EU Commissioner Lahbib announces overhaul of humanitarian aid delivery

Hadja Lahbib, EU commissioner for Crisis Management, unveiled a package of measures on Wednesday aimed at making humanitarian aid more effective, faster and more locally driven. "The scale of humanitarian needs calls for a revolution in our humanitarian aid," Lahbib said.

Some 239 million people worldwide currently require humanitarian assistance, yet global funding reaches fewer than half of them. Over the past twenty years, the number of people in need has grown eightfold, while the number of armed conflicts has more than doubled in fifteen years, now standing at 130.

That is why the European Commission will step up humanitarian diplomacy and strengthen protection of humanitarian access. In addition, more resources will be allocated to improve the safety of aid workers, and a new programme will be launched to expand access to sexual and reproductive healthcare in crisis settings.

More money to local actors

A central element of the package is a stronger focus on local partnerships. From next year, a quarter of funds must be directed as locally as possible. This will still flow through the EU's established partners, Lahbib clarified, but those partners will be required to specify in their funding proposals how affected communities and local actors will be involved in designing and delivering assistance.

The Commission will also shift toward providing more cash assistance rather than in-kind support. Additionally, greater operational efficiency will be expected of the EU's partners, who will be asked to coordinate transport and storage and to share data.

Lahbib also underlined the importance of addressing fragility at its roots. More than half of the world's refugees originate from extremely fragile states, and around 70 per cent of asylum seekers come from fragile situations.

"If we want to reduce humanitarian needs in the long term, we cannot simply react. We must better link humanitarian action to development and peace," she said.

EU member states collectively account for a 35 per cent share of global humanitarian aid donations, making them the world's leading donors in 2025. The Commission itself is allocating 1.9 billion euros for humanitarian aid in 2026.

^{PHOTO © Simon Wohlfahrt / AFP}