criminality in Baghdad, the so-called Disputed Territories and northern/central governorates are slowing down development efforts. In this context, the
Including the un and other key international organisations
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process of return and resettlement of Internally Displaced People (IDPs) has almost come to a halt. In the second quarter of 2013, the Ministry of Displacement and Migration (MoDM) reported that there were 1.13 million IDPs in Iraq. Most destitute IDPs are found in illegal settlements. They are exposed to eviction and security risks, have limited access to basic services and livelihood opportunities, and often lack documentation. Accurate figures of how many Iraqis are in neighbouring countries are not available. The total number of registered Iraqi refugees in the region has fallen to around 105,000, mainly in Syria and Jordan (70% of the caseload) and, to a lesser extent, in Lebanon, Egypt, Turkey and Iran. The civil war in Syria has prompted many Syrians to flee to Iraq (more than 172 000 by September 2013) and Iraqi refugees to return home (more than 80 000 since July 2012). The needs of the Syrian refugees in Iraq will be addressed by the Syria HIP. The Commission's humanitarian priorities for Iraqis will continue to include the enhancement of protection and access to basic services for extremely vulnerable and conflict-affected populations, detainees and returnees. It will also maintain its support for the promotion of respect for International Humanitarian Law, and for increased access to basic assistance (cash, NFIs and health) for the most vulnerable Iraqi refugees.
Yemen
Yemen is affected by structural poverty and chronic vulnerability that gets worse every time there is a conflict, quickly turning into a humanitarian crisis. Despite half of its population having no access to clean water and sanitation; 10.5 million with limited access to food; one million children under 5 years old suffering from acute malnutrition of whom a quarter are severely malnourished; an estimated 292 000 internally displaced; 239 000 refugees and 35 000 vulnerable migrants, Yemen is considered as a forgotten crisis. Humanitarian agencies are struggling to provide adequate assistance, but their efforts are seriously hampered by insecurity and related access problems.
The Commission, through multi-sector assistance, will continue to support the treatment of children affected by acute malnutrition and communities suffering from related food-insecurity while supporting efforts to build resilience. It will also provide humanitarian support and promote durable solution for people affected by conflict and victims of forced displacement, including refugees and highly vulnerable migrants.
3.3.2. Mediterranean countries
Sahrawi refugees
Gathered in five main camps spread in the desert of southwest Algeria, Sahrawi refugees are almost entirely dependent on external humanitarian assistance with little prospect for self-reliance, because income generating activities are scarce and difficult to implement in the desert, or for return, as the peace process that should put an end to this 38-year old conflict has been stalled for years. The basic needs that will continue to be addressed are the provision of dry and fresh food, water in sufficient quantity and of adequate quality, health and nutrition, shelter, basic medicines, and adequate security to humanitarian workers. In such a protracted context, the potential for LRRD is very low. The Commission will continue to encourage inter-sector coordination, optimal complementarity of donor funding, local capacity-building, and a permanent logistics and supply chain to ensure continuous delivery of aid to the most vulnerable Sahrawi refugees throughout the year.
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3.4.
Asia, Caucasus and the Pacific
3.4.1. Central Asia and Caucasus
Both the Caucasus and Central Asia (CAC) are highly exposed to natural hazards, including earthquakes, landslides, floods, mudflows, droughts, avalanches and extreme temperatures. Natural hazards, combined with the high vulnerability of the population and inadequate local capacities renders disaster risk reduction an important component of the Commission's intervention in the region. In some cases the Commission remains the only donor supporting DRR activities in the region.
The Commission will seek with this action plan to consolidate the results achieved through DIPECHO 2012-2013 in order to reduce the vulnerability and contribute to build resilience and a culture of safety of the communities and institutions. The activities will focus on interventions in the area of DRR and on increasing the awareness, preparedness and response capacities and general resilience to natural disasters, at community, national and regional levels.
In the Caucasus and Central Asia, the possibility to intervene through small-scale interventions and the Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) will be maintained. If necessary, additional measures may be taken to respond to any new humanitarian crisis.
3.4.2. South Asia and Pacific 3.4.2.1. South West Asia Afghanistan
Afghanistan has been experiencing a complex and protracted crisis. The country is affected by an on-going armed conflict that has been going on for 35 years. Although transition is on the way, the conflict still involves international and national forces against armed opposition groups, with fighting spread across most regions of the country. The Afghan population has been severely affected by this continuous violent context.
Afghanistan is also prone to natural disasters. It has limited means and mechanisms in place to mitigate risks and respond to emergencies. The level of resilience to shocks at community level is low and has been eroded over the past few years, particularly in remote regions. The country is regularly affected by floods, epidemics, earthquakes, landslides, periods of extreme temperature, sandstorms and droughts. On average, more than eight significant natural disasters occur every year.
There is widespread and significant displacement caused by the conflict and natural disasters. 5.7 million former refugees have returned to Afghanistan since 2002, leaving 2 million Afghans predominantly in neighbouring Pakistan and Iran. Internally Displaced People (TDP) figures are on the rise (580 000 war-induced IDPs in mid-2013). These figures are significantly higher than in 2012. There is also some displacement due to poor economic conditions.
The uncertain and unstable security context, upcoming elections and withdrawal of the international forces, as well as an economic downturn, mean that the Afghan crisis is likely to persist for the foreseeable future and to generate continuing humanitarian needs requiring a continued Commission's engagement.
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Pakistan
Pakistan continues to face both natural and man-made crises. The armed conflict in the North-West of the country continued to cause new waves of displacement, raising the total number of Internally Displaced Persons to over one million people. Pakistan is vulnerable to a wide range of hazards, notably floods and earthquakes. The recovery from devastating floods in 2010, 2011 and 2012 is still on-going and has been aggravated in 2013 by monsoon rains. Humanitarian assistance for flood affected communities continues to be needed. In addition, Pakistan continues to host over 1.6 million registered and an estimated 1.2 million unregistered Afghan refugees who also continue to require international assistance and protection. The Commission will continue providing humanitarian assistance to the most vulnerable affected by this crisis. A sustained, holistic, and multi-sectoral approach to address the issue of malnutrition and food security continues to be required in certain parts of the country. Ensuring neutral, impartial and independent action, in line with basic humanitarian principles, continues to be an important priority.
Bangladesh
The Commission will continue to deliver basic life-saving humanitarian aid to the unregistered Rohingya population, encompassing the treatment of acute malnutrition and the provision of basic health and water services in and around the camps, including the most vulnerable populations living in the surrounding area, to the extent access is granted. There is a clear need to also address shelter rehabilitation and protection activities despite important challenges. In parallel, discussions will continue to be held with key stakeholders to find a durable political solution to this protracted crisis.
The Commission will continue providing food assistance and livelihood diversification support to one of the most food insecure areas of the country, i.e. the ethnic minorities living in the Chittagong Hill Tracks. Protection activities (e.g. access to legal services) will also be explored to provide support to the victims of violence in this forgotten crisis.
In May 2013, the impact of cyclone Mahasen affected the livelihood and habitat of more than a million persons in three southern districts. The Commission will continue to support response to recurrent natural disasters by providing food assistance, nutrition, health, shelter, WaSH and logistical support in both urban and rural contexts. This will be particularly relevant in lower visibility disasters, in remote and most vulnerable locations (coastal belt, North West) and in case of disasters having a geographically limited impact.
The Commission services have developed a 'Joint Humanitarian Development Framework' for food security and nutrition post disaster intervention, which will serve as the basis for implementing a more effective LRRD process.
India
The focus of activities will be on alleviating emergency needs arising from the protracted crises in Jammu and Kashmir, in the districts of central India affected by the Naxalite insurgency, as well as, depending on access and partners' capacity, in the North-eastern states of Assam, Manipur, Tripura and Nagaland. Priority sectors will be protection, livelihood, access to medical services and psychosocial support. Finally, humanitarian assistance to victims of natural disasters may also be contemplated, when significant gaps in local response are identified. Opportunities for LRRD are very limited, particularly since there is no EU-India development co-operation.
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Nepal
While the resettlement programme to third countries is working satisfactorily, there are still almost 38 000 refugees from Bhutan living in the two official camps in the East of Nepal. The Commission will continue to provide assistance aiming to maintain the food consumption and nutritional status of the most vulnerable groups and advocate for a political solution to the problem.
3.4.2.2. South East Asia
Myanmar/Burma - Thailand
2013 continued to see positive developments on the eastern border of Myanmar, where ceasefires with ethnic groups opened up humanitarian access to some former conflict areas. As a result, spontaneous returns from the refugee camps in Thailand took place, paving the way for an eventual organised voluntary return. In Rakhine State, communal violence between Muslim (Rohingyas) and Buddhist Rakhine in 2012 has led to 140 000 people becoming internally displaced. For the 800 000 stateless Muslims in the northern townships, the humanitarian consequences of continued discrimination and human rights violations worsened. Government restrictions on their movements impact directly their food security and livelihood situation. In Kachin State, the internal conflict has displaced 100 000 people who are living in camps and host communities throughout Kachin and northern Shan States. Unaddressed acute needs exist, notably for the 60 000 IPDs in areas outside government control. Restricted access to the civilian population is still a major challenge to the relief response, in spite of positive signs by the Government granting sporadic access to ICRC and the UN.
In 2014, the Commission will continue to address the needs of the most vulnerable people affected by violence and conflict. Focus will to be on Rakhine and Kachin States and the eastern border area, where access to remote areas populated by ethnic minorities will allow addressing crucial needs in protection and mine risks awareness in particular. Voluntary repatriation of refugees from camps in Thailand and resettlement of IDPs will be considered, should the peace situation be conducive to such evolution. In the meantime, assistance to the refugee camps in Thailand will continue, although at a reduced level as the camp population is decreasing. Support for information management and coordination will also be considered.
DIPECHO South East Asia (SEA)
SEA is also among the most disaster affected regions in the world in terms of scale, recurrence and severity of disasters. Almost all SEA countries are taking concrete action to improve preparedness and reduce risk. ASEAN was the first regional body to adopt a legally binding document, the ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response (AADMER), which reinforces the Hyogo Framework of Action at regional level and commits the 10 ASEAN member states to implement DRR at national level.
The 9th DIPECHO Action Plan for South East Asia will strengthen resilience and focus on the most vulnerable local communities in disaster prone areas, and on institutions involved in disaster risk reduction. It will be the last funding cycle for the Philippines and Vietnam, in line with the 2012-2013 HIP strategy. On the other hand, new for this DIPECHO round is that North Korea (DPRK) and Mongolia may be included in regional projects.
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3.4.2.3 Pacific
Papua New Guinea (PNG)
PNG experiences widespread, almost endemic, levels of sexual and gender based violence (SGBV) constituting a public health and humanitarian crisis. It is estimated that up to 65% of women and girls are subject to physical and sexual violence by male family members, that adult women (aged 26-55yrs) constitute almost half of all cases of violent injuries in PNG, and that 70% of all women in PNG will be raped or physically assaulted in their lifetime.
While the problem is of a structural nature EU humanitarian aid is envisaged for a very specific one-off funding in 2014 that will help bridge with future development programmes, this as part of a LRRD approach.
3.5. Latin America and the Caribbean
Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) is one of the world's most disaster prone areas. It is also a region where internal conflicts coexist with new forms of organised criminal violence that cause very high levels of mortality, forced displacement and acute humanitarian needs. Moreover, the LAC region has the highest rate of inequality worldwide, with macro-economic indicators masking the real socio-economic situation of the majority of the population, rampant urbanisation (80%), the world's highest crime rates, and protracted poverty.
In 2014, the Commission will continue to provide emergency response to natural and man-made disasters, while strengthening local capacity and fostering regional exchanges to promote effective disaster risk reduction and strengthen the resilience of the most vulnerable populations.
Colombia
The long lasting armed conflict continues to cause a major, evolving, humanitarian crisis. In the last two decades, this protracted crisis has created about 4.7 to 5.5 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). The number of people forced to leave their homes is estimated at between 100 000-200 000 per year. Significant numbers flee the conflict to neighbouring countries, especially Ecuador and Venezuela. Peace talks with the main guerrilla group (Fuerzas armadas revolucionarias de Colombia, FARC) are on-going, but this has not translated into a decrease in hostilities and clashes among illegal armed groups and the Army. Other rebel groups include the Ejército de liberación nacional (ELN) and the BACRLMS ("criminal gangs"), which exert strong control in several regions of the country. Civil society continues to suffer the consequences of this acute conflict. Humanitarian assistance remains vital in various departments highly affected by the armed conflict, especially those where access is more difficult due to movement restrictions and the presence of armed groups. Advocacy work will be important to highlight the needs of the affected population and encourage respect for the humanitarian principles;
The Commission's emergency assistance and protection will continue to be provided to conflict-affected populations who do not receive adequate assistance from the authorities. Assistance to IDPs will focus on recently displaced populations and those rural communities facing restrictions on movement and/or access to basic goods and services. Particular attention will be paid to the most vulnerable groups: woman-headed households, children,
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the elderly, indigenous and Afro-Colombian populations. In Ecuador and Venezuela, the Commission will provide humanitarian assistance and protection to Colombians seeking asylum, who have not yet received formal refugee status, as well as to recognised refugees. The limited attention of the international donor community to this forgotten crisis is nowadays aggravated by the global economic crisis as well as the attention devoted to other large scale crises in the world.
Central America
In terms of recurrence of hazards, their severity and scope and the significant potential for major disasters, Central America is one of the most vulnerable areas in the world. The region also has a large part of its population living in poverty and insecurity and increasingly suffers due to the high impact of disasters constantly eroding their coping mechanisms. The intensification of the so-called Other Situations of Violence (OSV) continues to generate humanitarian needs. Free movement of goods and access to basic services are hindered by illegal armed groups, affecting as well the delivery of humanitarian aid. Trends indicate that the situation will deteriorate and increase the population's vulnerability to other shocks, thereby further undermining their resilience.
The Commission's response will integrate a comprehensive approach to humanitarian needs in order to strengthen people's resilience, by improving the humanitarian situation of most vulnerable populations affected by food insecurity, consequences of other situations of violence, epidemics and natural disasters. Effective options of LRRD will also be looked for. Emergency assistance, including food assistance, will be provided when required and when national/local capacity is overwhelmed. Targeted Disaster Risk Reduction actions will be implemented and DRR will be integrated in all operations. The DIPECHO Action Plan is expected to start during the first quarter of 2014. It will further strengthen communities' resilience and preparedness capacity and foster exchange of experiences within the region. The drought resilience initiative in the "dry corridor" will continue until end of 2014 to consolidate drought management practices in the region that increase resilience and preparedness, and ensure adoption by and handover to local actors and national decisionmakers.
Finally, the Commission will respond to the humanitarian consequences of violence to alleviate the suffering of the most vulnerable people affected. The expected results will be to test and evaluate assistance frameworks, as well as promote the knowledge and respect of the humanitarian principles and guarantee access to humanitarian aid. Active advocacy with relevant actors at all levels will continue. On top of this specific response, the Commission will take this situation into account in all its projects both from protection and security points of view.
South America
South America is also disaster-prone and vulnerable to natural hazards due to its geography, geology and climate. The "El Nino" and "La Nina" phenomena lead to warming and cooling in the eastern and central Pacific, provoking regular floods and droughts. The Andean region is particularly vulnerable to earthquakes causing significant loss of human life and physical damage, while many volcanoes are active. The vulnerability of the people most at risk of natural hazards continued to increase in recent decades, with large pockets of population often isolated or even forgotten and climate change has further aggravated the situation, the Commission will continue to monitor the situation closely and provide emergency assistance when required and when national/local capacity is overwhelmed.
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Implementation of the 8th DIPECHO Action Plan will be completed at the end of 2014 and will aim at increasing the preparedness and resilience of communities and local/national institutions to face natural hazards. The degree of appropriation and replication achieved in Argentina, Chile, and Brazil, where Community Based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM) experiences and tools developed by DIPECHO are being institutionalized and scaled up, should allow the DIPECHO programme to phase out from these countries once the added value of the Commission becomes limited. In the other countries, the objective is to evolve in the advocacy and coordination with national DRM institutions and local authorities in order to increase the use and the replication of the tools and good practices which are being developed locally.
The second phase of the regional drought management initiative, being implemented in Bolivia, Paraguay and the "dry corridor" of Central America since 2011 in order to strengthen resilience, is envisaged to end in 2014; it will aim to ensure an appropriate phase-out and handover to development actors through the development and ownership of best practices and tools by institutional actors, development partners and local communities.
Caribbean
The Commission will continue to strengthen its support for disaster preparedness while maintaining its capacity to provide a rapid response in emergencies. Experience has shown that funds are most likely to be requested to respond to the damage caused by hurricanes, tropical storms and floods. The Atlantic storm season officially lasts from June to November, but in recent years has demonstrated a tendency to last longer. Commission services will continue cooperation with donors who support programmes for prevention and disaster risk reduction in the region. Particular attention will be paid to LRRD. In certain vulnerable regions, there are only a limited number of partners, who tend to concentrate on their own linguistic zone, thus often rendering regional cooperation difficult.
The DIPECHO Caribbean Action Plan is being implemented since May 2013 and aims to strengthen communities' resilience and preparedness capacities and foster exchanges of experience within the region. Considering the level of exposure of the Caribbean region there is a strong need to better anticipate the humanitarian needs associated with hazards. The DIPECHO Action Plan contributes to reduce these needs focusing on local communities with the highest risk levels.
Haiti
The Commission will continue to address the acute humanitarian needs still present after the 2010 earthquake, while increasing the population resilience in line with the EU Resilience Agenda of the Political Champions. Humanitarian needs remain high and will persist for some time. In 2014, a strong emphasis will be put on building the resilience of the poorest households by linking relief, rehabilitation and development (LRRD) and by strengthening donor co-ordination. Haiti has been identified as one of the key countries for the implementation of the resilience approach. Humanitarian interventions will target remaining pockets of high vulnerability in synergy with longer term development programmes aimed at establishing extended social safety nets. Additional funding is needed therefore in 2014 in order to sustain the engagement in the LRRD and resilience agenda
The safe relocation of IDP's and provision of services (protection, wash in particular) in the camps will still be among the priorities, since 279 000 people are still living in sites with limited access to basic services and some 18 000 displaced households are under the threat
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of forced eviction. Gender Based Sexual Violence is another critical protection issue that affects the IDPs as well as people living in violent neighbourhoods.
Due to low response capacities of national authorities, the cholera epidemics will be addressed as a public health emergency with a focus on lives saving activities through the provision of adequate treatment, safe water and hygiene promotions.
The Commission will also further support the strengthening of livelihoods of the most vulnerable rural and urban communities under a resilience perspective, with focus on reinforcing the capacities to cover food and nutrition needs (six million people are food insecure, of whom 1.5 million people are severely food insecure).
Disaster Risk Reduction remains a key sector for engagement in the country and will be integrated across all interventions to reduce the impact of recurrent shocks.
3.6. Worldwide intervention tools
3.6.1. Small Scale response to disasters
While relatively limited numbers of people may be involved, small-scale disasters still have a serious negative impact on the lives and livelihoods of those affected. They often occur in remote or isolated places and are likely to be "below the international radar", failing to attract global attention. In addition, in the context of larger disasters, even in countries with relatively developed disaster management capacity, there are sometimes gaps in the national response: needs that are not covered that may be linked to social inequality, physical isolation, under-reporting of events or inadequate local capacity. The recurrence of even small shocks can push at-risk populations into a situation of further vulnerability and destitution. This is also true for countries that appear quite prosperous from a macro-economic perspective, but where inequity and vulnerability are concentrated in given geographical areas (rural, remote, urban shanty towns) or social groups (for example, indigenous or ethnic groups). The objective of the Small Scale Response (SSR) tool in 2014 is to provide rapid relief assistance to victims of natural or man-made disasters where a small-scale response is sufficient to cover unmet needs and enhance preparedness. Actions funded will also be aimed at strengthening the capacity of local communities and authorities to respond to disasters, and at increasing resilience, where possible, through support for disaster preparedness.
3.6.2. Epidemics
Epidemics pose great risks to the health, lives and livelihoods of people in developing countries. Communicable diseases that have appeared or reappeared in recent years have demonstrated their epidemic potential and their capacity to significantly exceed national resources and boundaries, causing major, even regional emergencies. Factors that contribute to the growing high burden of endemic and epidemic-prone diseases include the concurrent existence of complex emergencies due to natural disasters, climate change, and conflict. Such crises result in increased vulnerability to infectious diseases alongside reduced ability of countries to respond to public health risks, especially if existing health systems were already poorly resourced. Vaccination coverage in developing countries is generally low and the risk of transmitting infection is thus increased. To reduce morbidity and mortality in disease outbreaks, early and effective action is required. Preparedness and response capacity are intimately linked, as effective response is only possible with a good degree of preparedness.
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3.6.3. Support to the Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF)
Most small-scale emergencies are responded to at local or national level. Red Cross and Red Crescent national societies, supported by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent societies (IFRC), are often best placed to provide an immediate response, being rooted in the local community and mobilising community members as volunteers. The Commission will continue to support the IFRC's Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) through earmarked contributions. Funding is provided for relief activities as well as preparedness for imminent disasters, in the context of small-scale emergencies for which an appeal is unlikely to be launched.
3.7. Complementary activities
3.7.1. Enhanced Response Capacity (ERC)
Humanitarian needs continue to increase beyond the budgets available, driven principally by the consequences of climate change and population growth. It will be ever more important for the international humanitarian system to be fast and effective in responding to new emergencies and ensuring efficient management of the response to protracted crises, and notably 'forgotten crises'. The Enhanced Response Capacity funding through the 2014 decision will focus on ensuring staff professionalism and innovative tools in the global humanitarian architecture, on condition that global strategies and management structures are appropriate to achieve this. Inclusivity and common approaches above and beyond agency specificities will be a key part of this. All activities considered under this funding will need to demonstrate a concrete and measurable impact on the speed and quality of aid delivery, notably in forgotten crises.
3.7.2. Policy support
The increasing scale of humanitarian needs requires the most effective use of the limited resources available. The diversity of actors and approaches requires clear guidance regarding the best approaches to be taken in order to meet the needs of the beneficiaries. The need for policy products to improve coherence, quality and efficiency applies both directly to EU funding, as well as more broadly to global approaches to humanitarian funding. Such broad application requires drawing upon specific expertise from dedicated centres of excellence, and informed best practice in humanitarian aid delivery. This includes the provision of reinforced networking possibilities between humanitarian NGOs signatories of the Framework Partnership Agreement (FPA) with the Commission.
3.7.3. Visibility, information and communication
The European Union is one of the world's leading humanitarian aid donors and plays an important role in shaping the global humanitarian landscape. The EU's role in humanitarian aid is strongly supported by its citizens: 88% consider it important for the EU to fund humanitarian aid.
Transparent and accountable information to the Commission's stakeholders in the wider sense, ranging from the budgetary authority through partner organisations to the general public, is crucial in underpinning and deepening the long-term support for EU's humanitarian action.
Effective communication about the impact of humanitarian aid and disaster response and the values underpinning it is important for the mobilising of relief assistance for saving lives
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and alleviating suffering. The communication approach aims at enhancing awareness, understanding and support for the EU's role and actions among the EU citizens, at promoting defined priorities within the EU and globally, and at supporting advocacy for the humanitarian principles and actions including among the donor community, international organisations and other partners.
Information and communication actions in close partnership between the Commission and humanitarian organisations are an important part of this approach. Ensuring visibility for the EU's humanitarian funding and action within the EU and around the world, including through field visibility, is an integrated aspect of maintaining and consolidating public support. Operational activities will fully integrate this imperative.
Moreover, communication actions in 2014 will focus on the policy priorities set out in this document, and on the EU's response to meeting the needs of people facing crises and disasters. Particular attention will be paid to the following themes: resilience and disaster risk management, food insecurity and under-nutrition, modernisation of humanitarian aid; and to the following groups of beneficiaries: children in emergencies, women within the context of gender violence, specific types of refugees. Communicating about the response to major on-going crisis remains at the core of the communication plan as does the awareness raising about humanitarian principles, protection of humanitarian space and about the forgotten crises.
The actions launched relate to public information and awareness actions in accordance with the fifth indent of Article 4 of Council Regulation (EC) N° 1257/96 of 20 June 1996. Such actions are also in conformity with the last indent of point 97 of the European Consensus on Humanitarian Aid, which envisages communication, on the impact and importance of European humanitarian aid and civil protection, to the European public.
3.7.4. Training initiative NOHA
The Network on Humanitarian Action (NOHA) is the first network of 9 universities at European level that provides education (teaching and research) and training in humanitarian action. It has maintained a strong relationship with the Commission since its inception in 1993. It celebrated its 20th anniversary in October 2013. NOHA produces 175 Masters Graduates each year and is planning to increase this number to 200 in 2014 and further expand to geographical coverage eastward.
The Commission aims to increasingly shift the focus of the network to the provision of other educational products and to a much more results-oriented approach focusing on added value for the humanitarian aid environment. In a parallel development over the last years, the EU has developed a vision of its humanitarian agenda and priorities which came into focus in the European Consensus on Humanitarian Aid.
Member States and the partners of the Commission agreed that the promotion of training activities should be part of an overall approach to reinforce global aid. Moreover, the Action Plan of the Consensus commits the European Union to the "reinforcement of EU training provision for humanitarian professionals and other actors linked to the humanitarian response..." to contribute to an "improved ... response to humanitarian crises" and to achieve improved accountability to aid recipients. The Commission is committed to the implementation of those principles which underpin the vision of the European Union.
The Commission's relationship with NOHA was modified to reflect this evolution of the EU humanitarian agenda. Where NOHA was once viewed a source of postgraduate students, the Network is increasingly functioning as an educational platform, "to further educate the
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humanitarians of tomorrow and to refresh the humanitarians of today" and to inform the humanitarian debate and policy formulation in the European Union, in particular in The European Commission. In 2014, NOHA moves into a new phase with a stronger emphasis on academic leadership, capacity building of the most recent members of the network and strengthening of other educational products. The creation of EU Aid Volunteers will provide NOHA with additional opportunities for synergies.
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4. Delivery, coordination and control of Humanitarian Aid
4.1. Ways and means of delivering aid
Experts in the field
The Commission manages its humanitarian activities from its headquarters in Brussels via a network of more than 40 field offices all over the world. Following the post-tsunami action plan of 2005, the network has been consolidated with multi-sectoral rapid response teams, which enable field experts to be dispatched rapidly in response to new crises to carry out needs assessments and to help coordinate activities in the field. The network has been reinforced in response to the recent increase in the number of large-scale disasters. Cooperation with teams deployed via the EU Civil Protection Mechanism will be further enhanced to maximise complementarities.
Relations with partners
The Commission implements its humanitarian aid mandate by funding projects proposed by around 200 partners. They include European non-governmental organisations, United Nations Agencies, other international organisations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the International Organisation for Migration, and specialised agencies from Member States.
Having a diverse range of partners is important, as it allows comprehensive coverage of an ever-growing list of needs in different parts of the world and in increasingly complex situations. Grants and contributions are decided on the basis of the best proposals covering the needs of those most vulnerable. Partner organisations make a commitment to highlight the origin of EU aid.
The Commission is also committed to improving the overall quality and coordination of the humanitarian system response. The Commission supports capacity-building for its partners, whether international organisations or NGOs, to enable them to respond quickly and efficiently to emergencies.
The Commission will also continue to make full use of the possibilities offered by the merger of Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid, linking the actors and stakeholders of both constituencies.
4.2. Coordination and exchange of information
Various mechanisms are in place to ensure coordination and exchange of information crisis response and humanitarian aid activities in general, including:
- Member States and the Commission meet regularly in the Council Working Group on Humanitarian Aid and Food Aid (COHAFA). Exchange of information on overall strategies and on responses to specific crisis situations features regularly in the agendas of COHAFA;
- Crisis reports are shared with Member States. They contribute to the development of shared assessment and understanding on the situation on the ground and thus contribute to the overall coordination of the EU response;
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- Exchanges with partners both at headquarters and at the field take place regularly;
- EDRIS (European Disaster Response Information System) collects data on Commission and Member States' humanitarian aid activities;
- At international level, the Commission continues to participate in well-established fora such as the Good Humanitarian Donorship and the ICRC Donor Support Groups. It will chair the OCHA Donor Support Group in 2014;
- Regular exchanges of views on the EU's response to crisis take place in the European Parliament (DEVE Committee);
- ECHO organises ad hoc crisis coordination meetings of the EU services (including ARGUS meetings) and participates in broader inter-service meetings aimed at exchanging information (such as e.g. Crisis Platform meetings organised by the EEAS).]
4.3. Monitoring of use of funds
Correct implementation of EU-funded operations is ensured by several layers of checks and monitoring, at internal level and by external actors.
Controls performed by the Commission
The main aspects of the control strategy developed by the Commission include supervision and monitoring procedures and ex-ante/ex-post controls.
- Strict selection and quality control mechanisms for partners under the Framework Partnership Agreement that the Commission signs with NGOs and international organisations15 defining the requirements for financial credentials and expertise of partners;
- Appraisal of project proposals and on the spot project monitoring through a network of the Commission field experts (technical assistants) worldwide;
- Regular field visits to projects by geographical desks, auditors and the Commission management;
- Obligation for partners to produce reports after the end of each operation to justify their expenses. A thorough analysis of these reports and checks on eligible expenditure are carried out by operational and financial desk officers at the Commission;
- Regular evaluations are undertaken, focusing on major country operations, partners and thematic issues. The results of these are posted on the Commission's website;;
- EU- funded humanitarian aid activities implemented by external parties (partners and contractors) are subject to financial and systems audit;
- All Commission services have an internal audit capacity. This provides an independent and objective opinion on the quality of the internal control systems and assists the Director General and management in controlling risks and monitoring compliance.
Mainly IFRC, ICRC and IOM
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The monitoring mechanisms listed above should not be seen in isolation. Each contributes to providing reasonable assurance on the legality of transactions and their general compliance with relevant rules.
Additional controls
The Commission's operations and its financial management are further audited by the Internal Audit Service of the European Commission and the European Court of Auditors. The mission of the Internal Audit Service is to audit the Commission's internal control systems. The European Court of Auditors audits EU finances. Its observations and recommendations are published in its annual and special reports to the European Parliament and the Council16.
Finally, specialised committees of the Budget Authority exercise control over financial management in European Commission services and organise annual hearings with the Commissioners concerned leading to the approval of Commission's annual accounts.
16
The annual report is published on http://eca.europa.eu/portal/pls/portal.
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Annex I: Indicative budgetary allocations for 2014
| Country/Region | Specific Objective 1 Man-made crises | Specific Objective 2 Natural Disaster | Specific Objective 3 Small scale / Epidemics | Specific Objective 4 DIPECHO | Specific Objective 5 Complementary and thematic activities, transport and field network | TOTAL | ||
| 23 02 01 Humanitarian Aid and Food Assistance (in EUR) | 23 02 01 Humanitarian Aid and Food Assistance (in EUR) | 23 02 01 Humanitarian Aid and Food Assistance (in EUR) | 23 02 02 Disaster Preparedness (in EUR) | 23 02 01 Humanitarian Aid and Food Assistance (in EUR) | 23 02 01 Humanitarian Aid and Food Assistance (in EUR) | 23 02 02 Disaster Preparedness (in EUR) | TOTAL | |
| Africa | 246 500 000 | 108 000 000 | 0 | 7 000 000 | 10 000 000 | 364 500 000 | 7 000 000 | 371 500 000 |
| Middle East and Mediterranean countries | 176 500 000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 176 500 000 | 0 | 176 500 000 |
| Asia and Pacific | 85 800 000 | 21 500 000 | 0 | 19 000 000 | 0 | 107 300 000 | 19 000 000 | 126 300 000 |
| Latin America and Caribbean | 13 029 000 | 18 500 000 | 0 | 10 747 000 | 0 | 31 529 000 | 10 747 000 | 42 276 000 |
| Worldwide | 0 | 0 | 9 000 000 | 0 | 80 700 000 | 89 700 000 | 0 | 89 700 000 |
| Emergency Operational Reserve | 105 000 000 | 0 | 105 000 000 | |||||
| TOTAL | 521 829 000 | 148 000 000 | 9 000 000 | 36 747 000 | 90 700 000 | 874 529 000 | 36 747 000 | 911 276 000 |
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| Country/Region | Allocations for 2014 (in Euro) | ||
| 23.0201 Humanitarian aid and food assistance | 23.0202 Disaster Preparedness | TOTAL | |
| CENTRAL AFRICA, SUDAN & SOUTH SUDAN, CHAD, GREAT LAKES | 186 000 000 | 0 | 186 000 000 |
| Sudan & South Sudan | 80 000 000 | 0 | 80 000 000 |
| Chad (East and south) | 29 500 000 | 0 | 29 500 000 |
| Central African Republic | 14 500 000 | 0 | 14 500 000 |
| Cameroon | 2 000 000 | 0 | 2 000 000 |
| Democratic Republic of Congo | 50 000 000 | 0 | 50 000 000 |
| Echo-Flight | 10 000 000 | 0 | 10 000 000 |
| EAST, WEST AND SOUTHERN AFRICA, INDIAN OCEAN | 178 500 000 | 7 000 000 | 185 500 000 |
| Djibouti | 1 000 000 | 0 | 1 000 000 |
| Ethiopia | 27 500 000 | 0 | 27 500 000 |
| Kenya | 18 500 000 | 0 | 18 500 000 |
| Somalia | 37 000 000 | 0 | 37 000 000 |
| Southern Africa and Indian Ocean | 0 | 7 000 000 | 7 000 000 |
| Sahel - Regional (Burkina Faso, Chad, Niger, Nigeria, Mali, Mauritania and Sahel regions of neighbouring countries) | 57 000 000 | 0 | 57 000 000 |
| Mali | 28 000 000 | 0 | 28 000 000 |
| Ivory Coast | 2 000 000 | 0 | 2 000 000 |
| Nigeria | 7 500 000 | 0 | 7 500 000 |
| MEDITERRANEAN & MIDDLE EAST | 176 500 000 | 0 | 176 500 000 |
| Syrian crisis | 100 000 000 | 0 | 100 000 000 |
| Palestine | 29 500 000 | 0 | 29 500 000 |
| Iraq Crisis | 4 000 000 | 0 | 4 000 000 |
| Yemen | 33 000 000 | 0 | 33 000 000 |
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| Algeria / Tindouf | 10 000 000 | 0 | 10 000 000 |
| CENTRAL ASIA & SOUTH WEST ASIA | 68 500 000 | 8 000 000 | 76 500 000 |
| Afghanistan | 28 500 000 | 0 | 28 500 000 |
| Pakistan | 40 000 000 | 0 | 40 000 000 |
| Central Asia and Caucasus | 0 | 8 000 000 | 8 000 000 |
| SOUTH ASIA, SOUTH EAST ASIA & PACIFIC | 38 800 000 | 11 000 000 | 49 800 000 |
| Bangladesh | 12 500 000 | 0 | 12 500 000 |
| Burma/Myanmar (Thailand) | 18 000 000 | 0 | 18 000 000 |
| India | 6 000 000 | 0 | 6 000 000 |
| Nepal | 800 000 | 0 | 800 000 |
| Papua New Guinea | 1 500 000 | 0 | 1 500 000 |
| South East Asia | 0 | 11 000 000 | 11 000 000 |
| LATIN AMERICA & CARIBBEAN | 31 529 000 | 10 747 000 | 42 276 000 |
| Central & South America | 0 | 10 747 000 | 10 747 000 |
| Colombia | 13 029 000 | 0 | 13 029 000 |
| Haiti | 18 500 000 | 0 | 18 500 000 |
| WORLDWIDE | 9 000 000 | 0 | 9 000 000 |
| COMPLEMENTARY OPERATIONS | 80 700 000 | 0 | 80 700 000 |
| Enhanced Response Capacity | 24 000 000 | 0 | 24 000 000 |
| Field network | 48 000 000 | 0 | 48 000 000 |
| EU Children of peace | 6 000 000 | 0 | 6 000 000 |
| Information and Communication | 2 000 000 | 0 | 2 000 000 |
| NOHA | 700 000 | 0 | 700 000 |
| Emergency Operational Reserve | 105 000 000 | 0 | 105 000 000 |
| TOTAL | 874 529 000 | 36 747 000 | 911 276 000 |
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Annex II: Summary of Global Vulnerability and Crisis Assessment 2013-2014
Global Vulnerability and Crisis Assessment Final Index Rank
The GNA Final Index lists countries in ranking order. The GNA Vulnerability Index and the GNA Crisis Index are shown, as well as the various dimensions. Each dimension has a value that is the result of combining indicators. Note that all values are the result of ranking countries. If countries are in the top quartile (25%), they score 3; in the bottom quartile, they score 1; in the middel 2 quartiles, they score 2.
| 4 Vulnerability Dimensi | m | |||||||||||
| Commission | al situation in >untry Index | l of children 5 Index | ited people (VI) | Vulnerability s Index | al Disasters | ct Index | ited people (CI) | |||||
| IS03 | Country | GNA Vulnerability Index (VI) | S % £ j) (9 £ | Healtl under | Up roc Index | Other factor | GNAC | risis | Index (CI) | Natur Index | Up roc Index | |
| CAF | Central African Republic | 2,25 | 0 | |||||||||
| TCD | Chad | |||||||||||
| COD | Congo, Democratic Republic of the | 0 | ||||||||||
| SOM | Somalia | |||||||||||
| SSD | South Sudan | |||||||||||
| SDN | Sudan | |||||||||||
| AFG | Afghanistan | 1 | ||||||||||
| MLI | Mall | |||||||||||
| ZWE | Zimbabwe | _ | 0 | |||||||||
| HTI | Haiti | 0 | ||||||||||
| MMR | Myanmar, Union of | 0 | ||||||||||
| YEM | Yemen | 0 | ||||||||||
| COL | Colombia | 1 | ||||||||||
| KGZ | Kyrgyzstan | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| MWI | Malawi | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| MOZ | Mozambique | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| PAK | Pakistan | |||||||||||
| SYR | Syrian Arab Republic | 0 | ||||||||||
| NGA | Nigeria | 0 | ||||||||||
| GTM | Guatemala | 0 | ||||||||||
| HND | Honduras | 2 | ||||||||||
| IRQ | Iraq | 0 | ||||||||||
| AZE | Azerbaijan | 1,5 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| GEO | Georgia | 1 | 2 | 0 | ||||||||
| PSE | Palestine | 1 | 0 | |||||||||
| IND | India | 1,5 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| JOR | Jordan | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| SLV | El Salvador | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| PHL | Philippines | 1,5 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | ||||||
| LBN | Lebanon | 1 | 0,5 | 1,25 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| BIH | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 1 | 0,5 | 0 | 0 | |||||||
| MEX | Mexico | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| THA | Thailand | 0 | ||||||||||
| SRB | Serbia | 0,5 | 1 | 0 | a | |||||||
| RUS | Russian Fed. | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| BDI | Burundi | 0 | a | 2 | ||||||||
| LBR | Liberia | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| MRT | Mauritania | 1 | 2 | |||||||||
| UGA | Uganda | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| BFA | Burkina Faso | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| GMB | Gambia | a | 0 | |||||||||
| COG | Congo, Rep. Of | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||||||||
| ETH | Ethiopia | 0 | ||||||||||
| NER | Niger | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| TZA | Tanzania | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| SEN | Senegal | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| AGO | Angola | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| KEN | Kenya | |||||||||||
| MDG | Madagascar | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| PNG | Papua New Guinea | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| LSO | Lesotho | 2 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| BGD | Bangladesh | a | 0 | |||||||||
| LBY | Libya | 0 | 2 | Hlffl | ||||||||
| PER | Peru | 0 | 2 | |||||||||
| IRN | Iran, Islamic Republic of | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||||||||
| LKA | Sri Lanka | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| TJK | Tajikistan | 1,75 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| ECU | Ecuador | 1 | 1,5 | 1,5 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| BOL | Bolivia | 1,5 | 1,5 | 0,5 | a | 0 | ||||||
| DZA | Algeria | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| PRY | Paraguay | 1,5 | 0 | 2 | a | 0 | ||||||
| VEN | Venezuela | 0 | a | huh | ||||||||
| CHN | China (w/out HongKong) | 1 | 0,5 | 0 | 0 | |||||||
| BRA | Brazil | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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| JAM | Jamaica | 1 | 1.5 | 0 | 1,75 | a | 0 | 7,062 | |||
| PRK | Korea Dem. People's Rep. | 2 | 0 | 1 | ■^B | a | 0 | 7,000 | |||
| ALB | Albania | 0 | 1,25 | HB | 0 | 0 | 6,812 | ||||
| CUB | Cuba | ^^m | 0 | 0 | 0 | a | 6,750 | ||||
| RUS-CHE | Russian Fed. (Chechnya) | 2 | 0 | ^^B | 0 | 6,000 | |||||
| DJI | Djibouti | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5,375 | |||||
| CIV | Cote d Ivolre | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5,188 | |||||
| NAM | Namibia | 0,5 | 2,5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4,750 | |||
| KHM | Cambodia | 0 | 1 | 1 | a | 0 | 4,625 | ||||
| VNM | Vietnam | 1,5 | — | 0 | 1 | 1 | a | 0 | 4,562 | ||
| NIC | Nicaragua | 1,5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | a | 4,375 | |||
| EGY | Egypt | 1,5 | 1 | 1,25 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4,312 | ||
| TUN | Tunisia | 1,5 | 0,5 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4,250 | ||
| ZMB | Zambia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.250 | |||||
| COM | Comoros | 0 | 0 | 0 | a | 0 | 2,188 | ||||
| GIN | Guinea | 0,5 | msM | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2,188 | |||
| GNB | Guinea Bissau | 1 | 0 | 0 | a | 0 | 2,188 | ||||
| RWA | Rwanda | 0 | 0 | a | 0 | 2,188 | |||||
| BEN | Benin | 0,5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2,125 | ||||
| ERI | Eritrea | 0 | 0 | a | a | 2,125 | |||||
| SLE | Sierra Leone | 0,5 | 0 | a | 0 | 0 | 2,125 | ||||
| TGO | Togo | ^m | 0 | 0 | a | 0 | 2,125 | ||||
| CMR | Cameroon | 1,75 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1,938 | ||||
| NPL | Nepal | 0 | 0 | a | 0 | 1,938 | |||||
| BWA | Botswana | 0 | 0 | a | 0 | 1,812 | |||||
| GHA | Ghana | 0,5 | bbib | 0 | 0 | a | 0 | 1,812 | |||
| STP | Sao Tome and Principe | 0 | KB | 0 | 0 | a | 0 | 1,750 | |||
| ZAF | South Africa | 1,5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.750 | |||
| SWZ | Swaziland | 0,5 | 2,5 | 0 | 0 | a | a | 1,750 | |||
| TLS | East Timor | 0 | 1,75 | 0 | a | 0 | 0 | 1,688 | |||
| LAO | Laos | 0 | 0 | 0 | a | 0 | 1,688 | ||||
| CPV | Cap Verde | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1,625 | ||||
| GNQ | Equatorial Guinea | 0 | ■^B | 0 | 0 | a | 0 | 1,625 | |||
| GAB | Gabon | 0 | 0 | a | 0 | 1,562 | |||||
| IDN | Indonesia | 0,5 | hq | 0 | 0 | a | 0 | 1,562 | |||
| FSM | Micronesia | 0 | ^^b | 0 | 0 | a | a | 1,562 | |||
| BTN | Bhutan | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.500 | ||||
| GUY | Guyana | 0 | 0 | 0 | a | 0 | 1,500 | ||||
| KIR | Kiribati | 0 | 0 | a | 0 | 0 | 1,500 | ||||
| TTO | Trinidad and Tobago | 0 | 0 | 0 | a | 0 | 1,500 | ||||
| PAN | Panama | 1 | 1,5 | 1 | mm | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1,438 | |
| ARM | Armenia | 1.5 | ^^m | 0 | 0 | a | 0 | 1,375 | |||
| BLZ | Belize | hüh | 0,5 | 0 | 0 | a | 0 | 1,375 | |||
| MAR | Morocco | 2 | 1,5 | 0 | ^^B | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.375 | |
| SLB | Solomon Islands | 0 | 0 | 0 | a | a | 1,375 | ||||
| VUT | Vanuatu | ^^B | 1,5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | a | 0 | 0 | 1,375 | |
| MYS | Malaysia | 1 | 1 | 1 | bbh | 0 | 0 | a | 0 | 1,312 | |
| DOM | Dominican Republic | 0,5 | Bl | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1,250 | |||
| MDA | Moldova | 1 | 1,5 | 0,5 | HB | 0 | 0 | a | 0 | 1,250 | |
| MNG | Mongolia | 1,5 | 1.5 | 0 | 19 | 0 | 0 | a | 0 | 1,250 | |
| VCT | Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | a | 0 | 1,250 | ||
| 3UR | Suriname | 1,5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | a | a | 1,250 | |||
| CRI | Costa Rica | 1 | 0,5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1,188 | ||
| FJI | Fiji | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | a | 0 | 1,188 | ||
| MNE | Montenegro | 1 | 0,5 | BIS | 1 | 0 | a | 0 | 0 | 1,125 | |
| PLW | Palau | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | a | 0 | 1,125 | |||
| LCA | Saint Lucia | ^bh | 0 | 1.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1,125 | ||
| UZB | Uzbekistan | 1 | 1.5 | 0,5 | 1,5 | 0 | 0 | a | 0 | 1,125 | |
| BRB | Barbados | 0 | 0 | 2,25 | 0 | 0 | a | 0 | 1,062 | ||
| KAZ | Kazakhstan | ^BH | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.062 | |||
| MDV | Maldives | 1,5 | 0 | 1,75 | 0 | 0 | a | a | 1,062 | ||
| MUS | Mauritius | 1 1 | 0 | 2,25 | 0 | a | 0 | 0 | 1,062 | ||
| WSM | Samoa | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | a | 0 | 1,000 | |||
| UKR | Ukraine | 1 | 0,5 | 0,5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1,000 | |
| URY | Uruguay | 0,5 | 0,5 | ^B^B | 0 | 0 | a | 0 | 1,000 | ||
| ARG | Argentina | 0,5 | mm | 0,5 | ^bs | 0 | 0 | a | 0 | 0,938 | |
| TON | Tonga | 1 | mm | 0 | 1,75 | 0 | 0 | a | 0 | 0,938 | |
| CHL | Chile | 0 | 0,5 | 0,5 | 0 | 0 | a | a | 0,875 | ||
| DMA | Dominica | 1 | 0 | 1,5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0,875 | ||
| GRD | Grenada | 1 | 0 | 1,5 | 0 | 0 | a | 0 | 0,875 | ||
| TKM | Turkmenistan | HH | 1,5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | a | 0 | 0 | 0,875 | |
| BLR | Belarus | 1 | 0,5 | 0,5 | 1,25 | 0 | 0 | a | 0 | 0,812 | |
| OMN | Oman | mm | 1 | 0,5 | 0 | 1,75 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0,812 |
| SYC | Seychelles | 0 | mm | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | a | 0 | 0,750 | |
| ATG | Antigua and Barbuda | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | a | 0 | 0,500 | ||
| KNA | Saint Kitts and Nevis | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0,500 |
42
Annex III: Summary of Forgotten Crisis Assessment 2013-2014
_Forgotten Crisis Assessment 2013-14_
The FCA index corresponded to the sum of the following four indicators: (1) Vulnerabiliy Index; (2) Media coverage; (3) Public aid per capita; (4) Qualitative assessment of DG ECHO geographical units and experts.
| 4 Dimensions | ||||||
| IS 03 | Country (Crisis name) | FCA Index | i/ulnerability Index | Vledia coverage | Public aid per capita | Qualitative assessment |
| MMR | Myanmar (Kachin conflict) | 2 | ||||
| DZA | Algeria (Sahrawi crisis) | |||||
| CAF | Central African Republic (CAR) | 1 | ||||
| TCD | Chad | 1 | ||||
| BGD | Bangladesh (Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), Rohingyas) | |||||
| COL | Colombia (Internal armed conflict) | 2 | 2 | |||
| IND PNG | India (Naxalite affected regions, J am ma and Kashmir, North East India conflicts) Papua New Guinea | 1 | 1 | |||
| YEM | Yemen (Yemen) | 1 | ||||
| PAK | Pakistan (Conflict-IDP crisis) | 1 |
43
Annex IV: DG ECHO GVCA map 2013-2014
ECHO Global Vulnerability and Crisis Assessment 2013