SHARE

SHARE

SHARE is an international nonprofit organization focused on humanitarian assistance, community development, and advocacy. Founded in the mid-1990s, it operates across multiple continents coordinating relief, sustainable development, and policy engagement with a wide network of partners. The organization collaborates with NGOs, intergovernmental bodies, philanthropic foundations, and academic institutions to implement programs in health, shelter, livelihoods, and emergency response.

Overview

SHARE describes itself as a multi-sectoral actor combining direct service delivery, capacity building, and policy advocacy. It works with partners including United Nations Development Programme, World Health Organization, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, International Committee of the Red Cross, and major bilateral donors such as the United States Agency for International Development, Department for International Development, and European Commission. SHARE’s programs intersect with initiatives led by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Open Society Foundations, and major academic centers like Harvard University, London School of Economics, Columbia University, and University of Oxford to translate research into practice. Its field operations have been deployed alongside humanitarian efforts tied to crises such as the Syrian civil war, Haiti earthquake (2010), Rwandan genocide, and Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa.

History

SHARE was established in 1994 amid post-Cold War humanitarian reforms and a surge of international nongovernmental activity. Early work involved reconstruction alongside agencies responding to the Balkan Wars, collaborating with the International Monetary Fund and World Bank on post-conflict recovery frameworks. In the 2000s, SHARE expanded into public health programming, coordinating vaccine campaigns with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and research partnerships with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Following the 2010 Haiti earthquake, SHARE scaled emergency shelter and logistics in concert with Médecins Sans Frontières and the Pan American Health Organization. In later decades SHARE took part in climate resilience projects linked to the Paris Agreement and joined coalitions convened by United Nations Environment Programme and Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery.

Structure and Governance

SHARE is governed by a board of directors comprising leaders drawn from philanthropy, academia, international affairs, and private sector firms. Its governance model reflects practices recommended by bodies like the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the International Non-Governmental Organisations Accountability Charter. Operational management is divided into regional hubs—Africa, Asia, Latin America, Middle East, and Europe—each reporting to the central executive office in New York City. SHARE maintains advisory councils featuring subject-matter experts from Johns Hopkins University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, and international policy think tanks such as Chatham House, Brookings Institution, and Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Financial oversight includes audits by global accounting firms and grant compliance aligned with standards from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and donor regulations from agencies like Agence Française de Développement.

Activities and Programs

Programmatically, SHARE runs multi-year initiatives in emergency response, public health, shelter, livelihoods, and governance support. Emergency response teams have worked in coordination with United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and regional bodies like the African Union during crises such as the Darfur conflict and cyclones in the Philippines. Health programs address infectious disease control in partnership with International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and national ministries, and collaborate on research with centers such as the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and National Institutes of Health. SHARE’s shelter and urban resilience projects have partnered with municipal governments following frameworks from the United Nations Human Settlements Programme and the World Bank Group’s urban development arm. Livelihoods and economic inclusion initiatives engage microfinance networks and development agencies like Inter-American Development Bank, while education and protection work links to programs run by United Nations Children's Fund and the International Rescue Committee.

Impact and Criticism

SHARE’s supporters cite measurable outcomes in displaced persons assisted, houses rebuilt, vaccination campaigns supported, and policy changes influenced through advocacy coalitions. Its role in multi-agency responses has been highlighted in reports by United Nations mechanisms and independent evaluators like Humanitarian Outcomes and ODI. Criticism has focused on coordination challenges, dependance on major donors, and occasional mission creep into areas dominated by specialist agencies. Investigations and oversight panels have scrutinized operational transparency and effectiveness in contexts including the 2010 Haiti earthquake and responses to the Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa, prompting reforms in monitoring and evaluation. Debates continue around accountability to local communities, the balance between rapid emergency deployment and long-term development goals, and the appropriate division of labor among international actors such as Save the Children, Oxfam, and CARE International.

Category:International humanitarian organizations