Key learnings from the DEC’s 5 year review highlight a shift for the organisation and humanitarian sector as a whole

The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) has today published a review of learnings from its 5 year strategic period, 2019 to 2024. This was an intense period of transformation which in many ways marked a paradigm shift for the DEC and for the wider humanitarian sector as a whole.  

During this time, the DEC launched six DEC appeals with its member charities, delivering vital support in more than 15 countries and raising more than £500 million. These appeals included  the Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal and Turkey-Syria Earthquake appeal, two of DEC’s biggest appeals in its 60 years.

Each of the humanitarian responses brought its own unique challenges, but also opportunities for learning and innovation which can be used to drive the humanitarian sector forwards to deliver more transformative, lasting, and evidence-led solutions to support people in crisis.  

Research for the learning review was commissioned through Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance in humanitarian action (ALNAP), an internationally recognised global network for advancing humanitarian accountability and learning. It was led by Jessica Alexander and John Mitchell, two leading humanitarian response evaluation and analysis experts. 

This review captures the key features of the evolving landscape over the five years, linking the wider context to the DEC’s appeal responses. It provides a valuable record and collection of insights into trends, best practices and opportunities for future growth, as part of the DEC’s commitment to accountability and learning throughout and across all responses.
 

Key learnings include: 

• the power of DEC’s flexible funding to amplify the responses of DEC members and local partners.
• the benefits brought about by the development of effective mechanisms to deliver cash assistance and a rise in this type of assistance to provide a dignified way for communities to meet their own needs.
• the importance of adapting to strengthen remote partnership approaches with local civil society groups and national organisations.
• a shift in priorities to deliver more joined-up responses that sit within a ‘nexus’ including international development and peacebuilding efforts.  
• the careful navigation of ethical dilemmas through responses, such as in Afghanistan, where women and other groups are highly marginalised. 
• discussions around active anti-racism and legacies of colonialism within traditional aid structures for the future of humanitarian responses. 

John Mitchell, previously director of ALNAP for 20 years and co-author of the learning review said: 

“One of the most valuable learnings from the review was the importance of donor flexibility in supporting operational agencies to adapt to changing needs and priorities in crisis situations.

"As a well-established network, the DEC Secretariat has built enduring relationships and high levels of trust with its members.  This has provided a level of certainty and predictability in the support members can expect, enabling them to move quickly and efficiently in response to crisis situations.

"The humanitarian sector is undergoing an unprecedented period of transformational change and improvement which has been affected by a lack of system-wide learning. The sector should keep innovating and trailing new approaches whilst simultaneously embedding learning to build an evidence base of how changes actually happen in practice. 

“While learning does not always bring about change, change is nearly always underpinned by learning." 

Madara Hettiarachchi, Director of Programmes and Accountability for the DEC said: 

“We have been delighted to collaborate with ALNAP on this review. These lessons will help the DEC, our member charities and other humanitarian actors, improve our responses.  

“One of the strongest learnings is the power that the DEC’s rapid, flexible funding model has to drastically amplify the efforts of DEC members, and the local partners they work with.. This has enabled those working on the frontlines of humanitarian programmes to remain agile, responsive, and innovative in addressing the evolving needs of crisis and disaster-affected populations within rapidly changing contexts.

“The other major learning is the effective use of cash-based interventions as one of the most dignified, empowering mechanisms to support people to meet their individual needs, and the rise in this type of assistance is transforming what’s possible for humanitarian responses globally.

“Although there is much to celebrate in terms of the tangible, positive changes for communities affected by crises, these efforts are not without their challenges. The gap between people in need of emergency assistance and the resources available to provide such responses is widening. Alongside this, climate and environmentally induced disasters and displacement are only becoming more frequent, and more severe.” 

An abridged version of the lessons paper is available here, both as part of DEC’s own accountability framework, and to benefit the whole sector both now and in the future.

ENDS
 
Notes to editors:  
 
For interviews and other media enquiries please contact: 
Karen Garvin on 07971 576917        kgarvin@dec.org.uk

Spokesperson available:

Madara Hettiarachchi, DEC’s Director of Programmes and Accountability - Madara leads the DEC’s portfolio of humanitarian programmes and ensures that DEC funding delivers highly effective programmes to help crisis-affected communities. She provides direction to the DEC’s accountability, quality and learning functions and supports the Chief Executive and Trustees on matters of DEC membership.

Madara has 24 years’ experience in humanitarian and development programmes. She has held senior humanitarian leadership positions with three DEC member agencies, at UK and global levels. Between 2015 and 2019 she was Christian Aid’s Head of Humanitarian Programmes for Asia and the Middle East. Prior to Christian Aid, Madara worked with Concern Worldwide and World Vision and has been deployed to 13 large-scale humanitarian responses.

About the report authors:

Jessica Alexander is a humanitarian aid professional with over 20 years of experience in operations, evaluation and policy. Her career includes deployments spanning Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East where she has overseen programming, conducted large scale evaluations and led policy research for the UN, Red Cross and various NGOs. She is a former policy editor at The New Humanitarian and an Associate Professor at New York University, teaching on humanitarian affairs. She is the author of “Chasing Chaos: My Decade In and Out of Humanitarian Aid" (Random House, 2013). 

John Mitchell has 4 decades of experience in practice, policy and evaluation and led the ALNAP network for nearly 20 years in its mission to improve global humanitarian performance. During this time ALNAP established a reputation for high quality research  and original thinking, including the influential State of the Humanitarian System report. John has worked in multiple countries and for several international organisations including the British Red Cross where he joined as its first international emergency advisor. He has played a leading role in a number of inter-agency initiatives to improve the accountability of aid and for many years was an advisor to the ODI Humanitarian Policy Group. 

John currently chairs the Advisory Group for revising the OECD-DAC evaluation criteria for Humanitarian Agencies. 

About the DEC: The DEC brings together 15 leading UK aid charities at times of crisis overseas to raise funds quickly and efficiently. In these times of crisis, people in life-and-death situations need our help and our mission is to save, protect and rebuild lives through effective humanitarian response.

The DEC’s 15 member charities are: Action Against Hunger, ActionAid UK, Age International, British Red Cross, CAFOD, CARE International UK, Christian Aid, Concern Worldwide UK, International Rescue Committee UK, Islamic Relief Worldwide, Oxfam GB, Plan International UK, Save the Children UK, Tearfund and World Vision UK.         

For more information visit www.dec.org.uk;