Our annual report outlines another year in which the Humanitarian Policy Group (HPG) combined long-term, granular research with cutting-edge thinking on emerging issues; provided expert, independent analysis on global policy processes and debates; and convened with impact at both country and global levels.

In 2019 we concluded research on our Integrated Programme (IP) on humanitarian action From the ground up and embarked on a new IP focused on Inclusivity and invisibility. HPG brought to light new evidence on local humanitarian action and challenged assumptions on the significance of international humanitarian financing in crises. We started research on gender, digitalisation, inclusion and protection advocacy, imbuing these with new thinking through a lens of inclusion.

Outside the IP, we undertook a significant body of work on displacement as we geared up for the Global Refugee Forum in December 2019. Work included a review of the Global Compact on Refugees in East Africa, an analysis of refugee perspectives in Bangladesh and a multi-country review of narratives on refugees. The third annual review of the Grand Bargain found uneven progress and a lack of transformative change. We also embarked on a major five-country study of community engagement – a new area for HPG.

With aid budgets under pressure at a time of growing need, widening inequality and heightened global attention to racial injustice, questions continue about future humanitarian business models, concepts of vulnerability and solidarity, and the identity of aid actors. This annual report, featuring work undertaken before the Covid-19 pandemic took hold, demonstrates how HPG’s work challenges assumptions and provides independent perspectives and constructive advice on the issues that matter most to people in crisis.

Published online 19 August 2020.

Updated 11 November 2020 to include audited financial information.