| Overview : Background to the World Humanitarian Summit
The first World Humanitarian Summit (WHS) will be convened by the Secretary-General of the United Nations in Istanbul in May 2016. The goal of this summit is to set a vision and course of action for tackle humanitarian needs in our rapidly-changing world. Humanitarian needs are on the rise. The number of people in urgent need of humanitarian assistance and protection has more than doubled in the last decade. Humanitarians are being asked to do more than ever before, and at greater cost. Global trends such as climate change, rapid population growth and urbanization are predicted to create far greater needs in the decades to come. Humanitarian action must keep evolving in order to keep pace with global shifts in power and influence, involve new actors in decision-making, leverage new partnerships and take advantage of emerging technologies. Now more than ever, we need a global humanitarian system that is more inclusive, effective, efficient, sensitive to local, national and regional contexts, and accountable in meeting the needs of millions of people. A global consultation culminating in a multi-stakeholder summit is the next step in the ongoing learning and change process to adapt to new changes in the external environment, incorporate new actors, and reflect global shifts in power and influence in order to find the best ways to meet humanitarian needs in our ever-changing world. The World Humanitarian Summit will bring together people affected by conflicts and disasters, governments, humanitarian organizations, civil society, businesses, academic institutions and others to discuss solutions to our most pressing challenges, build new partnerships and shape the next chapter in global humanitarian action. This three-year initiative is being managed by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). The Summit will focus on four thematic areas: humanitarian effectiveness, reducing vulnerability and managing risk, transformation through innovation, and serving the needs of people in conflict. One of the key challenges is humanitarian action in conflicts, as more than 86% of humanitarian funding requested by the United Nations over the past 10 years has been allocated to such situations and there is no evidence that the number of severity of conflicts is going to decrease in the near future.
Perceived needs of people in conflict
There is a wide agreement on the fact that humanitarian aid today is more supply-driven than demand-driven. While roughly 50% of humanitarian aid is devolved to food aid worldwide, there is no certainty regarding the way people affected by conflicts actually rank their needs, be these defined in humanitarian (e.g. food, shelter, health care, protection), development (e.g. job opportunities, good governance) or other terms. Most studies are conducted partially, often by the very same agencies that will deliver the type of service associated to needs surveyed. The risk of distortion is self-evident: people may not rank a particular service on the top of their priority list, but still request it when answering a survey, as receiving something is better than receiving nothing.
During regional consultations leading up to the World Humanitarian Summit, affected people have often criticised the relevance of mostly international aid agencies’ strategy. In Abidjan, top needs were ranked as security, shelter and dignity. In Tokyo, they were ranked as security and hope.
Abidjan Co-chairs' summary Priority humanitarian needs according to the workshop participants include security, shelter and upholding dignity.
Tokyo Co-chairs' summary People affected by conflict need security and hope. Humanitarian action must enable this.
Anecdotal evidence from South Kordofan points out to the fact that affected people there would rank their needs as 1) security 2) health care 3) education – a finding that ties in with Small Arms Survey’s findings in Libya. Other anecdotal evidence from various contexts confirms the importance of education to affected people. Yet, education is globally one of the most underfunded humanitarian sectors (1.25% of the whole).
In order to develop the thematic report on serving the needs of people in conflict, as well as to provide a sound basis on its work on accountability to affected populations, the WHS secretariat needs to produce firmer evidence on perceived needs. This evidence must come from a credible and already well-established academic partner with expertise in armed violence and the effects thereof.
1. Outputs
The project encompasses two different tasks.
· First, a desk review of surveys and other statistically sound studies on perceived needs of people in areas/countries affected by armed conflict. This desk review should provide a general view of needs and not only a ranking of the usefulness (or not) of specific goods and/or services usually provided by the humanitarian community. It should determine both a) which needs are most commonly a concern for the majority of persons b) which needs show a strong variance from context to context. While a comparison situations of violence not amounting to armed conflict may be interesting, this is not the focus of this study.
As a working hypothesis to be tested, one can consider that the main three perceived needs across the board are security, health care and education, and that the strongest variances concern food and shelter.
· Second, the results of the desk review must be published by the partner after peer review. Depending on the results of the desk review, the publication should be between 12 and 24 pages. The publication must provide easy to read tables per country, as well as across the board, and explain the findings’ methodology.
2. Time frame
The desk review must be sent to WHSs no later than 31 July 2015. The study must be published no later than 31 December 2015.
3. Language
The publication will be only in English, unless the partner independently manages to secure additional funds from another source for one or several translations.
4. Qualifications
COMPETENCIES
Professionalism: the partner must be an established academic institution with a globally recognised brand name and have demonstrated expertise in handling surveys, data analysis and issues linked to armed violence/conflicts. Their methodology must be demonstrable through previous surveys or statistical analysis. Having conducted similar surveys themselves is an advantage.
So as to ensure its impartiality, the partner must not be an off-shot of any humanitarian organization.
Communication: the partner must have an excellent editorial record (including brand name), including fact-checking and copy-editing of manuscripts. It must have a peer review mechanism in place. It must also agree to disseminate the publication online free of charge.
Planning and organizing: the partner must ability to work under pressure, establish priorities and plan, coordinate its own work plan, use time efficiently and apply judgment in the context of competing deadlines.
5. How to apply
Please submit a CV, cover letter and financial proposal to: tenagne.getahun@undp.org by close of business 16 February 2015
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