Complex Humanitarian Emergencies

In recent decades, humanitarian emergencies have become more complicated and long-lasting. Emergencies always pose challenges but become more complex when layered with crisis, climate change and conflict.

No universally agreed definition of a complex humanitarian emergency (CHE) exists. UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, defines a CHE as “a humanitarian crisis in a country, region or society where there is a total or considerable breakdown of authority resulting from internal or external conflict, and which requires an international response that goes beyond the mandate or capacity of any single agency and/or the ongoing UN country programme.”

Characteristics of CHEs often include:

• War or conflict, including civil war or genocide.
• Great human suffering and death.
• Poverty (both as a driver and a consequence of conflict).
• Large numbers of affected and displaced people, both internally and externally.
• Human-caused environmental destruction.
• Disasters caused by the impacts of climate change such as droughts or floods.
• Weakened public institutions and systems such as healthcare, education and sanitation.
• A breakdown of infrastructure, including a lack of access to food or nutritional support, potable water, hygiene and sanitation.
• High risk of public health emergencies and outbreaks of disease.
• Large-scale, multi-faceted international assistance and aid efforts, and actors who abide by the humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality and independence.
• Lack of “access” as delivery of assistance is prevented by groups who are part of the conflict.
• Relief workers face heightened security risks.

The following are examples of different types of CHEs in terms of characteristics, scale and humanitarian needs:   

• Haiti became the world’s first Black-led republic when it overthrew French colonial control in 1804. However, the country is regularly exposed to natural hazards and the effects of climate change and faces recurring socio-economic and political challenges. The roots of these challenges include France forcing Haiti to pay reparations, which indebted future generations and hampered economic progress for decades. In 2022, 47% of the population needed humanitarian assistance. Gang violence has helped fuel displacement and restricts humanitarian access. CDP maintains a disaster profile on the crisis in Haiti.
• An armed conflict began in the eastern part of Ukraine in early 2014 following Russia’s annexation of Crimea. On Feb. 24, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the beginning of a full-scale land, sea and air invasion of Ukraine. Thousands of civilians have been killed or injured, civilian infrastructure has been targeted, livelihoods have been disrupted, and prolonged displacement is a reality for millions. In 2024, 14.6 million people in Ukraine need humanitarian assistance, about 40% of the population. Some 6.5 million people have fled the country and remain refugees, mostly across Europe. CDP maintains a disaster profile on the crisis in Ukraine.
• Ethiopia made important development gains in the last decade. However, the combination of escalating and brutal internal conflict, climate shocks, human rights abuses, disease outbreaks and internal displacement have led to a deterioration in humanitarian conditions. In 2024, the Humanitarian Response Plan aimed to target 15.5 million of the 21.4 million in need, but by Sept. 16, 2024, only 20.9% of the target had been received. In June 2024, Ethiopia was classified as a “hunger hot spot” by the Food and Agriculture Organization-World Food Programme. CDP maintains a disaster profile on the crisis in Ethiopia.  
• Afghanistan has endured decades of war, recurring natural hazards, chronic poverty, drought and food insecurity, resulting in millions of Afghans needing humanitarian assistance –more than half the country’s population. In 2024, 85% of Afghans lived on less than $1/day. Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis has political and economic roots that were exacerbated when the Taliban assumed power in August 2021, with a disproportionate impact on the rights of women and girls. The 2021-2023 drought, a deadly earthquake that hit southeastern Afghanistan in June 2022 and floods in May 2024 demonstrate how disasters can worsen and complicate an existing CHE. CDP maintains a disaster profile on the crisis in Afghanistan. 

The United Nations Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) provides a platform for the coordination of humanitarian activities through a system of sectoral clusters, e.g., education, food security and health. CDP’s Issue Insight on the UN IASC Cluster Approach provides detailed information about the IASC agencies and clusters.  

The Center for Disaster Philanthropy uses several sources to inform our analysis and funding priorities for CHEs, including the Fund for Peace’s Fragile States Index, the Global Hunger Index and ACAPS’ Inform Severity Indices. These sources, and our team’s professional expertise and networks, help CDP decide where to support, understand needs and anticipate what may happen next. Some CHEs have their own in-depth disaster profiles, while others are featured on a rotating basis in our weekly What We’re Watching blog post.

• The number of people globally that need assistance is growing. In 2024, 311 million people require humanitarian assistance and protection. Unfortunately, financial resources are insufficient to support needs, as only 60% of that number were targeted for support, and only a fraction were served due to lack of funds. By mid-2024, 120 million people had been forced to leave their homes due to “persecution, conflict, violence or human rights violations.”
• Humanitarian emergencies are consistently underfunded. The protracted nature of CHEs means that donors often lose interest. According to UNOCHA, donors funded only 44.6% of humanitarian appeals in 2023. Of the $25 billion received, over $10 billion (nearly 42%) came from the United States. The situation is even more dire in 2024. Underfunding has severe consequences,including not reaching all people in need and resulting in actors emphasizing life-saving assistance over recovery and longer-term solutions. Philanthropy can help fill this gap by providing flexible and multi-year funding and focusing on funding longer-term solutions and humanitarian relief.
• Humanitarian crises exacerbate all inequalities. Violence against women, girls and gender-diverse people is increasing, and climate shocks disproportionately impact them. Gaps in sexual and reproductive health services persist. LGBTQIA+ people and communities are often excluded from the humanitarian response. Emergency policies and plans usually do not consider the needs of older adults due to ageism, which results in inadequate services. Humanitarian crises often lead to an increase in human trafficking. Humanitarian action must promote the protection and participation of marginalized populations and seek to address inequalities.
• The climate crisis compounds humanitarian crises. The International Monetary Fund found that “climate shocks do not cause conflicts, but they worsen existing unrest and exacerbate other underlying fragilities, such as hunger and poverty. Climate change also exacerbates pre-existing risks. The World Economic Forum says that by 2050, “climate change may cause an additional 14.5 million deaths and $12.5 trillion in economic losses worldwide.” This impact will be most significant in fragile states. Investments in CHEs benefit from an awareness of how climate change affects local populations.
• Aid workers face a challenging operational environment. The number of major attacks on aid workers and the total number of aid worker victims has continued to increase in recent years, with 2023 being the worst full year for deaths on record. Of the 280 fatalities reported in 33 countries, 163 were aid workers killed in the first three months of the conflict in Gaza. Understanding context and actively mitigating security risks are essential to ensure aid workers remain safe and that humanitarian operations continue.

• Use informed analysis to allocate funding systematically and strategically rather than reactively. This can be hard for funders, especially when stakeholders watch news headlines and expect them to fund the disaster, conflict and humanitarian crisis of the hour. However, significant unmet global humanitarian needs that do not get media attention and “forgotten crises” often have more significant humanitarian funding gaps.
• Support broad and integrated efforts. CHEs involve multiple causes, so narrow and siloed approaches are ineffective. Funders can have a more significant impact when they support efforts that are broad in scope and integrated with the existing government, non-government or UN mechanisms. Most importantly, funder support should ensure programs utilize a survivor and community-led response (SCLR). Consider how support can address needs across sectors while reinforcing the respective country’s Humanitarian Response Plan, a document consolidated by UNOCHA on behalf of the Humanitarian Country Team and partners that respond to the assessed and expressed needs of the affected population.
• Support mitigation, recovery and resilience, not just immediate needs. While ensuring affected people have access to life-saving assistance is essential, recovery and resilience cannot be ignored. Even amid a CHE, young people need to be educated, small businesses need to return to operation, health facilities need to be operational, and families need support rebuilding or creating new and sustainable livelihoods. The type of recovery support will vary depending on the context and current conditions. However, it is possible to help affected communities begin the recovery process and effectively strengthen their ability to adapt to increasing disaster risk and recurring shocks.
• Provide flexible and multi-year funding. In CHEs, the context is dynamic and fluid. Shifting alliances and motivations of groups party to a conflict, ongoing displacement and the constant threat of natural hazards make precise planning difficult, if not impossible. Allowing organizations the flexibility to use grant funds in ways that make the most sense given the current conditions on the ground exhibits trust in partners and supports effective response and recovery. 
• Support localization of funding. Fund local actors and interventions that strengthen local systems and capacities. Local actors remain on the ground and will continue to meet ongoing, recurrent and protracted needs when media attention and funding wanes. CDP’s Strengthening Local Humanitarian Leadership Toolkit explains how funders can support localization.

CDP supports people impacted by CHEs worldwide through several international and domestic funds, including the Global Recovery Fund. From 2022 to May 2024, CDP invested almost $27.9 million in CHE settings through 89 grants.

The following are examples of CDP grants awarded to support recovery from CHEs for individuals and communities.

• CDP provided $872,336 to HelpAge USA in 2022 to improve the lives of older people by funding specific inclusion advisor positions focused on influencing the UN-led international humanitarian system (at the Geneva cluster coordination level) and four country-led systems (spanning various clusters) to be more inclusive of older people. The grant also strengthened capacity and empowered UN and NGO humanitarian actors in Ukraine, Moldova, Ethiopia and Venezuela to deliver age-inclusive humanitarian responses and ensure the participation of older people.
• CDP awarded a $250,000 grant to Save the Children in 2022 through the Global Recovery Fund to provide Afghan and host community children in Pakistan with early childhood social-emotional learning skills to mitigate the impact of trauma caused by forced migration. The project used Sesame Workshop content and resources and a play-based approach involving caregivers, thus enabling them to learn to their fullest potential. In collaboration with a local organization, the project concluded by reaching more schools and teachers than initially projected and increased the capacity of the local partner for future project implementation efforts.
• In 2023, CDP awarded $500,000 to ASAL Humanitarian Network for Arid Lands Development Focus to provide recovery and build resilience to the hunger crisis in drought disaster-affected communities through accelerated adoption of Survivor and Community Led Response in 10 arid and semi-arid land counties in Kenya.

• Inter-Agency Standing Committee
• ACAPS
• INFORM Severity Index
• ReliefWeb
• UN OCHA – ReliefWeb Response
• Fragile States Index
• Famine Early Warning Systems Network
• Global Hunger Index
• Integrated Food Security Phase Classification
• IMF eLibrary: Climate Challenges in Fragile and Conflict-Affected States
• U.S. Government: ForeignAssistance.gov
• USAID: Country Profiles and Factsheets
• UNOCHA: Current Emergencies
• UNOCHA: Global Humanitarian Overview 2023
• UNHCR: Operational Data Portal

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(Photo: A Inter-American Commission on Human Rights worker questioning a Venezuelan woman at a refugee camp in Colombia. Source: Daniel Cima/CIDH; CC BY 2.0)