Trends and Realities in Humanitarian Aid: Actual and Potential Effects on Actions and Societies

Professor, Department of Conflict and Development Studies (DCDS), Faculty of Political and Social Sciences, Ghent University

In 2017, the total global amount of official and reported humanitarian aid was 27.3 billion dollars. Due to large crises like the Syrian war, its wide regional spillover, and South Sudan,  this is again a record  amount ever since humanitarian aid flows started to get registered in 1962. The bulk of this aid still comes from donor member countries from the ‘DAC group’ of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.  But where  are we at in the field of global humanitarian aid? Are the official and reported amounts the whole story, or is there more going on?  Can we take the way in which mainstream humanitarian aid functioned over the last decades for granted as a standard, or is its working space under pressure?  And are there ‘alternative’ channels and -practices of humanitarian assistance in the making?  Here are at once the core questions in an examination of what is an often-overlooked aspect of international relations and soft power.

Tuesday 5 March 2019
11.00 - 15.00 
UNU-CRIS, Bruges

Registration required.

Please register here before 3 March 23:59 CET.