Background
Some 59 organisations have endorsed the Grand Bargain, a range of reciprocal commitments made by humanitarian donors and operational agencies aimed at providing more and better aid to people affected by crisis.
Since the Grand Bargain was agreed in 2016, Ground Truth Solutions and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), with support from the German Federal Foreign Office in 2017 and the UK Department for International Development (DFID) in 2018, have been tracking progress through the first-hand experience of affected people and aid providers in seven countries.
This report presents the main findings from surveys we conducted in 2018 in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Iraq, Haiti, Lebanon, Uganda and Somalia.
As in the previous exercise in 2017, we looked at whether there has been a shift from what the Grand Bargain describes as a supply-driven model dominated by aid providers to one that is more demand-driven, with the aid system becoming more responsive to the people it sets out to serve.
We also probe affected people’s views on whether they see progress in going beyond meeting basic needs to creating self-reliance and restoring opportunity, especially in the context of protracted crises and recurring vulnerabilities.
The surveys of affected people included interviews with a total of 4,971 individuals in seven countries. In six countries these were face-to-face interviews, while in Somalia, data was collected from affected people via phone. The staff surveys, which were completed by 1,509 humanitarian workers in the same seven countries, look at their assessment of the quality of humanitarian aid as well as the level of engagement with affected populations. All surveys were conducted between July and December 2018.
In each country, sampling frames for affected populations were developed with the objective of having robust samples for the most affected regions, coverage of the different groups of affected people in the country, and a balanced gender ratio.
Respondents were randomly selected. Face-to-face interviews took place in their place of residence, in public places, on the street, in camps, and/or in social gatherings. In each country, care was taken to ensure samples were comparable to the first round of surveys in 2017. Where conditions on the ground had changed, sampling was adjusted accordingly – for example, to reflect a shift from displacement to return in many parts of Iraq. See the country reports for more information on sampling.
Summary
- Response patterns in the survey of affected people are largely the same as in the previous round in 2017.
- People feel safe and respected, but see aid as inadequate to meet their most important needs, let alone end those needs.
- There is some progress on the Participation Revolution, with an increase in scores since 2017.
- Staff are more positive than affected people on most accounts, but sceptical about long-term solutions and progress on localisation.