Domestic response
Diaspora
Households
Communities
National and local
government
Domestic civil society
Domestic private sector
WHAT WE DO
We are investigating the sources, type,
volume and impact of domestic response by:
• researching sources of global data and
information to see what it can reveal about
domestic response in humanitarian crises
- remittance data from World Bank and
money transfer programmes
- funding to World Food Programme
(WFP) for in-country expenditure
- data on domestic response reported
through the United Nations Financial
Tracking Service (FTS)
• connecting people working on this area
• teaming up with other organisations, such
as Development, Research and Training
(DRT) in Northern Uganda and researchers
and a local NGO in Bangladesh, to carry
out case studies that look at the issues in
detail from community through to national
level.
COUNTING THE UNACCOUNTED
It is not the international humanitarian system that is
first to deal with the aftermath of a natural disaster or
the humanitarian effects of conflict. It is domestic
responders that act first. National and local
government, local communities and families, civil
society and the private sector almost always prove
the most immediate deliverers of humanitarian aid.
This immediate humanitarian assistance, originating
in-country and beyond the gaze of international
actors and global media, is in many cases sizeable
but remains largely unreported and uncounted
precisely because it is outside this internationally
dominated humanitarian aid system.
The response by domestic actors needs to be
considered in the planning and execution of
programmes and resource mobilisation. By
understanding current domestic responses we hope
that the strengths and benefits domestic actors bring
to the overall response can be enhanced.
©iStockphoto.com/Laura Stone
FAST FACTS
• “Each State has the responsibility first
and foremost to take care of the victims of
natural disasters and other emergencies
occurring on its territory. Hence, the
affected State has the primary role in the
initiation, organization, coordination, and
implementation of humanitarian
assistance within its territory.” The UN
humanitarian resolution, Resolution
46/182 of 1991 states.
• In a quantitative study carried out 60 days
after the tsunami in India, Indonesia and
Sri Lanka, the Fritz Institute found that the
aid provided during the first 48 hours was
mostly from private individuals or the local
community:
- in Indonesia 91% of the rescue
services were provided by private
individuals (not affiliated with any aid
group or government)
- in Sri Lanka and India the
corresponding numbers were 72%
for private individuals and 51% for
local community, respectively.
GLOBALHUMANITARIANASSISTANCE.ORG
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HOW DO COUNTRIES RESPOND TO

HUMANITARIAN CRISES IN THEIR

OWN COUNTRIES?

How did Ugandans respond to the conflict in the

north of the country and what resources do
Bangladeshis mobilise after a cyclone or flood? We
are carrying out case studies to try and map out the
different sources and types of domestic response –
government, domestic civil society, diaspora,
communities, individuals, the media and the
domestic private sector.

In Uganda and Bangladesh we are:

• collecting policy and budgetary data from

government s, civil society organisations and GHA Update, February 2010

businesses as well as remittance data

• conducting key informant interviews with domestic

organisations and institutions at national and sub-
national level to find out how they respond, what
resources they mobilise, where the primary source
of funds come from and what triggers their
response

• conducting discussions with the community to find

out their perceptions of domestic response and
which types of response have most impact

• in Uganda we are talking to people in areas where

there has just been conflict and areas which have
had both conflict and natural disasters

• in Bangladesh we are talking to people in flood-

affected and cyclone-affected areas.

Jane Keylock, Policy Advisor | Keward Court, Jocelyn Drive, Wells, BA5 1DB, UK
Tel +44 (0) 1749 671343 | Fax: +44 (0) 1749 676721 | gha@devinit.org
April 2010