Global needs assessment
Photo : EC/Annie Raykov
The European Commission bases its decisions on humanitarian aid solely on assessment of the needs of the people concerned, in accordance with the principles of impartiality, neutrality and independence. It identifies the neediest people in two ways: by assessing needs in the field and by making a comparative analysis of countries using national indicators to identify those countries that are home to the people who ought to be priority beneficiaries of DG ECHO assistance.
It has developed two tools to do this:
- The GNA or Global Needs Assessment, which is done in two stages. The first stage identifies the most vulnerable countries, where humanitarian needs are likely to be greater in the event of a disaster, using a vulnerability index; the second stage identifies countries that are effectively in a humanitarian crisis situation corresponding to the DG ECHO intervention criteria, by means of a crisis index. Taken together the two indices define the priorities for intervention.
- The FCA or Forgotten Crises Assessment, which attempts to identify serious humanitarian crisis situations where the affected populations are not receiving enough international aid or even none at all.
The purpose of these tools is to establish consistency in the allocation of resources to different countries according to their respective needs, regardless of pressure of any kind, and to guarantee the credibility and transparency of Community humanitarian aid.