Humanitarian capacity-building and collaboration: lessons from the Emergency Capacity Building Project

The Emergency Capacity Building (ECB) Project was conceived over a decade ago, when increasing humanitarian disasters stretched the response capacities of the global humanitarian system. Concurrently, pressure on agencies to show accountability and the impact of humanitarian aid was becoming more rigorous.

As a result of concerns that NGOs were being forced to compete over limited resources and funding, the ECB Project was formed with the overall goal of improving the speed, quality and effectiveness of emergency preparedness and response. The goal was to encourage collaboration between agencies, especially at country level.

This paper presents knowledge gained from the initial phase up to the end of the project, 2003-2014. It is hoped that some of the tools and guidelines developed can be of use to others. Conclusions are also made about collaboration between humanitarian agencies.