Every year, millions of people need humanitarian assistance to survive and recover from disasters and conflicts. However, despite the best of intentions, the response of the different actors who fund and implement humanitarian assistance is not enough.

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As the principal providers of humanitarian assistance funding, government donors are key to ensuring that aid reaches the people who need it most. They have the power to make the humanitarian system more effective.

That’s why DARA developed the Humanitarian Response Index (HRI) – a tool to ensure that donor governments’ aid funding has the greatest possible impact for people affected by conflict and disaster.

The HRI is built around around 58 indicators of good practice based on the principles of Good Humanitarian Donorship (GHD) – agreed to by major government donors in 2005. The HRI process draws on extensive field research and data collection to give a comprehensive picture of donor performance.

The data gathered as part of the HRI research process is analysed to see how well donors are meeting their own commitments to good practice in five key areas, or what we call Pillars:

1. Are donor responses based on needs?
2. Do donors support local capacity and long-term recovery?
3. How well do donors support and work with humanitarian partners?
4. Do donors respect international standards and principles?
5. Do donors contribute to accountability and learning in humanitarian action?

Download the HRI 2009 brochure