Description of project

The report of DARA’s evaluation of the Consortium of British Humanitarian Agencies (CBHA) pilot phase has been published.

The CBHA is a partnership initiative by 15 leading organisations which aims to strengthen the coordination and capacity of the NGO sector to deliver appropriate, high quality and quicker humanitarian assistance to populations affected by disaster. The pilot consisted of five elements: a pooled fund for emergency response, support for capacity building, support for improved surge capacity, support for logistic chain management, and learning from the pilot.

The evaluation covered the activities of the CBHA under the initial grant of £8 million from DFID over the period 2010-2012, and looked into the CBHA capacity building component as well as the overall CBHA. The study concluded that the CBHA was a two year pilot of a ground-breaking approach to resourcing humanitarian response, and found that most of the agreed targets with DFID has been achieved or exceeded.

Other conclusions outlined in the report include:

• The CBHA strengthened the capacity of the British NGOs to deliver results to people affected by emergencies
• Where used, ERF increased access to fast, efficient and effective funding fostering front-line humanitarian work. It was so successful that it could well serve as a model for an NGO equivalent to the UN’s CERF.
• The CBHA effectively served as an incubator that moved the long standing capacity building agenda forward in a step-change.