The multiplication of crises over recent years has led to a massive increase in the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance: from 125 million (2016) to 339 million (2023), according to OCHA’s Global Humanitarian Overview (GHO) for 2023. The level of funding made available covers these needs only partially, and recent projections question our collective capacity to provide the required support in the years to come.
The webinar will allow panellists to take stock of the recent humanitarian financing developments, and to exchange views, experiences and prospects on potential ways forward regarding the funding gap. The debate will be facilitated by Jean-Louis de Brouwer, Director of European Studies, Egmont Institute. It will gather senior speakers, including:

• Mickael Koehler, Deputy Director General, DG ECHO, European Commission
• Hugo Brauwers, Deputy Director General for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Belgium
• Mervat Shelbaya, Director of the United Nations’ Inter-Agency Support Branch & Chief of the Inter Agency Standing Committee (IASC) secretariat
• Edouard Rodier, Managing Director, Norwegian Refugee Council Europe

The discussions will be followed by a Q&A session with the audience. In line with this subject, we have recently published a series of policy briefs in which we tackle some of the themes we aim to address during the webinar. You may read our findings here and here.
For more information, please find attached the tentative program. If you plan to join online, you can join by using the following zoom link: Join live webinar.

We look forward to hearing from you and any colleagues you think might be interested in attending. To do so, please send a confirmation email to tm.benlahsen@egmontinstitute.be and i.rusti@egmontinstitute.be. Do not hesitate to get in touch with us for any clarification.

Watch the replay of the webinar here.

Read the report here.