Overview

In early 2023, the Independent Review of the Inter Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Response to Internal Displacement concluded that the IASC humanitarian system was “too slow to respond” and “not joined up, if and when it does respond.” This assessment, echoed across numerous evaluations, highlights a systemic gap: despite years of reform, the sector continues to struggle with adapting and coordinating in large-scale, complex crisis, including Myanmar, Syria, Sudan and Ethiopia. To avoid this, greater agility is critical in the early days of an emergency, particularly in complex and politicised crises, rather than defaulting to the position of providing ‘more of the same, faster’.

This report provides a brief summary of the learnings from two strategies that agencies – including ICVA – have employed to improve response agility and leadership: 1) Surge deployments, 2) Strengthening NGO coordination. The reflections are based on an extensive literature review, interviews and workshops, and ICVA’s own experiences.

The importance of effective solutions to strengthening humanitarian leadership and NGO coordination in large scale, complex emergencies is only set to grow: Rising humanitarian needs will increase demand for effective emergency response support and short-term surge and mutual aid.  As realignment of the humanitarian sector progresses throughout 2025, it is essential that emergency response capabilities are not simply downsized, but strengthened to be more efficient, more targeted and better connected to existing emergency responders in-country.

Recommendations

1. Reprioritise emergency preparedness and response capacities – recognise it is a core technical function As budgets shrink, emergency management must be prioritised as a core technical area. To maximise efficiencies, this requires integrating emergency management into humanitarian training curricula, investing in dedicated emergency experts and systems, and embedding learning from past emergencies to inform future practice.

2. Strengthen overall agility in emergency preparedness and response Humanitarian emergency response must become more agile and adaptive. This will require a range of solutions including sharing resources and mobilising the comparative advantages of the UN, Red Cross, INGOs, local civil society, government and communities. Practical preparedness exercises and the development of safety protocols and evacuations ahead of time can help build trust among the collective, which is vital to response success. Exploring step-aside policies, shadowing or empowered emergency response leaders for a short period of time can also improve agility and reduce the risk of a “business as usual” approach.

3. Ensure emergency coordination is operationally focused and context driven Coordination at all levels needs to prioritise the facilitation of operational delivery in the most principled and effective manner possible and be a catalyst for agility during emergencies. This requires adapting emergency coordination structures, membership, locations and coordination leaders in accordance to the needs of a context rather than using a standard model.

4. Support local first responders in an emergency where possible As the first responders, local communities, civil society and local authorities should be actively supported and reinforced, to the greatest extent possible. This can include financing, people surge, mutual aid and technical assistance as relevant for a context. Supporting diverse pooled funds and rapid financing mechanisms led by foundations and NGOs, as well as initiatives such as due diligence passporting and reducing barriers to accessing financing and risk transfer to local actors will also yield positive benefits. Short term emergency assistance, technical support and shadowing for local coordination structures can be particularly beneficial.

5. Strengthen shared services Greater efforts should be undertaken by international actors to support collective approaches before and during emergencies, with a particular focus on making these available to local actors. This can include mobilising coordination platforms and sharing technical experts on issues such as safety, access and sectoral approaches. Investing in shared assets such as facilities, warehousing and transport and harnessing specialist common service initiatives and organisations beyond the UN will also be of benefit.

6. Foster a culture of learning, drawing from inside and outside the sector A culture of continuous collective learning on emergency preparedness and response between agencies and inter-agency structures must be fostered. This will require establishing mechanisms for real-time learning during emergencies and incorporating findings into forward planning. Given the overlapping learning and discussions, drawing lessons from both within the humanitarian sector, but also from other actors from disaster risk reduction, public health and national emergency response seen with emergency management actors outside the humanitarian sector is key.

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