DG ECHO Guidance Note

2021

Executive Summary

Over the past two decades, the nature of
humanitarian crises has gradually become more
protracted, unpredictable and complex. Crises
are increasingly exacerbated by factors such
as climate change, environmental degradation,
rapid urbanisation and industrialisation, and
by the overlaps between disasters, conflict
and fragile situations. Faced with these new
challenges, the humanitarian community

• including DG ECHO – needs to adjust its
  practices and tools in order to provide a more
  effective early response.
  As the humanitarian landscape has changed,
  international agreements such as the Sendai
  Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction
  (SFDRR), the Paris Agreement for Climate
  Change, as well as the Grand Bargain have
  been adopted. They have redefined the
  international community’s commitment
  towards reducing disaster risk, fighting climate
  change and improving the effectiveness
  and efficiency of humanitarian action.
  Concurrently, the European Commission (EC) has renewed its commitment to
  strengthening the resilience of partner countries and to increasing the impact
  of its external action through the Joint Communication on Resilience in 20171
  .
  As a result of these developments, and the changing humanitarian landscape,
  DG ECHO decided to review and renew its work on disaster preparedness and
  promote a risk-informed approach to humanitarian action. This Guidance Note
  presents DG ECHO’s new approach and its practical application. It is intended to
  be a dynamic document, and will be continuously updated to address changes
  in the operational environment.

DG ECHO views preparedness as being critically important for the quality
and timeliness of response operations, as well as being a way of improving
anticipation, thus complementing humanitarian assistance in saving lives,
reducing suffering and pre-empting or decreasing humanitarian needs. DG
ECHO recognises that disaster preparedness applies to all forms of risk, ranging
from natural hazards and epidemics to human-induced threats such as conflict
and violence. Understanding and anticipating such risks is essential in order
to define the needs that they might generate and to design and implement
effective preparedness actions and response operations. All humanitarian
action therefore needs to be informed by risk assessment and analysis, which
should consistently complement a needs-based approach.

In line with the above, DG ECHO promotes the mainstreaming of a preparedness
and risk-informed approach in all its response operations. This approach helps
to systematically strengthen the capacity of first responders to be prepared for
further problems or aftershocks while responding to a crisis. It also helps to riskproof response interventions by designing them in a way that reduces immediate
and imminent risks. To complement its mainstreaming efforts, DG ECHO also
supports targeted preparedness actions as a specific way of strengthening
preparedness for the early response to a hazard and/or threat (e.g. establishment
of early warning systems, development of contingency plans and Standard
Operating Procedures, emergency prepositioning of stock, etc.).
Strengthening the capacity of local actors2, involving affected people in the design
and implementation of activities, and sensitivity to gender, age and diversity,
as well as conflict dynamics, are critical elements of both mainstreaming and
targeted preparedness actions. Similarly, the effects of climate change and
environmental degradation are increasingly integrated into all interventions
in recognition of their role as risk multipliers. Protection and respect for
humanitarian principles are integral to all DG ECHO funded interventions.
As illustrated by this Guidance Note, DG ECHO supports a very broad range of
single sector and multi-sector interventions. Importantly, all these interventions
are flexible in nature as they adjust to the context in which they are being
implemented and, as such, they respond to actual needs, risks and challenges
on the ground.
Humanitarian actors are DG ECHO’s primary partners
in the implementation of both mainstreaming and
targeted preparedness actions. In recognition of the
importance of the humanitarian-development-peace
(HDP) nexus for achieving sustainability and promoting
resilience, DG ECHO will continue to work closely with
all European Union (EU) services aiming to promote
complementarity and mutual reinforcement between
humanitarian and development initiatives – in particular with the Directorate
General for International Partnerships (DG INTPA) and with the Directorate General
for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement (DG NEAR). A nexus approach
needs to be the backbone of preparedness and resilience. Concurrently, DG ECHO is
increasingly engaging with a variety of actors, including other donors, climate and
environmental organisations, academic, scientific and research institutes, financial
institutions, private sector bodies, and civil protection mechanisms, through the
European Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM).
Finally, alongside its commitment to support risk-informed humanitarian action, DG
ECHO is equally committed to ensuring that its humanitarian action is evidencebased and generates learning, which then feeds into its humanitarian policy and
practice, so that they remain relevant.