Papers

10 years ago, MSF launched the Emergency Gap project, in response to widespread concerns that the presence of humanitarian actors and the capacity for emergency response was declining, especially in conflict zones. As humanitarian actors contemplate how to restore relevance and legitimacy and return to the ´core business´ of humanitarian work, many of the findings from MSF’s Emergency Gap project remain acutely relevant, in the midst of the unfolding collapse of the humanitarian sector as we know it.

This paper expands on the structural elements of the emergency gap analysis by providing critical examination of the current setup of the humanitarian sector and its financing architecture.

This paper offers a reflection on the subject of risk acceptance, and some of the underlying factors that –apart from the actual security threat– influence security decision-making in the humanitarian sector.

The new WHS paradigm offers a vision for humanitarian action that takes coherence too far, effectively merging humanitarianism into the overarching aid project of the SDGs. The aid sector must work to strengthen complementarity across responders, while preserving the critical distinctions between humanitarian and other forms of action.

This paper analyses the role of national and local actors in humanitarian action based on MSF’s experiences in areas within conflict affected countries where the most urgent needs are found.

The role of humanitarian aid is to assist populations in dire need, such as those suffering the consequences of conflict. But the system does not always work. In some recent humanitarian crises the humanitarian system has failed to deliver needed aid. One such failure has been the Yemen response.

This paper offers a reflection on the subject of risk acceptance, and some of the underlying factors that –apart from the actual security threat– influence security decision-making in the humanitarian sector.