Getting help to people when disaster strikes is challenging, whether it's delivering meals to conflict-affected people in their homes in Ukraine, getting healthcare to people in flooded villages in Pakistan, or reaching earthquake survivors with blankets and shelter in northwest Syria.

DEC charities work in some of the toughest circumstances in the world, so how do they ensure the right aid gets to the people who need it most?

Deciding how to spend the money

Assessing people’s needs and how best to support them is the first step following any disaster, and this starts with understanding the impact of the crisis. In the aftermath of a huge disaster, assessments can happen alongside the distribution of urgent aid to meet people’s immediate needs. Either way, it is usually the local community who are the first to respond.

“Local knowledge is the foundation of any aid response,” says Madara Hettiarachchi, Director of Programmes and Accountability at the DEC. “In many of the countries where we launch appeals, our member charities already have an established presence with local staff and partners who have in-depth knowledge of their communities.” 

In countries particularly vulnerable to disasters, DEC charities often also have prepositioned stocks of aid that can be quickly deployed to people in need.

In all crisis situations, needs are not static, they evolve and change.

In situations where needs are more complex, a needs assessment analysis helps to gauge the requirements of communities by drawing on existing information and primary data collected by surveys, interviews or focus groups.

“During any crisis there will be certain groups, such as children or older people, who have heightened needs. Depending on the nature of the crisis, certain ethnic or religious groups may be particularly vulnerable,” explains Ed Beswick, Programme Quality, Accountability and Learning Manager at the DEC.

“For example, following a disaster children can be separated from their parents or guardians, leaving them vulnerable to possible abuse and exploitation. Establishing these risks helps ensure DEC-funded programmes are designed to help mitigate them.”

In 2022 a change of military strategy in Ukraine saw energy infrastructure hit by sustained missile strikes. The knocking out of electricity and heating ahead of the freezing winter dramatically worsened the humanitarian situation. In response, member charities and their local partners quickly adapted their winter plans and these changes proved vital to helping people survive a difficult, cold winter.

To coordinate the work of different aid agencies and avoid duplication, the UN-organised cluster system, which all DEC member charities participate in, brings organisations working in different areas-for example health, water, and shelter-together to share responsibility and learn from each other’s work. 

This means that no single agency is responsible for an entire aspect of the response, making it more robust. Throughout the response, each cluster group meets regularly to discuss progress, issues, and make necessary changes. 

Getting aid into disaster-affected areas

“Essentially, it’s the same way any supply chain works, using transportation and infrastructure to get goods and services where they need to be. Where things differ from fruit and veg getting to your local supermarket is that transportation of goods is often in hard-to-access areas,” explains Ed.

Sometimes aid needs to be transported through areas of conflict or remote areas that are cut off by a disaster. In these cases, charities work on restoring infrastructure or find other ways of getting urgent help to people such as by helicopter or even trains or donkeys in mountainous areas. 

Ed explains other bureaucratic hurdles can create challenges when transporting goods: “For example in northwest Syria, where many of our charities work, you have a patchwork of different armed groups in control of different areas, and that creates issues.

“In these situations, you need to negotiate access with all those different groups. This requires patience but also requires a level of acceptance and trust that has been built up by our members and their partners.” 

Gaining acceptance from communities and the relevant authorities is key to successful humanitarian work. 

Over the last 10–15 years, DEC charities have been moving away from delivering physical goods. Between 2019 – 2023, 40% of DEC aid spending was allocated to cash programming.

Where markets are still functioning, a more efficient way of getting help to people in need is by giving cash payments or vouchers to those in need. These instalments allow disaster-affected people to meet their basic needs such as food, medicine or clothing. 

“Cash is an excellent form of aid because it gives agency to affected communities,” says Ed. "If you distribute food items, the people affected by a crisis don't always have a say in what those food items are. If you give them a cash payment, that gives them agency over what they choose to spend that cash on, based on their needs and priorities.”

Most recently DEC charities have been providing people affected by earthquakes in Turkey and Syria with cash support. Within the first six months of the response, 32% of money spent was on cash support and vouchers. 

“It [cash assistance] allows me to but food, nappies and milk for my children,” said Khalil, a single father now raising  two young daughters alone following the earthquake. 

Adhering to humanitarian principles of neutrality

DEC member charities have decades of experience delivering aid in challenging and hostile environments. This often involves carefully negotiating access to get aid to people in need, ensuring that relevant groups are informed about the work and the humanitarian principles of neutrality that DEC charities operate under. 

As a result, instances of aid being diverted to other groups are very rare. Any incidents that do take place are reported to the DEC and to the UK Charity Commission.

In addition, our members carefully design programmes to identify any possible risks and carry out ongoing monitoring to address any issues when they arise. Due diligence checks are carried out on any organisation they partner with to ensure independence and adherence to the highest standards of humanitarian work.

The relationship our members have with authorities and local communities is also key, explains Ed.

“Through building trust and respect, our members can carry out their work while maintaining their independence. This is achieved through establishing local networks to build community recognition, often over many years.

Serving communities the best we can 

Being accountable to affected communities is a key aim for DEC member charities. 

“Our members have ongoing consultations with individuals and communities to ensure aid matches their changing needs,” explains Madara. “And to check the availability of responsive complaints and feedback mechanisms (safe, accessible channels) to ensure we’re delivering relevant, timely and appropriate assistance.

“These mechanisms give community members the opportunity to provide feedback and make complaints if they're not satisfied with the aid they receive, or if it didn't meet their expectations." 

Simply put, the people who know best are the local community, and that understanding should be at the forefront of any considerations when it comes to designing a response.

How our member charities gather feedback will change depending on the crisis. Sometimes physical anonymous feedback boxes are most appropriate, sometimes phone hotlines or WhatsApp groups.

In rural Turkey, our members provided cards with aid delivery including details in both Turkish and Arabic for a complaint hotline. In Ukraine, people who received aid found it easiest using WhatsApp or Telegram, but having a mix of methods of gathering feedback is best practice. 

“What the findings from our research tells us again and again, is that feedback mechanisms are most successful when you have lots of different opportunities to provide it,” says Ed.

Feedback from communities and ongoing monitoring allows our member charities to continually adapt their programmes and shift their focus.

Recently, DEC charity Age International carried out an assessment in northwest Syria. The assessment found older people had reduced access to health and social services. Following this, Age pivoted their programming to address the gaps.

In other cases, members alter the way aid is delivered. This was the case recently in Afghanistan, where DEC charity Concern Worldwide UK switched from distributing hygiene kits to households to providing cash instalments following community feedback.

Working with our members, we have over 60 years of experience of funding humanitarian aid work through our member charities and their local partners, and we stand ready to respond to crises around the world, including in the most challenging of circumstances.