Insights from USAID Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance Multi-Year Humanitarian Activities

Multi-year humanitarian activities have shown promise in responding to emergencies while strengthening local capacities, promoting resilience, and supporting localization. In December 2019, the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA) launched an Annual Program Statement (APS) to fund pilot activities in Nepal, South Sudan, and later a similar activity in Somalia. In line with Grand Bargain commitments, these activities emphasized longer-term humanitarian funding and planning for improved responses across the humanitarian-development-peace (HDP) nexus. As these activities drew to a close, the IDEAL activity explored what lessons could be applied to future implementation to improve the effectiveness of multi-year humanitarian activities. Combining a desk review with collected qualitative data, the study offers applicable lessons, promising practices, and actionable recommendations for improving multi-year humanitarian activities.

In May 2024, IDEAL hosted an online event to share findings from the study, you can watch a recording and access slides here. This event was part of the HDP Coherence in Practice: Insights from the Implementing Community series.