Austria's humanitarian assistance

Austria has a strong historical involvement with some themes of humanitarian assistance, especially human rights and the protection of civilians. It can also provide multi-annual funding to NGO partners that allows them to adapt programmes to evolving recovery contexts. There is a commitment to support the “self-help capacities” of vulnerable populations this is mostly done through the World Bank’s risk reduction facility. Austria could reflect on these achievements and develop a strategic focus for its humanitarian programme in order to increase predictability and raise its profile on the international stage. Commitments to scale up the humanitarian budget – currently suffering from very limited resources – should also be kept.