Humanitarian organizations
- Page updated on18 de April de 2025
Numerous humanitarian actors are involved in emergency response. We are talking about thousands of organizations, sometimes very different from each other, both in what they do and the resources they have. Some offer direct care to the people affected, while others provide funding, support coordination mechanisms or have more academic and research purposes. There are local or international, large or small, more or less specialized in a single sector or multiple sectors, and more focused on direct service delivery or support for early recovery and resilience of public services. Some have their own funds while others rely on (and compete for) external funding.
These actors have been appearing and changing throughout the 20th and 21st century, mainly. All, at least in theory, comply with the humanitarian principles, although there may also be differences in the way they interpret and apply some of them. Finally, they all collaborate and cooperate with each other in some way, in responding to humanitarian crises.
Table of contents:
National and local authorities
The authorities of a country or territory (government, ministries, departments, etc.) are the first actors who have the responsibility to protect and attend to the humanitarian needs of the affected population in that place. It is these authorities who must initiate, organize, coordinate and implement the humanitarian response.
The role of other humanitarian actors is to encourage and persuade the authorities to exercise their responsibilities, and to offer assistance if they fail to do so. Generally, when needs exceed the authorities' response capacities, they request international humanitarian assistance, which should be provided in coordination with the authorities and contribute to strengthening their capacities. Sometimes, if the authorities do not request assistance but other humanitarian actors have evidence that they are not adequately protecting the population, they also offer and provide it (e.g. cross-border interventions).
United Nations
Within the United Nations system are numerous specialized international organizations, funds and programs, known generically as UN Agencies. Among them, some have a humanitarian mandate, such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the World Food Programme (WFP), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), or the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
Within the Secretariat of the United Nations, there are also important Departments with key functions in humanitarian contexts, such as the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) or the Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS), among others.
Non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
Non-governmental organizations are non-profit entities, independent of governmental power. However, they must obviously respect the legal framework of the countries where they are established. Under the umbrella of the term humanitarian NGO, there is a huge variety of organizations that can be difficult to categorize. There are large and small, national and international, and religious and non-denominational, for example. Some have a strong volunteer base, while others are entirely professional. There are NGOs with a purely humanitarian focus, as well as others that work in both fields or that have moved from one to the other over the years. They may also have different legal formulas, such as associations, foundations, or federations of both, for example. Sometimes they are grouped into coalitions or consortia for specific projects and initiatives.
Local and national NGOs
Local and national NGOs are often the first responders. In addition, they are integrated in their own communities and have access to the population in need of assistance. These organizations are often already connected to existing local networks, and know the context, challenges and possible solutions that can work. Currently, changes and reforms in the humanitarian system are being proposed to, among other things, give more control in it to local and national actors such as NGOs.
International NGOs
International NGOs are registered and have offices in multiple countries (with some of their offices acting as headquarters for coordination of the rest). Some involved in humanitarian action are, for example, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Médecins du Monde, Action Against Hunger, Save the Children, International Rescue Committee (IRC), Danish Refugee Council (DRC), Catholic Relief Services (CRS), CARE International, World Vision, Relief International, Mercy Corps, Norwegian Refugee Council, Norwegian Refugee Council (DRC), Catholic Relief Services (CRS), CARE International, World Vision, Relief International, Mercy Corps, Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), Concern Worldwide, GOAL, Humanity & Inclusion, MedAir, InterSOS, People in Need, Alima, and Terre des Hommes, among many others. Some are almost 100 years old, while others are just a few years old.
The international Red Cross and Red Crescent movement
This huge network consists of the National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (e.g. Spanish Red Cross, or the Syrian Arab Red Crescent), the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). They are neither UN agencies nor NGOs, but have a different status.
The National Societies are auxiliary to the public authorities in the humanitarian field and their role is recognized by the national legislation of their countries.
The International Committee, however, is an independent humanitarian organization recognized under international humanitarian law and by the international community. In addition to its mandate in humanitarian assistance, it also promotes humanitarian principles and international humanitarian law.
Donors
Most humanitarian assistance is funded by voluntary contributions from government donors, directed directly to other actors (such as UN agencies or NGOs). The main public donors are the United States -far ahead of the rest-, Germany, the European Commission, Japan, Sweden, Norway, the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, the Netherlands, France, Canada, and Switzerland. These countries usually manage their international aid through government agencies. Some of them are the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and its Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA), the European Commission's Directorate General for Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG ECHO), GIZ in Germany, GAC in Canada, AFD in France, AECID in Spain, SIDA in Sweden, JICA in Japan, FCDO (formerly DFID) in the United Kingdom, etc.
Other donors such as the Asian Development Bank or the World Bank have expanded their funding to humanitarian responses only a few years ago. This has occurred within the framework of the humanitarian-development-peace nexus.
Other stakeholders
In addition to those mentioned above, there are many other actors to take into account. These include private companies, universities, regional organizations, intergovernmental forums and foreign military assets (FMA), among others.
Humanitarian system
External links
- UN. UN System.
- IFRC. The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.
- Humanitarian Outcomes. Global Database of Humanitarian Organizations.
- Shahpar, 2018. Who’s who in Humanitarian Emergencies.
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