Humanitarian emergency response review

This independent review considers how the UK should best respond to humanitarian emergencies overseas, and the role the country should play in the international humanitarian system. It presents new ways to improve the quality of the leadership, management and coordination of the international community's effort in humanitarian crises.

There are seven threads to this new approach, which form the structure of this document: (i) to develop a more anticipatory approach, using science to help both predict, and prepare for future disasters and conflict; (ii) to place the creation of resilience at the heart of DFID approach both to longer-term development and to emergency response, engaging more closely with local people and institutions so as to strengthen local capacity; (iii) to substantially improve the strategic, political and operational leadership of the international humanitarian system; (iv) to innovate to become more efficient and effective; (v) to increase transparency and accountability towards both donor and host country populations; (vi) to create new humanitarian partnerships to allow DFID better to influence and work within an increasingly complex humanitarian system, which includes the need to work more closely with the emerging world powers and with the private sector, as well as with the military; and (vii) to defend and strengthen the humanitarian space for humanitarian workers to be granted access and protection as they seek to provide humanitarian assistance in conflict affected areas.

This document was commissioned by the Department for International Development (DFID).