As part of the preparations for the WHS in 2016, the High-Level Panel on Humanitarian Financing sought solutions to close the humanitarian financing gap. The outcome was the Grand Bargain, which was launched during the WHS. It was an agreement between the biggest donors and aid organisations aiming to get more means into the hands of people in need. Essentially, it was a ‘Grand Bargain on efficiency’ between donors and humanitarian organisations to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of humanitarian action.
It included a series of changes in the working practices of donors and aid organisations. These changes include gearing up cash programming, greater funding for national and local responders, cutting bureaucracy through harmonised reporting requirements, and improved intersectoral needs analysis. As part of the commitment related to “localisation”, the Grand Bargain committed donors and aid organisations to a target of providing 25% of humanitarian funding to local and national responders by 2020, along with more un- earmarked money, and increased multi-year funding to ensure greater predictability and continuity in humanitarian response, among other commitments.
Grand Bargain Workstreams: To get more means into the hands of people in need and to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of humanitarian action, the Grand Bargain set out 51 commitments distilled in 10 thematic workstreams and one cross-cutting commitment. Several of these, have helped shape the focus of country clusters. See more on the workstreams on the IASC website.
Grand Bargain 2.0: In 2021, the Grand Bargain signatories endorsed the Grand Bargain 2.0, which aims to reframe the overall objective to achieving “better humanitarian outcomes for affected populations through enhanced efficiency, effectiveness, and greater accountability, in the spirit of Quid pro Quo as relevant to all” (Grand Bargain 2.0 Endorsed Framework and Annexes, 2021). Since then, specific strategic issues have been addressed in an ad hoc manner, with clear objectives and a limited timeframe through the Grand Bargain Caucasus (which for example have focused on cash coordination, see 4.3.4, and localisation, see 10.3).