DFID Pakistan Workshop on Humanitarian Response and Recovery

Over the past few years many of us have worked closely together to deliver relief and recovery assistance to some of the most vulnerable people in Pakistan affected by floods, earthquake and conflict. The list of projects is extensive, the sectors covered are numerous, and most importantly the number of people reached is very high, as much as 6 million people since 2011. Beyond the funds spent and the beneficiaries reached we have constantly asked for more information on outputs, outcomes, impact. We have pressed our partners to achieve more meaningful services for less money, thus increasing coverage while maintaining a high standard of service, or if possible improving upon the standard humanitarian package. We believe that there have been some impressive results over these years; yet we recognise that there have also been areas which could benefit from serious re-thinking and improvement. At this juncture, we’d like to share some of our findings, examples of innovation, good “value for money” and opportunities to improve the way we do humanitarian aid. Many of us have worked hard on these issues over the past few years; through practice, we have been able to transform certain parts of the humanitarian enterprise. The humanitarian landscape is changing – there are more people affected by climate and conflict driven disasters across the world and yet increasingly less funding available overall. We are going to have to learn to do more with less. With all this in mind, we are looking to build a new strategy for response. We are designing our potential humanitarian response over the next four years. We would like to invite you to this workshop to share our ideas of how we might engage with the different predictable and un-predictable shocks that may occur and to seek your inputs, ideas and feedback. We are not immune to budget reductions, nor to the reality that spiraling crises elsewhere in the world that put increasing pressure on limited donor funds - reinforcing the need for more efficiency in the design of our response.