Flawed Humanitarian Aid Design
Risks to beneficiaries and UK reputation arising from badly designed and delivered development and humanitarian assistance.
369 items
7 sources
2 inquiries
Strongest theme matches
Mixed across source types and ranked by classifier confidence plus text match strength.
Committee recommendation
100match
#11 - Badly designed development and humanitarian assistance poses risks to beneficiaries and UK reputation.
Badly designed and delivered development and humanitarian assistance is bad for the UK. It carries risks to those it is designed to serve and reputational risks to the UK Government. (Conclusion, Paragraph 27)
Matched on
terms: design, humanitarian
Committee recommendation
91match
#44 - Avoid prejudicing humanitarian aid proposals with higher security costs; question lower cost proposals.
We recognise the impact that reducing Official Development Assistance from 0.5%-0.3% of gross national income will have on availability of funding for humanitarian relief. However, any defunding of costs associated with the security of aid workers would be a false economy. Proposals with higher security costs should not be prejudiced against. Rather, proposals with lower costs should prompt...
Matched on
terms: aid, humanitarian
Committee recommendation
87match
#47 - Inadequate funding arrangements hinder local organisations' security requirements in humanitarian aid delivery.
Approaches to negotiating contracts and funding arrangements, where local organisations will be delivering humanitarian aid, are not always fit for purpose. There are inadequate mechanisms to ensure that the security requirements of local organisations are fed through intermediaries to the FCDO. There is evidence of inflexibility in eligible items for funding. (Conclusion, Paragraph 93)
Matched on
terms: aid, humanitarian
Committee recommendation
87match
#37 - Overly-politicised humanitarian responses risk safe delivery of UK-funded aid.
While it is important that the UK’s aid, trade, defence and diplomacy objectives are coherent, there is a risk that overly-politicised humanitarian responses can make the safe delivery of UK-funded support difficult. (Conclusion, Paragraph 73)
Matched on
terms: aid, humanitarian
Committee recommendation
87match
#35 - Malicious disinformation hampers aid worker safety and humanitarian aid delivery.
The safety of aid workers and aid delivery is further hampered by the spread of malicious disinformation online and in other forms of media. (Conclusion, Paragraph 71)
Matched on
terms: aid, humanitarian
Committee recommendation
87match
#19 - Call for UNSC Special Session on IHL disregard, humanitarian access, and aid worker safety.
We recommend that the UK works with the other UN Member States represented on the ministerial group for the safety of humanitarian aid workers to call for a Special Session of the UNSC to discuss the problem of disregard of IHL in the delivery of aid. This session should focus on hearing from aid workers themselves, and from...
Matched on
terms: aid, humanitarian
Committee recommendation
87match
#9 - UK well-positioned to amplify local voices in humanitarian aid access and localisation.
The UK is well placed to ensure the voice of local organisations is heard in negotiations over access for humanitarian aid. This input is vital for effective and sustainable aid delivery as well as maximising the safety of 49 those delivering it. Moreover, the UK is well positioned to make good its commitments to localisation and to realise...
Matched on
terms: aid, humanitarian
Committee recommendation
83match
#1 - Replace Gaza Humanitarian Foundation system with a UN-led humanitarian aid system.
The situation in Gaza and the West Bank is intolerable. Ministers and diplomats should exert every effort to reach an immediate end to the fighting, population displacement and restrictions on supplies of essentials. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) system has led to the unnecessary deaths of hundreds of civilians and a fraction of the required aid arriving into...
Matched on
terms: aid, humanitarian
Committee recommendation
78match
#7 - FCDO's traditional approaches to humanitarian access challenges are ineffective, requiring a new strategy.
The FCDO appears to be repeating the same approaches to overcoming access challenges whilst expecting different results. Successful records of traditional forms of public diplomacy in promoting unimpeded access to aid are patchy at best. Polarisation within bodies such as the UN Security Council limit the opportunities to overcome barriers to aid delivery. A radically new approach is...
Matched on
terms: aid, humanitarian
Committee recommendation
78match
#1 - Rising aid worker deaths and IHL breaches increasingly traded off by belligerents with deadly consequences.
Numbers of aid worker deaths are rising year on year and the situations where access to aid is deliberately impeded are also increasing. This violates the purpose of IHL: to protect civilians in a time of war. We see growing examples of where IHL is ignored or used to justify the restrictions to aid delivery. This has to...
Matched on
terms: aid, humanitarian
Committee recommendation
77match
#10 - First report - Missing in action: UK leadership and the withdrawal from Afghanistan
The failure to plan for the Special Cases evacuations, or to put in place a fair and robust prioritisation system, left the process open to arbitrary political interventions. This is illustrated by the case of the Nowzad animal charity. Amid intense media attention, its staff were called for evacuation at the last minute, despite not meeting the FCDO’s...
Matched on
terms: aid, flawed, humanitarian
Committee recommendation
73match
#12 - UK has important role in supporting mechanisms for accountability of IHL breaches.
During an evidence session, the Minister was unclear about the extent of the application of approved approaches when it came to creative responses to the situation in Gaza. There are various mechanisms available at the international, regional and domestic levels for holding states and non-state actors to account for alleged breaches of IHL—breaches which include the killings of...
Matched on
terms: aid, humanitarian
Committee recommendation
70match
#8 - Energy access projects succeed with genuine local co-design and long-term capacity strengthening.
Energy access projects and programmes are more likely to succeed when they are genuinely co-designed with local stakeholders, inclusive of marginalised groups, and supported by long-term capacity-strengthening. (Conclusion, Paragraph 43)
Matched on
terms: design
Committee recommendation
69match
#8 - First report - Missing in action: UK leadership and the withdrawal from Afghanistan
However, on the strategic and humanitarian level the evacuation fell disastrously short. Shortcomings in ARAP, the scheme to evacuate Afghans who had worked directly for the UK Government, left many waiting for a response until it was too late. A total failure to plan how to help Afghans at risk due to their work to promote British values...
Matched on
terms: design, humanitarian
Committee recommendation
66match
#43 - Donors and employers bear moral responsibility for mitigating risks to aid workers.
Whilst it is always the perpetrator who is responsible for the harm caused to victims, there is more that donors and employers could do to mitigate the risks. Indeed, it is the moral responsibility of donors to do all they can to remove or mitigate the risks to aid workers. (Conclusion, Paragraph 85)
Matched on
terms: aid
Committee recommendation
66match
#40 - Underfunding of security risk management jeopardises aid worker mental health and welfare.
Constrained budgets and competition for funding may incentivise the over- promising of delivery by international NGOs at the risk of underfunding security risk management. This runs the risk of subjecting aid workers to unnecessary pressures, and of their welfare being overlooked. It is important that the mental health of these individuals and teams is compassionately and intentionally engaged...
Matched on
terms: aid
Committee recommendation
66match
#11 - Provide clearer guidance and consider standing exemptions for humanitarian organisations regarding sanctions.
We encourage the Government to consider a standing exemption for relevant humanitarian organisations to ensure that they do not risk liability for their legitimate dealings with sanctioned entities. In the meantime, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) must provide clearer guidance for the humanitarian sector on the interpretation of sanctions legislation. At the international level, the Government...
Matched on
terms: humanitarian
Committee recommendation
66match
#10 - Unclear UK anti-terrorism legislation risks limiting safe delivery of aid.
We applaud the work of the current and previous Governments in ensuring that the safe delivery of aid is not jeopardised by most of the UK’s own legislation. However, lack of clarity around the UK’s anti-terrorism legislation has had a chilling effect on those delivering UK aid and risks limiting its delivery where the implementation of sanction exemptions...
Matched on
terms: aid
Committee recommendation
66match
#6 - Prioritise military-to-military training on International Humanitarian Law for foreign militaries.
We recommend that the Government prioritises military-to-military training on IHL in line with the increase in defence spending. It should make full use of the range of resources it has at its disposal to support foreign militaries to understand not only their obligations under IHL, but the benefit of adherence to IHL for their own populations in a...
Matched on
terms: humanitarian
Committee recommendation
66match
#20 - Set out plan to rapidly increase engagement with local actors in humanitarian settings
In response to this report, the Department must set out how it will make rapid progress in meeting commitments made, principally via the Grand Bargain and Global Compact on Refugees, to increase its engagement with and utilisation of local and national actors in humanitarian and development settings. (Recommendation, Paragraph 98) 36 FCDO’s use of data on displacement
Matched on
terms: humanitarian
Committee recommendation
66match
#18 - Insufficient progress meeting localisation commitments in humanitarian programming.
Despite long-standing commitments, the Government is not making sufficient progress in meeting its commitments to localisation in humanitarian programming. The steps taken by the UNHCR on improving localisation in its partnerships should serve as a blueprint for how the Government can make progress in this regard. (Conclusion, Paragraph 96)
Matched on
terms: humanitarian
Committee recommendation
66match
#27 - Foster grassroots innovation by creating platforms for communities to co-design energy solutions
The Government should use its convening power to foster grassroots innovation by creating platforms for young people and local communities to co-design energy solutions. This could involve facilitating partnerships, research exchanges, and mentorship programmes between UK institutions and counterparts in lower-income countries. (Recommendation, Paragraph 82) Enabling Conditions for Success
Matched on
terms: design
Committee recommendation
66match
#23 - Government's overreliance on innovation in aid strategy carries inherent risks
The Government’s aid strategy rightly emphasises research and innovation, leveraging FCDO’s distinctive ability to connect global expertise with local knowledge and fostering strong partnerships with the UK research community. However, overreliance on innovation carries risks that need to be acknowledged and mitigated. (Conclusion, Paragraph 75)
Matched on
terms: aid
Committee recommendation
65match
#11 - Seventh Report - Progress on tackling the sexual exploitation and abuse of aid beneficiaries
It is imperative that aid beneficiaries who become victims and survivors of sexual exploitation and abuse have access to the support and services they need, and they are informed how to safely use them. The potential need to provide these services should be factored in from the start of programmes, including at the planning stage. The FCDO should...
Matched on
terms: aid
Committee recommendation
65match
#30 - Ensure multilateral funding scales community energy projects, empowering beneficiaries through global leadership and best practices
The Government should ensure that funding through multilaterals offers opportunities to scale community energy projects. It should take a global leadership role to guarantee that communities benefit from energy access projects in ways that empower them. This could include facilitating the development of best practice guidelines, encouraging knowledge sharing on successful models and supporting co-designed pilot initiatives that...
Matched on
terms: design
Committee recommendation
61match
#48 - Establish direct FCDO contact with local delivery organisations on security during contract phases.
FCDO officials managing contracts where a significant amount of aid will be delivered by local organisations should aim for direct contact with the relevant local delivery organisation during the proposal agreement stage, regardless of who the contract is with. These conversations should seek to establish whether the organisation’s security concerns have been 55 adequately covered. Subsequent conversations during...
Matched on
terms: aid
Committee recommendation
61match
#45 - Establish a dedicated, flexible fund for security risk management, separate from programme costs.
We recommend security risk management costs are decoupled from other programme costs. There should be a designated security risk management fund that organisations delivering UK Official Development Assistance can apply to in order to support their broader security requirements. These grants should be flexible to allow for the appropriate measures to be funded in any given situation. The...
Matched on
terms: design
Committee recommendation
61match
#14 - Support women's leadership and central role in community energy projects
The FCDO should ensure women are central to community energy projects by supporting their leadership, and designing interventions around their needs, so they act as agents of change rather than just beneficiaries. It should report on the extent to which the recommendations of the GEDSI guidance note are implemented by June 2026. (Recommendation, Paragraph 53)
Matched on
terms: design
Committee recommendation
61match
#13 - Inclusive community participation enhances the effectiveness and sustainability of energy initiatives
Inclusion is central to the effectiveness, sustainability, and legitimacy of community energy initiatives. Projects designed and governed with the active participation of women, people with disabilities, and other under- represented groups are more likely to deliver meaningful, lasting benefits and to reflect the priorities of the communities they serve. The Government’s publication of International Climate Finance gender equality,...
Matched on
terms: design
Committee recommendation
57match
#51 - Prioritise security risk management fund grants to catalyse pooling of activities.
The security risk management fund we recommend should prioritise grants that catalyse the pooling of activities–ensuring the best value for money and maximum reach. For example, this could include funding for pooled Hazardous Environment Awareness Training, in-country NGO forums, shared access to security advisors, mental health first aid training, and so forth. (Recommendation, Paragraph 99) 56
Matched on
terms: aid
Committee recommendation
57match
#50 - FCDO's contract approach obstructs cost-effective pooling of security risk management services.
The relief and development sector continues to strive for value for money– maximising the essential aid to those who need it whilst keeping its staff safe. We have witnessed the strong collegiate working between security risk management professionals across the sector. However, the FCDO’s current approach to contracts does not go as far as it could to encourage...
Matched on
terms: aid
Committee recommendation
57match
#13 - Excessive in-donor refugee spend, especially hotel costs, contravenes ODA's development spirit.
Whilst the Committee recognises that in-donor refugee spend is allowable under DAC rules, in a world of rapidly decreasing aid budgets it is not in the spirit of what ODA should be used for, which per the OECD is spending that promotes and specifically targets the economic development and welfare of developing countries. Excessive spend on hotel costs...
Matched on
terms: aid
Committee recommendation
57match
#15 - Require active involvement of disabled people in energy projects, providing accessible support and reporting outcomes
The FCDO should require community energy projects to actively involve people with disabilities in project design and governance, provide accessible technical and capacity-building support, and report on disability-disaggregated outcomes. (Recommendation, Paragraph 54)
Matched on
terms: design
Committee recommendation
57match
#12 - Document and analyse community-led energy project successes and failures to inform future programmes
The FCDO should systematically document and analyse successes and failures of community-led energy projects, including technical, social, and financial aspects, through annual learning reviews and case studies. Findings should be shared internally and with external partners to inform the design, governance, and scaling of future programmes. (Recommendation, Paragraph 47)
Matched on
terms: design
Committee recommendation
57match
#10 - Require inclusive community participation, recognising marginalised groups, as a condition for UK energy funding
The Government should make inclusive community participation across all stages of design, governance, and implementation a condition of UK funding for energy access. This should involve recognising and resourcing communities, particularly marginalised groups, as decision-makers. (Recommendation, Paragraph 45)
Matched on
terms: design
Committee recommendation
57match
#5 - Establish a working group by 2026 to embed energy access across FCDO policies and create incentives.
The FCDO must embed energy access across development, climate and humanitarian policies. A departmental working group should be set up by the end of 2026 to coordinate delivery. The FCDO should also create 32 targeted funding and measurable incentives for programmes that integrate energy access with other sectors, including health, water, and food systems. (Recommendation, Paragraph 28) Local...
Matched on
terms: humanitarian
Inquiry recommendation
53match
P2-45 - Add humanitarian considerations as ninth response principle
That regard for humanitarian considerations be expressly recognised by making it the ninth principle of effective response and recovery. (113.69)
Matched on
terms: humanitarian
Committee recommendation
45match
#46 - Ensure programme-specific security risk management costs are distinct budget lines, not administration.
Where programme-specific security risk management costs are still built into programme budgets, these should be a distinct budget line rather than being part of administration costs. (Recommendation, Paragraph 88)
Matched on
classifier match
Committee recommendation
45match
#8 - Explore creative diplomacy with likeminded states to solve access issues and evaluate FCDO capacity.
We recommend that the UK explores creative forms of diplomacy with likeminded states that can bring maximum pressure and combined diplomatic capability to solving specific access issues. As part of this initiative the diplomatic capacity and influence of the FCDO needs to be evaluated and invested in where needed. (Recommendation, Paragraph 24)
Matched on
classifier match
Committee recommendation
45match
#22 - Ensure coherence for locally-led programmes by developing a cross-departmental local leadership strategy.
The Minister for International Development must ensure that there is coherence across the department in respect of promoting locally-led programmes and ensuring they deliver good VfM. This should include prioritising the development of a local leadership strategy as a cross- departmental piece of work that places lower- and middle-income countries at the centre. (Recommendation, Paragraph 68)
Matched on
classifier match
Committee recommendation
45match
#21 - Prioritise localised interventions for specific challenges to maximise ODA value for money.
The Government must prioritise localised interventions for context-specific challenges, including poverty reduction and community health. Given a reduced ODA budget, these interventions should be targeted towards areas with the highest level of impact to maximise VfM and fulfil the globally agreed Grand Bargain. (Recommendation, Paragraph 67) 47
Matched on
classifier match
Committee recommendation
45match
#14 - Cap Home Office in-donor refugee costs at a fixed percentage of total ODA.
The Government should consider that Home Office in-donor refugee costs should be capped at a fixed percentage of total ODA spend to protect a rapidly diminishing envelope of funding. This should include formal review points if projections breach 80% of the agreed caps. (Recommendation, Paragraph 47)
Matched on
classifier match
Committee recommendation
45match
#12 - High in-country refugee costs are disproportionately classified as ODA, diverting funds from global poor.
The Committee notes the continuing badging of high levels of Government spending on refugee costs within the UK as ODA with dismay. Whilst the Spending Review commits to ending the use of asylum hotels in this Parliament, the level of the UK’s in-country support for the poorest people in the world should not be dependent on the success...
Matched on
classifier match
Committee recommendation
45match
#11 - Review FCDO accountability frameworks to support local implementers in meeting funding requirements
We recognise that there is sometimes a gap between the accountability expectations of donors and the capacity of local implementers. We recommend that in the next six months the FCDO reviews its accountability frameworks ensuring they are fit for purpose and makes sure resources are available to support local implementers to meet the appropriate and realistic requirements and...
Matched on
classifier match
Committee recommendation
45match
#9 - Technology-driven energy projects risk limited local ownership, compromising legitimacy and sustainability.
Energy projects are often technology-driven, which heightens the risks associated with limited local ownership and maintenance capacity. Emphasis should not be placed on rapid deployment or narrow output targets, but rather on meaningful community involvement. When engagement is top-down or superficial, legitimacy, sustainability, and long- term impact are compromised. (Conclusion, Paragraph 44)
Matched on
classifier match
Committee recommendation
45match
#6 - FCDO and BII's implicit emphasis on community-led energy lacks genuine local consideration.
The emphasis put by the FCDO and British International Investment (BII) on community-led energy is often implicit. The key concern is not the absence of the label, but whether localised energy systems are truly considered as a viable option and whether communities are genuinely placed at the centre of planning and implementation. (Conclusion, Paragraph 34)
Matched on
classifier match
Committee recommendation
45match
#23 - Consider interconnected challenges in fragile states when deploying ODA financial and human resources holistically.
We urge the Government to consider the nature of interconnected challenges such as nutrition, food systems, education, Water Sanitation and Hygiene, and governance challenges—particularly in relation to fragile and conflict-affected states—as it plans how it will deploy its financial and human resources in a holistic way over this spending period. (Recommendation, Paragraph 44) 17
Matched on
classifier match
Committee recommendation
45match
#22 - Government must maintain flexibility within ODA priorities to respond to interconnected development challenges.
The Government’s focusses on global health, and climate and nature are welcome. However, the Government must maintain the flexibility within these priorities to accommodate the interconnectedness of development challenges. It also needs the flexibility to be able to respond to needs expressed by its bilateral partners in governments and civil society. This is particularly important in fragile and...
Matched on
classifier match
Committee recommendation
45match
#19 - ODA resourcing decisions must prioritise greatest need in fragile and climate-vulnerable states.
In the coming years, the greatest need will be in fragile and conflict- affected states, and states most vulnerable to climate change. Working in partnership to address these needs mutually benefits the affected countries and the UK. The empowerment and equipping of these states, and their civil society organisations, should be central to the FCDO’s approach. Resourcing decisions...
Matched on
classifier match
Committee recommendation
41match
#3 - First report - Missing in action: UK leadership and the withdrawal from Afghanistan
Most damning for the FCDO is the total absence of a plan—developed in conjunction with the Home Office—for evacuating Afghans who supported the UK mission, without being directly employed by the UK Government. The Government was never going to be able to evacuate all—or even many—of these people. But it failed to deliver the bare minimum that we...
Matched on
classifier match