Technological Innovation for Humanitarian Aid and Assistance

TARGET GROUP: PUBLIC

OBJECTIVES

·        To identify the impact of technological innovations in humanitarian assistance as transformative tools for both people in need as well as humanitarian actors.

·        To assess the current state of art with regard to technological innovation in humanitarian assistance.

SUMMARY

Providing timely and adequate humanitarian assistance to people affected by a humanitarian crisis is an increasingly challenging task due to the growing needs of people and the increasingly complex nature of the crises. Some 135.7 million people need international humanitarian assistance in 25 countries due to conflict, and protracted crisis. This is expected to remain the main driver of humanitarian need in 2018. Most countries affected by humanitarian crisis are affected by multiple crisis types including conflict-fuelled crisis as well as natural hazards (Development Initiatives, 2017). Increased frequency of natural disasters caused by climate change continue to generate increased humanitarian needs in 2018. The scale of humanitarian need is placing the humanitarian system under considerable strain. The gap between humanitarian needs and available resources has widened, with only an estimated 62 per cent of the financial needs covered by the available funding (High-Level Panel on Humanitarian Financing, 2016). To address these challenges, with the aim of preventing and reducing human suffering during crises, former UN Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon urged the global community during the 2016 World Humanitarian Summit (WHS) to commit to the Agenda for Humanity. The agenda outlines five core responsibilities and 24 transformations to better meet people's immediate humanitarian needs, whilst reducing the risk and vulnerability to crisis (UN, 2016a). The changes it calls for have the potential to transform the humanitarian landscape. UN Member States, local NGOs, international NGOs, the private sector and other stakeholders announced their commitment to the Agenda for Humanity during the WHS (UN, 2016b).

REFERENCE: 

https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2019/634411/EPRS_STU(2019)634411_EN.pdf