a guide to peace support operations - The Watson Institute for ...

Part II, Section 2, paragraphs 2-4
tion of GNP, the emergency aid spending of Norway and Sweden rank
the highest. Also, Japan’s bilateral emergency aid program is still
fairly small, but Japan is the largest aid donor overall. Figures also do
not indicate the quality of the aid provided or how much of these funds
are available to NGOs.
3. Recent History: Changes in Bilateral Emergency Aid
There are several recent changes in the nature of bilateral emergency aid:
a. While the total amount of government aid has stagnated and even declined, aid
for humanitarian and emergency relief has increased to an all time high of 10
percent of all overseas development assistance expenditure in 1994. 2 In part this
trend is due to the rise in the number of emergencies, although it also may
represent some shift in donor priorities.
b. There has been a significant increase in aid to Eastern Europe and the former
Soviet Union in recent years, although this now appears to have stabilized. 3
c. Channels chosen by donors are changing. Government-to-government aid, which
once amounted to the bulk of bilateral emergency aid, now only represents a small
fraction of the total flow (falling from 95 percent to less than 6 percent of
European emergency aid 1976-1990). 4 Governments of affected countries may
still be an important channel for response to a natural disaster when the host
government agencies are effective; but in complex emergencies, when there is
political instability, multilateral channels such as the UN, EU, or World Bank and
NGOs are favored.
4. Presence in the Field
a. Information
(1) Embassies and Aid Missions
Embassies have long been used as vital sources of information. The
embassy officials are the donor’s eyes and ears, keeping home governments
in touch with funding needs and giving advice on the suitability
of funding proposals. The embassies send back regular reports based
on information gathered locally. As well as being in contact with their
own headquarters, donor embassies interact with UN agencies, the
EU, and other donors present in a given country. They also can act as
a focal point for liaising with the media and NGOs.
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