Grand Bargain (humanitarian reform)
As of 2023, 66 signatories were part of the Grand Bargain process reform, representing an array of humanitarian actors including, 25 members states, 25 NGOs, 12 UN agencies, 2 Red Cross/Red Crescent movements and 2 Inter-governmental organisations.
[1] By 2020, only partial progress had occurred, prompting criticism from some humanitarian practitioners and reflection from others that the original ambitions has an unrealistic time frame.
Anchored in the original commitments of the agreement, the humanitarian actors focus their efforts on quality funding, localisation, participation of affected populations, the nexus approach, innovative financing, and anticipatory action.
[4] Ki-moon created the High-Level Panel on Humanitarian Financing, appointing Kristalina Georgieva and Nazrin Shah of Perak, as co-chairs.
Parties agreed to reduce duplication and management costs; to harmonise the templates for grant agreements between government donors and humanitarian agencies.
In 2021, a strategic shift was made as the Grand Bargain and its signatories adopted a narrower set of objectives and related adjustments to structures and ways of working to ensure a higher political engagement.
[16] Manuel Bessler led humanitarian efforts at Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and UN OCHA for over two decades, with roles in New York, Jerusalem, and Pakistan, and worked with UNPROFOR in Yugoslavia in 1994.
He previously held a number of senior positions in the European Commission, focussing on external relations, neighbourhood, development, energy and maritime policies.
The Overseas Development Institute criticized the Grand Bargain for its similarity with the status quo, pointing out a need for more specific targets and timelines.
[13] Andras Derzsi-Horvath and Julia Steets of the Global Public Policy Institute published an op-ed in DW News criticizing the Grand Bargain for having only voluntary obligations.
[23] A June 2021 independent review of the Grand Bargain by the Overseas Development Institute praised the progress towards policy shifts around provision of cash assistance, increasing funding to local aid groups, harmonised needs assessments and reporting.
[24] The Overseas Development Institute review criticised the way the transparency commitments were written, noted the lack of global agreement on how to distribute cash to people in need, and lamented the poor progress towards cost savings.
The review reported a lack of political interest in including the perspectives of the people living in humanitarian crises in designing emergency responses.
36 After a series of consultations and deliberations among the signatories, a consensus has been reached that the Grand Bargain will be extended until at least 2026, which will mark a decade since its initial launch.
