Humanitarian funding review: our future response to global humanitarian crises

Executive Summary

This report presents a comprehensive review of the Scottish Government's humanitarian spending, with a deep focus on the Humanitarian Emergency Fund (HEF) as the most significant vehicle of support. The Scottish Government allocates £1M per year to this fund, and in recent years has also provided additional funding via a number of mechanisms. Scottish Government funding for international development and humanitarian responses comes from the Scottish Government’s own budget, and is additional to the contributions Scottish taxpayers already make to the UK Government’s international development and humanitarian work.

The review is framed around four key questions:

(A) How can the objectives and scope of Scottish Government humanitarian funding be refined to better reflect the budget available and the operating context?

(B) What is the best mechanism to deliver Scottish Government humanitarian funding?

(C) What practical alternative modalities exist, and could be introduced, modified, or adapted to meet Scottish Government humanitarian funding objectives?

(D) To what extent are current mechanisms meeting or contributing to Scottish Government Humanitarian Funding Objectives and International Development Principles?

The review was conducted between February and May 2025. The team interviewed 48 experts, practitioners, and researchers from across the Scottish Government and broader humanitarian sector, in addition to 5 focus group discussions attended by 39 people. The team also attended four HEF-related meetings to observe the Fund’s governance, peer review, and activation processes.

This review comes at a time of unprecedented change in the humanitarian landscape. Funding from traditional humanitarian donors is declining significantly. The United States, historically the largest provider of humanitarian aid, has cut its pledged commitments by between 30 and 60 percent and other major donors, including the United Kingdom^[1], Germany, and France have also signalled significant cuts to humanitarian assistance. These cuts risk compounding existing unmet needs. In 2024, the UN projected a $25 billion gap between humanitarian needs and funding. Projections are for this gap to more than double in 2025. Public support for ODA in Scotland (and the rest of the UK) is declining, with a noted decrease in trust regarding the effectiveness of aid. Engagement with the Scottish public is critical for maintaining support for humanitarian initiatives.

This report reviews the broader context of international humanitarian aid, as well as the objectives, ambitions and impact of the HEF. It makes recommendations on how to increase the impact of Scottish funding through increasing the proportion of ODA invested in humanitarian funding to 20% and creating a new funding model – HEF 2.0 – managed by a third party. Investing in emerging global south based pooled funds would bring new opportunities to advance localisation. Continuing support to the Disasters Emergency Committee Stream 1 (triggered by an appeal) maintains the capacity for Scottish Government to contribute to high profile crises wherever and whenever they emerge – the review team recommend that a comparative analysis be conducted on the START network which may present stronger alignment with the localisation agenda.

Interviews, desk research, and the body of evidence generated by the HEF over the course of its operations show a strong potential for alignment between the HEF and Scottish Government’s International Development Principles and wider ambitions on shifting power south, as well as gaps in terms of meeting these ambitions and measuring progress towards them, and the extent to which existing processes catalyse or inhibit this progress. The review indicates that HEF panel members implement strong gender transformative approaches, and have the potential to further deepen this work and pivot towards feminist approaches^[2], should additional funds be made available. The review also notes that the fund lacks the requisite structure for meaningfully supporting anticipatory action or long-term resilience programming beyond efforts to reinforce these within the existing programme offerings of humanitarian actors, without a significant budget increase.

The report presents results of an operational review of the HEF looking at a range of case studies to understand decision-making processes, funding allocations, and best practices for effective humanitarian response. Taking 6 themes from best practice (lean administrative structures; localisation and community-led initiatives; inclusive and participatory design; dedicated and predictable funding; agile funding and implementation and shared services and pooled resources) the review explores the extent to which the HEF aligns to these. A review of cost, impact, innovation, and value for money was delivered - reviewing the effectiveness and efficiency of HEF-funded projects. While many meet sector-wide expectations, challenges exist in assessing the overall impact due to the small scale of funding and the complex nature of humanitarian responses.

The review assesses how Scottish Government compares to wider action on good donorship and also how it compares to other non-sovereign actors. In terms of volume of funding for humanitarian spending, the review team recommend that this is increased as a proportion of the Scottish Development International Development budget. A draft theory of change is suggested on how Scottish Government could adapt current investments.

In a context of global change in the humanitarian sector, and taking into account the Scottish Governments’ unique status, position, and potential to provide meaningful humanitarian assistance to those who need it, this review emphasizes a need for the Scottish Government to adapt its existing approaches to more intentionally pursue its overarching ambitions of effective, equitable support, while being sensitive to the reality of what can be achieved given current the scale of resources available.