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| High-Level Panel on Humanitarian Financing | |
|---|---|
| Name | High-Level Panel on Humanitarian Financing |
| Formed | 2015 |
| Dissolved | 2016 |
| Jurisdiction | United Nations |
| Parent agency | United Nations Secretary-General |
| Chair | Ellen Johnson Sirleaf; Hassoum Cissé (co-chairs) |
| Members | Ban Ki-moon; Jim Yong Kim; Christine Lagarde |
| Purpose | Review of humanitarian financing mechanisms |
High-Level Panel on Humanitarian Financing The High-Level Panel on Humanitarian Financing was an ad hoc advisory group convened by Ban Ki-moon to address funding shortfalls for humanitarian response in protracted crises, sudden-onset disasters, and refugee situations, drawing on expertise from leaders across United Nations, World Bank Group, International Monetary Fund, and civil society networks like Médecins Sans Frontières and International Committee of the Red Cross. The Panel produced a report advocating systemic reforms to mobilize resources from public and private actors including G20, European Union, African Union, Asian Development Bank, and philanthropic institutions such as Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The Panel was established amid escalating humanitarian needs following the Syrian Civil War, South Sudanese Civil War, and the 2014–2016 Ebola epidemic in West Africa, prompting calls from United Nations General Assembly members, World Humanitarian Summit stakeholders, and leaders including Pope Francis and Angela Merkel to rethink financing. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed a diverse roster drawing on experience from Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, former heads of state, development bankers from World Bank Group and European Investment Bank, and humanitarian heads from UNICEF, UNHCR, and World Food Programme to bridge gaps identified in appeals like the UN Consolidated Appeals Process and the Central Emergency Response Fund.
The Panel's mandate, as articulated by Ban Ki-moon and endorsed by the United Nations Security Council and United Nations Economic and Social Council, sought to propose practical mechanisms to increase predictable financing for emergencies, incentivize early investment by institutions such as the International Finance Corporation and African Development Bank, and integrate private financiers like JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs alongside philanthropic actors including Rockefeller Foundation. Objectives included recommending reforms to instruments such as the CERF and the Post-Conflict Fund, exploring contingent lines of credit similar to those used by International Monetary Fund programs, and aligning humanitarian financing with frameworks like the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Co-chaired by Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Hassoum Cissé, the Panel included leaders from multilateral finance institutions Jim Yong Kim of the World Bank Group, central bankers from European Central Bank regions, ministers such as Sergio Mattarella (as an example of heads of state participation), and civil society figures from Oxfam International, Save the Children, and International Rescue Committee. Governance arrangements linked the Panel to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and required reporting to the United Nations Secretary-General and stakeholders including the G7 and G20 finance ministers, while engaging regional organizations like the Organization of American States and the League of Arab States.
The Panel's report identified chronic underfunding, fragmentation between development and humanitarian instruments, and insufficient risk-pooling as drivers of shortfalls, recommending a mix of measures: expansion of the Central Emergency Response Fund, creation of a new global risk insurance mechanism akin to the African Risk Capacity, mobilization of capital markets through catastrophe bonds similar to those used by World Bank programs, and incentives for private sector participation modeled on public–private partnerships championed by Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. It urged integration of financing across humanitarian and development instruments like UNDP programmes and suggested fiscal space strategies used by International Monetary Fund programs to free resources for crisis response.
Following publication, elements of the Panel's agenda influenced policy discussions at the World Humanitarian Summit and operational changes within UNHCR, UNICEF, and World Food Programme, inspiring pilots for contingency financing with World Bank Group and insurance arrangements linked to Climate Risk Insurance initiatives supported by German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID). Some recommendations informed donor practices among United States Agency for International Development, European Commission humanitarian aid, and pooled funds managed by OCHA, while investment banks and insurers including Swiss Re and Munich Re explored scaling catastrophe bonds and resilience financing.
Critics from advocacy groups such as Médecins Sans Frontières and panels convened by Human Rights Watch argued the Panel overemphasized private finance and market mechanisms, raising concerns about accountability, humanitarian principles upheld by International Committee of the Red Cross, and access in conflict zones like Yemen Civil War and contested areas in Afghanistan. Some member states and scholars associated with Tufts University and King's College London warned that proposals risked sidelining traditional donor commitments from United States Congress appropriations and European Parliament budgets, and that instruments resembling IMF contingency lines could impose conditionalities incompatible with neutral humanitarian action.