Australia's performance as a humanitarian donor
DARA has been measuring the performance of Australia’s humanitarian aid since 2007 through the Humanitarian Response Index. In 2010, Australia ranked 13th out of 23 OECD/DAC donors for applying Good Humanitarian Donorship principles in support of humanitarian action. Our analysis is based on extensive field interviews with humanitarian organizations supported by Australia and comprehensive statistical data. In 2010, we found that Australia could improve the quality, effectiveness and impact of its humanitarian assistance by providing more flexible funding, allocating its aid to crises based on the level of needs and vulnerability, and improving its support and commitment to humanitarian accountability initiatives. Australia should also consider increasing the proportion of funding allocated to NGOs, often the first-line providers of aid in case of emergencies.
For a more detailed assessment of Australia’s performance, see http://daraint.org/humanitarian-response-index/humanitarian-response-index-2010/donor-assessments/Australia/# .
For more information on the Humanitarian Response Index, see http://daraint.org/humanitarian-response-index/humanitarian-response-index-2010/
Thank you, Marybeth, for your additional comments here, and sharing some interviewee statements.
Do others agree with one of DARA's recommendations, that...: 'Australia financially support and participate more actively in humanitarian accountability initiatives... [supported by] comments from the field... [indicating] the need for greater follow-up and accountability at the programming level'?
Can any Australian organisations respond to Marybeth's call...? DARA is very interested in hearing feedback and suggestions on how the Humanitarian Response Index can be useful to you. What feedback do you have for DARA on the HRI?
Please share your ideas and contributions here, over this final day pre voting.
Our recommendations to Australia focus on areas where it is can most improve compared to other donors. This year, the issues where Australia’s performance was relatively lower were all measured by indicators comprised of quantitative data on Australia’s humanitarian funding – not qualitative indicators from field surveys of Australia’s partners. Therefore, it is difficult to present perceptions of Australia’s partners on the recommendations we have made. However, one of the recommendations is for Australia to financially support and participate more actively in humanitarian accountability initiatives. The comments from the field also seem to indicate the need for greater follow-up and accountability at the programming level. For example, one interviewee explained that “Australia gave money to an organization and really had no idea what they were doing. We are more comfortable working with donors that are rigorous.” On a similar note, another said, “There’s not feedback. We send them information and don’t hear anything back.” Still another reported, “AusAid gives money to specific organizations without considering their performance.” It is interesting to note that this was reported in several different crises, not just one specific context.
In terms of the overall response to our assessment of Australia, due to the distance we have had little opportunity to engage with Australian civil society organizations to capture their reactions. However, we do know that the Australian Red Cross fully endorses the assessment of Australia and has incorporated our recommendations in its submission to the review panel. We would like to work more closely with Australian organisations in the future and are very interested in hearing their feedback and suggestions on how the Humanitarian Response Index can be useful to them.
Hi Marybeth, Thank you very much for sharing these new insights here. On a brief review of DARA's assessment, it seems "Australia, in comparison with other OECD/DAC donors, is an average donor in most of the 'pillars'".
What do others think about this? Does this match your view of how Australia does (or should) respond to conflicts and natural disasters worldwide?
Please tell us what you think.
What would you suggest to the Review Panel on this topic, and on the recommendations that DARA makes?